York. Food quality

Stupid thread. I have been going to York for 42 years and have never been sick from food at the fairgrounds.

FWIW Folks - Go out the Market Street gate, take a right and about half a mile down the road on the right is a little place called LaTucca's.  They have pizza, calzone & stromboli (all pretty good) and reasonably priced too.  As for the restroom saga - these folks are volunteers and they clean up after you.  If a dollar is too much for you to part with, then maybe you should take a long walk and find a friendly tree.  

Hmm, if you don't like the food, eat elsewhere. I do know that last October I had food from one of the outside vendors, believe it was roast beef. That was dynamite. I have eaten in the dining hall and I had no problem with what I chose to eat. Bottom line really is if your nose isn't telling you what to eat and what not to eat, you had better hope your eyes are.

Stick to what you trust if that helps. If you have to bring something to tide you over from breakfast to late afternoon, so be it. Best thing to do is keep your hunger at Bay. And, as said by some others, no thanks to McDonald's and Burger King. The closest I get to fast food would be Wendy's if I'm desperate. Besides, there are far worse things to eat if you really think about it.

Joe Hohmann posted:

Anyone who buys a crab cake outside of Maryland is a idiot.

Well, I guess that would be me, because I occasionally eat one.  Guess I'll have to make a pointy hat out of construction paper and wear it. 

Baltimore is 1,630 miles from where I live.  We Amarillo idiots can't drop in for dinner often.

I always believed that the best food at York was found in the dining hall where you can sit down as ladies and gentlemen to dine.  The food handlers in the many food trucks on the grounds that work all day long, do not have facilities for the cooks to wash their hands and I've never seen them wearing gloves. That's really Filthy!!!

1st of all it is a Fairgrounds with "Fairgrounds" food.

It is passable. I have never gone hungry. I do keep a cooler in the car with yogurts, water, etc...

To be honest, I don't go there for the cuisine......I go there for the people and the trains.

Peter

Allan Miller posted:

Anything else folks would like to complain about? We sure don't want to overlook anything when it comes to knocking York, do we? Little wonder things are changing. Geez!

I have been at every York since 1984 and complaining is a way of life since then. And while I am at it how about the people in scooters be more courteous when in the halls. How about the idiots taking pictures at the mfgs booths move the he$$ out of the way. Also the people who tell thier life story's to guys and gals at the mfgs booths. Ever try to get a word in to Mike Wolf or the others? You could wait for ever. ASK A QUESTION AND GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!

Ok I'm done for now,

Dave

DougB posted:

This coming york(Fall 2019) will be my 4th year at York. The problem is the food offered for sale at the vendors. The food is of such poor quality and overpriced that i bring my own lunch and only purchase coffee . What can be done?   Perhaps because I am from NY  and demand better food than what is offered I do not understand  York food. Even the food at Yankee  in the Bronx is better, what York needs is a Mcdonalds or Berger King.

If someone thinks Mickie D's or BK is "quality food", they probably have more issues than can be solved on this Forum.

You know it's York season when the complaining starts! 

As to the cuisine, when I've had time to eat during my work in the Orange hall I don't mind the food.  I don't have any real expectations though.  As others have mentioned it's a fairground.  Then again, I have no problem with eating at roadside taco stand in rural Mexico where I'm the only English speaker.  Personally I find "native" food to be part of the adventure for travel. 

However, I often have stayed in downtown York and there are excellent restaurants in town to be found if you are willing to look around along with a pretty active local craft beer scene.  

This is a free country so people are free to complain.  They are also free to solve the problem.  Supposedly money is made by meeting an unmet need.  So who among the complainers is willing to become a fairgrounds food vendor to provide the quality of food at a reasonable price that is presently lacking? 

When I bought food at the fairgrounds I didn't care for, I didn't go back and buy it again.  But my observation is that the food vendors are not suffering from lack of patronage.  If enough people didn't buy, maybe that would send a message but I don't expect that to happen.  The vendors know their market well enough with regard to both quality and pricing to stay in business and, let's face it, they have to consider all their customers at many venues, not just the EDTCA York meet. They can't cater just to the exquisitely refined taste buds of train collectors (although it might be interesting to see somebody try - then there would probably be complaints about elitism and snobbishness).

As others have said, I don't go to the fairgrounds for the food.  I am happy to have a cup of coffee with friends at the fairgrounds and that service is fine by me.  But the overall meet experience is wonderful and there are plenty of food service options within a short distance of the fairgrounds. 

Dear Abby:

I normally don’t respond to these kinds of letters, but a train buddy of mine from New York is complaining about the food quality at the annual York train meet.

The problem is, he is suggesting McDonalds and Burger King as the standard for which the fairgrounds should be measured against. As I said, he is from New York, so he must know what good food tastes like… I think, maybe he doesn’t.

What should I tell him, if McDonalds and Burger King are your standards for good food then you just insulted all of your fellow New Yorkers? 

Or, don’t say anything as all the other people on this thread already figured this guy out?

Thank you Abby.

Sincerely:

Charlie in Chicago

Putnam Division posted:

1st of all it is a Fairgrounds with "Fairgrounds" food.

It is passable. I have never gone hungry. I do keep a cooler in the car with yogurts, water, etc...

To be honest, I don't go there for the cuisine......I go there for the people and the trains.

Peter

Well said Peter. My coworker Ray and I talk about what we have come to call crazy things. It seems that people in general find anything and everything to complain about. We recently got shirts from the company which one of our fellow employees sort of shamed the boss into looking into getting shirts(which the boss did but didn't have to do). Well, when the shirts were handed out, the one who brought it up in the first place complained because there was no pockets in the FREE shirts the company bought at no cost to said employee.

I enjoy everything that there is about York, heck, maybe there's something wrong with me called having too much fun, IDK. The one thing I do know is that I will enjoy seeing everyone I've chatted with before and hopefully some new ones. Oh, and get some great food wherever it is hiding. I hope they are still serving soft pretzels as it wouldn't be a good thing for me to miss out on having at least one of those.

Dear Charlie:

Thank you for your letter.

Obviously, your friend is confused about his culinary standards but, being from New York, it is understandable. After all, have you ever tried a Coney Island hot dog ?

However, discretion being the better part of valor, I would not suggest that you call him out on it, but simply ignore his complaints and perhaps politely suggest that he try a Cracker Barrel.

Very truly yours,

Abby

Joe Hohmann posted:

Anyone who buys a crab cake outside of Maryland is a idiot.

I live in Maryland but had a classy crab cake dinner in downtown Washington last night. Guess I'm an idiot as well! 

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...….

Tom Tee posted:

Driving out Pa Rt 30, I always stop at the WAWA just past Dutch Wonderland and pick up a great hoagie, yogurt ,  beverage & a pretzel or two for lunch and the ride home.  Concession food just does not do it for me.

You just can't beat an Italian cold cut sub from WAWA.

I agree with Alan, all I can say is everyone makes York what they put into it.  If you don’t like the food go out and eat or pack lunch. There’s breakfast put on by this forum and dinner spot. All you have to do is come up with your own lunch hahah geezzz is right

No complaints about the public so far?

Two points. I also eat crab cakes outside of Maryland so I must admit that I am an idiot. Plus I always bring my own lunch most of the time a hoagie from Wegmans  they are very good 

My girlfriend, even though she chooses to spend the day in the motel, likes to come to York FOR the food....the various Amish buffet breakfasts and dinners, and assorted pig-outs in the Lancaster area, the Pa. ice cream trail, and for historical and scenic stuff we track down when there is nothing new in the Orange Hall, as lately.  (Hope Third Rail is still doing steam, or, at least, some more passenger cars)

I have no complaints about the public, the reason is they help keep YORK alive, most of the time they buy what I am not interested in anyway.   You can  tell who is the public is and who is the train people are.  I ride the bus from LI, it  costs 100.00 so you know the riders are real train people. Perhaps the public  will become  interested in trains and come to York to think about building a layout ,something they might have wanted to since being a young man.   I welcome the public. As far as TCA goes I support the policy of membership vs visitor. however lets not  charge too much for being a visitor less we drive those having a marginal interest away from being a return purchaser.

Wow Bob!

I eat crab cakes in East TN. Certainly a lot of idiots on here lately.   lol\

Larry

Uh, do all Marylanders have crabs?

Wow, must say I'm sort of surprised at the negative tone and complaining that this thread has devolved to. Perhaps I shouldn't have been, though.

I want to go on the record that my comment about my hot dog at a train meet was intended to be a POSITIVE comment. At that meet I attended, I had fun, enjoyed the hot dog, and in general had a great day. However, I LOOK  and EXPECT to have a great day everyday. I made a conscious choice to look for the good in life a long time ago. With very few exceptions, such a life choice has served me well.

I've never been to York, but if I did go, I would go with the mindset that I will enjoy it to the utmost, and extract all the good from the experience and choose to remember the good and pull the plug on any less than good experiences.

Heard something years ago that stuck with me about a bird that lives in a desert habitat. Yup, the desert: Barren, dry, cacti, snakes, scorpions, etc, are in the desert. However, this bird looks for flowers on cacti and such, and extracts nectar from the flowers for its sustenance. There is also another bird that lives in the same harsh desert habitat. This one looks for the dead carcasses of beasts that didn't survive the desert. It feeds on that carrion for its sustenance. Thus, you have two birds, one looks for the sweet among the harshness, the other looks for the dead and rotting. Two birds, same desert. Both find what they're looking for.

Life CAN be about what you make it to be.

Your choice.

Andre

The bus from LI is  open every hour from 10:00am on to drop off packages.  I have found that vendors if you purchase something of good value they will hold all your purchases for you until you can make it to the buss. After going to york you get to know the vendors and they know you, it works both ways. I love the bus, I sleep there and back, no tolls no gas no wear on your vehicle. and Don fisher of the Riverhead train club as did the prior bus directors look after you  very well.  As Grayhound says: leave the driving to us. The Driver of the bus gets to sleep in a motel from 0900   to 5:00PM so he is ready to drive the 5 hours home, can you say the same for you?

The Crab Cake Sandwiches and homemade pudding from the outside vendors were excellent. I don't know if they still come to the show.

The food always tastes fine to me.  Drinking beer all day long may have something to do with that.  Like I have soda in that coke cup. 

-Greg

Why worry about the food at the fairgrounds. My wife and I enjoy many places to eat at York. One place has free beer and wine out on market street which we go to at least once. Real food is in my opinion what you raise or produce you're self. Being a farmer all my life we produced most of what we ate. When I was a kid in the 50s mom wood bake one of the hams my dad had killed for Christmas day.. She had potatoes we grew that were in cold storage that was just a barrel in a old closet and green beans that were canned the summer before. For what us kids really liked was blackberries that we pi led the summer before and my mom canned in quart jars. That was real food with no preservatives.   I think about these things every time I eat out now with my wife and family. 

Hmmmm, after reading this thread, now I'm in the mood for a York Fairgrounds hot dog and some Brickers fries!

I have eaten at the Orange Hall and the crab cakes from the Orange truck. I very much liked what I had. My only negative experience was many years ago one time I ate breakfast at the dining Hall and it was terrible. I vote No for McDonalds or BK. I am too old to eat that stuff anymore. It just tares me up. In my opinion the food at the York Meet is much better than other train events I have been to. I don't know if the food in the dining hall has improved since I have been there but I think it was last year I walked through there to use the bathroom. It looked better but again I don't know. Sometimes I pack a lunch like others do. If you have a lot of time then going off the fairgrounds for food is a good idea but I never have that much time. 

As for the guys tending the bathroom I always tip them. It's the same thing at Chryslers at Carlisle. I feel bad for these guys so a dollar or two per York isn't going to kill my train budget. 

Traindiesel posted:

Hmmmm, after reading this thread, now I'm in the mood for a York Fairgrounds hot dog and some Brickers fries!

I seem to remember that you were also a big fan of funnel cake.  I haven't heard it mentioned for a few years.

For dinner one night, swing over to Hanover and checkout Warehouse Gourmet Bistro & Brewpub. We go every year since it opened. You’ll forget all about the fair food you had for lunch. 

GG1 4877 posted:

You know it's York season when the complaining starts! 

 

A-men, Jonathan.  And it continues for several weeks after York.

Hey, nobody is complaining, what is going on? Let's see if I can come up with something.

Never mind, I already complained enough. 

Dave

Any one ever eat at Barracuda's Seafood Pub on east side of York near memory lane?

Number 90 posted:

GG1 4877 posted:

You know it's York season when the complaining starts! 

 

A-men, Jonathan.  And it continues for several weeks after York.

I love it and look forward to it twice a year.  I'm a little disappointed that no one has commented  on my favorite breakfast.

wild mary posted:

Traindiesel posted:

Hmmmm, after reading this thread, now I'm in the mood for a York Fairgrounds hot dog and some Brickers fries!

I seem to remember that you were also a big fan of funnel cake.  I haven't heard it mentioned for a few years.

Nick, you’re right, I do love funnel cake!  But I haven’t had one at York in a while. That’s because the last time I did I made the mistake of eating against the wind. Ended up with powdered sugar all over me. 

What I miss is the truck that use to be outside the Orange Hall selling the fruit streusel !!

Traindiesel posted:

Hmmmm, after reading this thread, now I'm in the mood for a York Fairgrounds hot dog and some Brickers fries!

...followed by a big tip for the restroom attendant

Mallard4468 posted:

Traindiesel posted:

Hmmmm, after reading this thread, now I'm in the mood for a York Fairgrounds hot dog and some Brickers fries!

...followed by a big tip for the restroom attendant

Isn’t that where we all end up eventually anyway?!  

I’m confused. Isn’t York a train show? 

Anyway, I think this cat is pulling our legs. Anyone who complains about food quality and then demands a McDonalds or Burger King can’t be serious!

This past April was m first York.  Had a funnel cake from one of the outside vendors for a mid-day snack.  Not difficult to make, but hot with lots of powdered sugar, it really hit the spot!

Jim