The Brick House Cafe along Main Street in Manheim, Pennsylvania, is getting free advertising from me today.

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In a sister city named for its counterpart in Mannheim, Germany, The Brick House serves freshly prepared soups, salads, and sandwiches. It also serves up another “S” – Signs from the 1950s. Take a look!

BoxChocolatesHarassingCookSignLardFamilyBattleOfWitsSign

And finally, this:

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All posted on the back of the Ladies’ Restroom door! Now I have to wonder what was posted in the Men’s Restroom. . . .


Country Meadows restaurant, nestled in a grassy knoll northwest of Elizabethtown, boasts a menu of stick-to-your-ribs PA Dutch food along with some high-calorie choices.

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Signs are few here, but there is lots of neon in the decor . . .

CountryMeadowsGold

. . . and advertising their specials:

CountryMeadowsBlue

CountryMeadowsPurpleCountryMeadowsGreen

If you are waiting for a table, you can see all the specials in every rainbow hue.


John Lanchester, a confessed foodie, talks about our eating habits in the November 3, 2014 issue of The New Yorker. In an essay entitled “Shut Up and Eat” Lanchester explains that

Once upon a time, food was about where you came from. Now, for many of us, it is about where we want to go–about who we want to be, how we choose to live. Food has always been expressive of identity, but today those identities are more flexible and fluid: they change over time, and respond to different pressures.

Then he elaborates on the craze of pickles, kale, and his mother’s favorite dish, spag- bol, a British recipe “that blends a meat ragù of a northern-Italian type with the dry pasta beloved in the south. . . .”

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Signs and Wonders has been a theme in several previous blog posts: once in Monterey, CA, Jacksonville, FL and earlier in Elizabethtown, PA. Check them out if you missed them.

Today’s post is a hodge-podge: Restaurants in Lancaster County and their menus, goofy signs in restrooms, and a New Yorker article on how we identify with food.

Care to comment? Any or all of the above topics are fair game. You may even add a strange sign you’ve seen!