Township House Restaurant

Italian specialties dominate the menu at this attractively rustic and moderately priced establishment in Newtown, Pa.

By: Richard Burns

   EVER heard of the Township House Restaurant in Newtown? I asked half a dozen friends who eat out a lot and live in the area. None knew of it.
   I wasn’t surprised. We’ve been driving right by it for years and it barely registered. It appears to be Newtown’s best-kept secret, even though it’s been in business for 28 years.
   The primary reason for this invisibility is the building itself. Although it has historical significance and has been there since the early 19th century, it appears plain and nondescript from the outside. It is located on busy Route 532 at Sycamore Street. The building has been everything from a store to a school, a nightclub, a hotel and, since 1973, a restaurant. Owners Joe and Pam Valenti now run the place. Mr. Valenti is the chef.
   Inside, the restaurant is comfortable and attractive in a rustic way. As you enter from the side facing the parking lot, there is an attractive etched glass and wood door leading into a large bar area. The door is decorated with large pineapples, the colonial symbol of hospitality.
   The bar itself is an attractive mix of wood and mirrors. There is live piano music Fridays from 7-11 p.m. and Saturdays from 6-10:30 p.m. The restaurant has three dining rooms, one large and two small, one of which adjoins the bar. The rooms all are decorated with antique glass and chinaware. We ate in what appeared to be an enclosed porch in a wooden booth with an oilcloth square in the center of the table. The street side was adorned with a rural scene done in heavy stained glass.
   While the Township House doesn’t advertise itself as an Italian restaurant, the menu is dominated by Italian items. There is even an extensive pizza menu. About a dozen hot and cold appetizers ($5.95-$8.95) are fairly standard and include stuffed and deep-fried mushrooms, roasted peppers, several salads and fresh mozzarella. We tried a special appetizer ($6.95) and the stuffed mushrooms with crab meat ($7.95). The appetizers reflected a theme that continued through the meal — inconsistency.
   The special was excellent: mushrooms sautéed in butter and poured, along with the sauce, over baby spinach and lightly blanched tiny asparagus. Melted goat cheese topped the salad. It was unusual and delicious. The sauce provided a nice "dip" for the warm Italian bread served with it. The stuffed mushrooms, on the other hand, were piping hot but very bland and without much crab taste.
   We were tempted to share one of the 20 or so pasta dishes, ranging in price from $8.25 to $16.95 for the lobster ravioli. The menu offers a fairly comprehensive selection, and you can pick your type of pasta for most of the dishes. We opted for other selections once we learned the entrées came with pasta.
   All entrées come with a choice of soup or salad. We sampled one of each. The soups are billed as "homemade," and the soup du jour was potato and Cheddar cheese. The salad was excellent, with a nice mix of romaine, shredded red cabbage, tomato wedges and croutons. It was served ice cold with a good dressing. The soup was not as good; it was served hot but was too thin and not very flavorful.
   My wife, Rose, chose the chef’s specialty, Veal Venezia ($18.95), which consisted of veal scaloppini’s that had been lightly sautéed and served with a light wine sauce, fresh tomato with melted mozzarella over a bed of linguine. There were three or four pieces of veal and lots of pasta, a sizable serving. While the pasta and the veal were well cooked, the dish was bland and lacking in flavor.
   I ordered the Shrimp Fra Diablo ($18.95). The shrimp dish also was large, at least eight good-sized shrimp and a large bowl of linguine with just the right amount of sauce. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, and the sauce had body and just the right amount of bite for a Fra Diablo sauce. I enjoyed it immensely.
   There is a sizable desert menu with the rice pudding, chocolate mouse and raspberry crumb pie being made in house. Several cakes and cheesecakes from outside sources were also available. The raspberry pie ($3.75) was excellent. The carrot cake ($3.95), on the other hand, was dry and lacked the right texture and flavor for a good carrot cake.
   The restaurant was quite busy for a Wednesday night, but the service was prompt and attentive. We were served by a collection of waitresses, all of whom were friendly and pleasant. The one who took our order must have been new since she had to seek answers to many of our questions.
   The service is informal and some of the niceties were missing, for example, no attempt was made to keep our bottle of Orvietto Classico wine chilled.
   There is a full bar service and a modest wine list with mostly American and a few Italian wines. The wines are very reasonably priced from $14-$26, with most under $20. Several wines are available by the glass, half or full carafe, at prices ranging from $4-$5 per glass. The restaurant is open daily and all items are available as take-out.
   We enjoyed The Township House but the inconsistency between dishes left us scratching our heads. Patrons certainly get their money’s worth here, and it is a pleasant place to eat. It should be better known.
For directions to The Township House Restaurant, click here.