ANNOUNCER: The following program was produced in the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross WPSU Production Studio in University Park, Pennsylvania.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Food, a basic necessity.

We all need nutrients to survive and thrive.

Whether your meals come from the field, the fridge, the treasured family recipe, or the takeout menu, something special happens when we come together and share a meal and a common bond.

Culinary connections is where we celebrate the people and places that use food to connect with the world around them.

Today we'll introduce you to Liz Grove and Steve Christensen in Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania.

Their Pine Grove Hall showcases fine local cuisine, craft cocktails, and live music for a unique experience.

It's very similar to a musician putting the notes together, putting the instruments together.

So it's a very creative process.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: And later, Executive Chef Tory Glossner demonstrates his artistry with butternut squash.

I'm Tamra Fatemi-Badi, and welcome to Culinary Connections.

NARRATOR: Culinary Connections is supported in part by The Rockwell Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Supporting the arts, science, technology, and education and a proud supporter of local programs on WPSU.

And Bonfatto's Italian Market and Corner Cafe at 401 West High Street in Bellefonte, offering authentic Italian cuisine and deli items along with custom order espressos and cappuccinos.

Bonfattos.com.

Support also comes from The Tavern Restaurant Downtown State College, offering lunch dinner and cocktails since 1948.

Information at thetavern.com.

And McQuaide Blasko, attorneys at law, a regional law firm serving all of central Pennsylvania.

Information online at mqblaw.com.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Centered in the historic district of Pine Grove Mills, Pine Grove Hall is a farm to table restaurant, speakeasy bar, and live music venue that can only be described as original.

(SINGING) Ain't going to tell the story.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: And our story begins with Liz Grove and her guy, Steve Christensen, who were playing together in a progressive rock and roll band but really needing a place to play.

We had this band and we were playing kind of off the radar songs.

And we had this really thin schedule.

It was like every fifth Tuesday.

And so we had this daydream, like we'll start our own venue.

We know nothing about restaurants.

Nothing.

Except we know that music doesn't make any money.

So Steve and I met in college, actually.

We've known each other a long time.

At Penn State, and we had a band.

We played in a band together.

I was a classical piano major and played in a rock band at night.

And you were an electrical engineer.

So it was interesting.

We have a music background and a tech background.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: After college, the two went their separate ways.

Steve to California to work in the tech industry and Liz to New York City to work in the record business.

LIZ GROVE: I worked for chrysalis records and did radio promotion.

Sinead O'Connor, Billy Idol, Huey Lewis.

It was great.

It was a great time to be in New York.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Years later, Liz moved back to help with her parents' business where she reconnected with Steve, put together another band, and tried to make their dream reality.

But to create the winning combination of food and entertainment, they had to find the perfect venue.

And they kept coming back to The Old Oak Tavern in neighboring Pine Grove Mills, a historic building with everything they were looking for.

LIZ GROVE: It was a decade of searching.

And every time we were like, oh, if we could just get that Old Oak Tavern, because it has the stage.

It has a legitimate stage, you know.

And it's an old building, which we loved.

The history.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: The building that housed The Old Oak Tavern had been central to the community for more than a century.

This was built in 1901.

It was an Oddfellows hall.

And an Oddfellow organization, it's a fellowship organization.

In the '20s and '30s, there were Vaudeville shows.

Every little town had an orchestra.

And we looked up the newspaper clippings and it says the Baileyville Orchestra is playing at the Oddfellows Hall.

And then it was turned into a civic center.

I believe they had the police station upstairs or offices, I think.

There was a lock up upstairs and a shooting range in the basement.

Right.

So it really was the center of the town of Pine Grove Mills.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Liz and Steve knew the couple that owned the building and asked them to call if they ever decided to sell.

Then in 2019, it happened.

LIZ GROVE: I mean, my jaw was, wow.

Because to us, this would be the right place.

It was close enough to state college.

It had just great space, the history.

So yeah, that was just serendipity.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Once the building was signed over, Liz and Steve got to work on their vision for the space.

That's quite the to do list board.

And we had this sort of art deco era, speakeasy.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: 1920s and '30s.

STEVE CHRISTENSEN: Thing in mind, you know.

LIZ GROVE: Oh man, it's beautiful.

These are the guys that are doing the work.

You're amazing.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Over the course of a year and a half through blood, sweat, and a few tears, it all came together.

A space that echoed a 1920s and '30s speakeasy vibe.

LIZ GROVE: So the art deco and the lighting is all period lighting.

It took a long time to find the exact right lights.

It's eclectic, though.

And people know this place for the bar.

It only had one curve at the end, so we had our carpenters add the second curve.

It was a plain wood, and we wanted to make it black.

So he sanded it.

STEVE CHRISTENSEN: Six weeks of my life went into that bar.

And Liz is like, done yet?

Done yet?

Done yet?

But it's beautiful.

[laughs] TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: The new interior created the desired period atmosphere.

But for the music, they wanted state of the art.

LIZ GROVE: So how do we combine high tech and keep it looking old?

That was really important.

We have all of our lights on an app.

We have seven cameras in the ceiling for our live stream system.

And we are little by little getting the reputation that it's a great place to play, because it's a great sound system.

It's a great stage.

And we have a great audience that are really here to listen to the music.

(SINGING) Yeah, mama don't allow it.

Sister don't care.

Papa don't allow.

LIZ GROVE: So we're actually continuing that tradition.

It's interesting to think about that right.

[upbeat music] Let's give a hand for Liz and Steve who run this awesome, awesome place.

LIZ GROVE: See, I didn't know how to run a restaurant, but it turned out that it is just like being in a band.

The talent behind the bar, the creativity behind making a cocktail.

It's very similar to a musician putting the notes together, putting the instruments together.

So it's a very creative process.

And the right people came at the right time to assist.

They would walk in the door.

I don't know how that happens except to say that maybe it was the right time for this all to happen.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Next came an all important move, hiring the right chef.

And luck smiled on them again.

We went to a July 4th party at Liz's cousin's.

I said, I'm looking for a chef.

And she says, oh, you should talk to my son.

His roommate cooks.

My roommate at the time, his mom was doing Liz's hair at a salon.

And then you're like, yeah, everybody's son's roommate cooks, you know.

But it turned out to be Tory.

So I sent her a blind email.

I got an email the next day with a resume.

And he came in for an interview.

TORY GLOSSNER: I met her like two days later here before all this was done.

LIZ GROVE: Then we had a tasting where he cooked for us.

TORY GLOSSNER: And then I cooked her like a prefixed dinner at my house.

It kind of was the same size so it wasn't too funky.

LIZ GROVE: And how he spoke, especially for our young person, I was just, yeah.

STEVE CHRISTENSEN: It was complete serendipity.

And he just turned out to be amazing.

He's amazing.

In the kitchen.

TORY GLOSSNER: She completely just gave me the reins, which was intimidating at first, but ultimately ended up being a great experience.

LIZ GROVE: He's like a musician.

I think of him actually as a jazz musician, because he has all of these ingredients and he sees what's available that week and he makes up a dish.

I don't know how he does what he does.

But he is a real artist.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: And when they hired Tory Glossner, they joined the farm to table movement, sourcing most of their menu's ingredients directly from local farmers.

TORY GLOSSNER: I feel like this area has such great agriculture.

We have beef and chicken and pork and we have tons of vegetables.

And there's people doing mushrooms and there's people raising quail and there's all these things coming from within about 50 to 60 miles of the restaurant.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: One of those farms is Oliver's Path, run by Andrew and Amanda Marshall.

This morning, Andrew brings fresh produce directly to the kitchen.

TORY GLOSSNER: He'll walk up the back steps.

He'll show me everything that he picked for me that is for the dinner tonight.

So I'll start washing and prepping all that.

So it's a lot of back and forth communication between me and him and me and the rest of the farmers around here letting me know availability and dictate ultimately the menu and what we're going to serve.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: To deepen their patrons' connection and understanding of their local growers, Liz and Steve have started a special event every third Wednesday of the month.

STEVE CHRISTENSEN: And we started doing this monthly special-- Supper party.

Supper party.

Right.

Where Liz invites one of the farmers to come in and have a dinner upstairs and talk about their operation.

Because the farmers are kind of the unsung heroes too.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: As chance would have it, tonight's supper party will honor Amanda and Andrew of Oliver's Path and will use their produce for the menu.

ANDREW MARSHALL: We're very excited to see how many people show up.

I'm being told it's sold out.

It's done family style, so it kind of forces you to meet new people, which in turn is creating community.

And we as the farmers will be bouncing around from table to table.

So we're very excited to see everybody here and all the smiling faces.

And I'm sure there'll be quite a few familiar ones.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Pine Grove Hall has proven such a success, they are literally bursting at the seams.

LIZ GROVE: We are expanding next door.

Yes.

Already after three and a half years, we're ready to start restaurant number two.

This is our new restaurant.

It's going to be called Flour & Stone.

It's F-L-O-U-R. Pine Grove Mills had three mills.

At least one was a flour mill.

And so the Flour & Stone is a little bit of a nod to the mills here.

And actually the house, this section was built in 1850.

So it's a very old house.

There's a lot of history here.

My engineers said that we should tear it down and that didn't seem right.

Can't do that in the middle of the village here.

And the concept is pizza, pasta, homemade breads.

And also in the front here, we're going to have a little takeout station for homemade ice cream and for coffee in the morning.

And what we're really excited about is a lot of outdoor seating, especially in the summertime on a beautiful day like this.

Liz and Tory from Pine Grove Hall, welcome to the Culinary Connections kitchen.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

So Liz, you've got something really unique and special at Pine Grove Hall.

What's it been like to develop and start this venture?

It's an adventure.

That is the right word.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Where are we at in our adventure, Tory?

About three and a half years in.

Three and a half years.

The whole process, yeah.

So maybe we're going into a second phase here where we figured out, we have our feet underneath us, we figured out what we're good at and what the community wants, et cetera.

So we're working with a lot of farmers.

We have over 30 that we source from.

A lot of music.

Eat, drink, listen is our tagline.

And yeah, I think that sums it up.

I think that was a good thing that we started at the beginning and that's where we're at, only we're in phase two.

Why don't we get started?

What are you going to make for us here?

TORY GLOSSNER: So we're going to do because of the season that we're in, we're going to do a little butternut squash.

You could also make this dish with pumpkin.

Any kind of hard fleshed wintered pumpkin or squash would work for this.

It's called agrodolce, which means sweet and sour in Italian.

I think it's a Venetian dish by origin.

But essentially, it's a preservation technique.

We're going to use it as a fresh kind of way to pickle it.

So we're going to start off by making agrodolce.

So I'm going to teach you how to do that kind of in a quick process.

I'm going to turn this burner on here.

Get that rolling.

So we start with a base of shallots and garlic.

Get that kind of heated up.

And then traditionally, they would do sugar or citrus.

But because of where we're at in Pennsylvania, our sweet element for this, we decided to use local maple.

Just as another way to tie everything kind of back together.

So we get the oil kind of heated up.

It doesn't need to be super fancy or nice with your knife cuts.

We're just trying to get a little bit of shallot.

So we're going to start with the base of that.

And then we're also going to start with a little bit of garlic.

So that's kind of like the core of everything, whatever you're cooking.

At least for me, there's garlic that goes in just about everything.

We actually at the restaurant, we're messing around recently with, speaking of garlic, a black garlic ice cream.

Trying to put it into desserts as well.

That should be interesting.

Yeah.

So a little bit of shallot goes in there.

A little bit of garlic goes in there.

We just wait for that oil to heat up.

And then we're making this, we like-- you know, a lot of times when we're making dishes, something makes sense in our head but it might not kind of come out to the plate what we're thinking.

We're always thinking about textures.

So for this agrodolce specifically, we have kind of two textural components in the sauce.

One hard component or crunchy component being pine nuts, the other softer one being raisins.

So I like to add those early in the process.

That kind of helps them develop a little caramelization, a little color, and then eventually start to plump up a little bit.

So this is a process that could take 20 or 30 minutes as you're starting to cook it down.

You want it to kind of get to this thick, viscous, kind of sticky sweet and sour sauce.

So I kind of brought one here with us just for the sake of TV.

So this is our maple agrodolce.

There's bay leaf in this.

There's star anise.

There's a little bit of cinnamon.

So it's kind of those fall, winter baking spices that we're working with.

Yeah, it's really nice that you can already smell the garlic and the shallot.

TORY GLOSSNER: And as it cooks, you'll start to get a little bit of that sweet raisin.

I see what you mean.

I'm getting the raisin now.

So they're going to start to plump up.

And this is when I hit it with the maple.

So that's our sweet element.

This is going to sizzle up a little bit.

And the fortunate part about this specific sauce is it's really not that many elements.

You have your base of the shallot, the garlic, and the raisin, and then outside of that, it's essentially a sweet element and a sour element.

So right there just dumping in maple.

In my mind, I'll dump in what vinegar I think I need.

But then I can taste it.

If it's too sweet, I add more vinegar.

If it's too sour, I add more maple.

I would essentially turn the heat down on this.

And you just want to let this kind of cook to this syrupy liquid.

Like I had mentioned before, this is the agrodolce then I made ahead of time.

It's got the bay leaf.

It's got the star anise in there, a little bit of clove.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: And you would put those in later?

TORY GLOSSNER: I would toss those in right around now.

And then just turn it on a low simmer.

And you really can't cook this too long as long as there's liquid in there and it's not going to dry out.

You can let this go low and slow.

I like to start it first thing in the morning and then the kitchen kind of smells like this while I work for the rest of the day.

Yeah, so I just let that cook low and slow.

We're going to end up with something like that.

And then from here, it's actually pretty simple.

So we went with butternut squash.

But like I said earlier, I mean, I've worked at places that do Brussel sprouts.

People can use this for fish.

We went pumpkin or butternut squash just because of the season and there's an abundance of them with our farmers now.

So I preheat the pan.

So we just get kind of a quick cook on this.

I know most people that eat butternut squash, they cook it for a long period of time so it's soft.

I actually like the textural element of having a little crunch to it.

I obviously don't want it to be raw.

But getting a little heat on it to soften it up and then kind of putting it in this agrodolce, it's going to add a little crunch but not be too crunchy.

So you can cut this in any way you like.

We do like these little kind of quarter circle, half moon shapes just because it's aesthetically pleasing when you plate something up.

You get a little oil in the pan for this as well.

So looking for something like that when you're doing this.

About that thickness if you're going to be just quickly cooking the squash for agrodolce.

You can also store the squash in this after it's cooked, which is another way to kind of impart that flavor and cook it a little further because of the acid and salt that's in the agrodolce.

Because like I said, it's a preservation technique.

So let the pan heat up.

And then we just kind of drop these in here.

We don't want to cook them too long.

But we do want to get the pan hot enough we can get a little bit of color on there.

And then we're going to add that agrodolce in there to kind of deglaze the pan and warm it up for the dish.

Just waiting for this to heat up.

LIZ GROVE: That's what they used to do in the olden days.

TORY GLOSSNER: Yeah.

LIZ GROVE: Yeah, pickled eggs.

I grew up locally.

You're also local.

My grandmother would make pickled eggs.

And they used every piece of everything.

So I think we're doing that same thing.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: So I can see you're-- TORY GLOSSNER: Yeah, we're starting to heat up here.

Just getting a light cook on it.

Because like I said, we don't want it raw.

But I do like the texture.

There are some softer things on this plate texturally, which you'll see.

So it ties in nice when we have the pine nuts and a little bit of texture to the squash.

So now we're hearing the right sounds over here.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: The sizzle.

TORY GLOSSNER: Yes, the sizzle.

We're just getting a little bit of color on it, like I said.

And then we're going to add this agrodolce.

That's kind of going to sizzle up and start to coat the squash and caramelize it.

And while this is happening, I like to do another process in the same pan.

So we bake a lot of our own breads at the restaurant.

We do use a local bakery for some things that we use in mass quantities, but this is our icelandic style rye bread.

So this is very baking spice forward.

It's all rye flour 100%.

And then a lot of molasses goes in here.

So it kind of ties into that cold weather kind of cooking.

So I actually just put them off to the side here.

I'm going to let them get a little crispy.

And then they're also going to soak up some of that agrodolce to kind of tie the whole dish together.

All right, so we're starting to get the right color on here.

And this is about when I go in with agrodolce.

So we're just going to let this kind of coat, kind of glaze everything that's in the pan.

And you'll see the bread takes on a nice kind of caramel color.

So I'll just crisp up some of the sides.

Just as a way to bring the whole dish together.

And there are a few other small elements of the plate.

The base of the plate actually, so we buy our dairy locally.

Pardon my reach.

From Valewood.

Same with our milk.

And we make our own ricotta cheese.

Then we take that ricotta cheese and we whip it with a little bit more cream and a little bit of white truffle and just a little bit of white pepper.

So that's the base of this dish.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Wow.

TORY GLOSSNER: So we start off with just a little base like that.

I kind of take these and there's not really a rhyme or reason.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Yeah, I love that caramelized look on the butternut squash there.

Yeah.

TORY GLOSSNER: And then take this nice Icelandic rye that we baked.

It's nice and warm.

It's got kind of that caramel color, a little sticky texture.

It almost kind of becomes like a sticky toffee pudding once you put it in the pan, but in a savory way.

We kind of nestle just a few of those in here into the truffled ricotta.

So this is, let's clean this off, and this is the final dish.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: Wow.

That is beautiful.

Beautiful.

TORY GLOSSNER: Thank you.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: And then Liz, you brought something that you would typically pair with this.

LIZ GROVE: Yes.

We offer beer, wine, and cocktails at the restaurant and we have a great staff that pairs, comes up with suggestions to pair.

Something like this, the cider, we try to do besides the food with locally sourcing.

We try to do that also with our beer and with our wine and also our ciders.

So this is from 814 Ciderworks.

They're just three miles down the road.

Not even three miles.

Yeah, a lot of our beverage program we try to always have local cider, local beer.

We're using local shrubs, a lot of that stuff.

Great.

LIZ GROVE: So that would be the perfect complement to your dish.

TORY GLOSSNER: Yeah.

So I mean, it's mostly, it's all apple based, but the type of apple, it's a semi dry and it pairs in really nicely with that kind of nutty caramelized rye bread and the squash and things like that.

Well, thank you so much for being with us today.

This is amazing.

It smells wonderful.

Can't wait to try it.

And now we move from our kitchen to the connection with history that abounds at Pine Grove Hall.

Liz and Steve found that buying a building with such a long history attracts even more, because people would stop by and drop off historical items.

And it's not surprising that much of that history pertains to music.

LIZ GROVE: Then we also had a gentleman knock at the back door, literally at the kitchen door.

Riggs Griffith.

Riggs' wife was the granddaughter of Simon Ward, who built this.

Simon and his dad were the original builders.

And she inherited the Pine Grove Mills Cornet Band instruments.

And she had just passed away and Riggs came and said, we have these instruments.

I would really like to give them to the village.

We don't have room for all the instruments here, but I pointed him in the direction of the Center County Historical Museum.

And in turn, we will borrow them and we want to display them here, because I am 100% sure they played in this hall.

They would have, yeah.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: It turns out that Simon Ward was more than the builder of Pine Grove Hall.

He was a musician.

LIZ GROVE: Simon lived to be 100 and anybody that lives in Pine Grove Mills will know of Simon Ward.

Well, he had a Gibson guitar.

And Riggs was gracious enough to give us that guitar and the original photograph and a pick he used.

And we plan on putting that on a wall upstairs.

So there's a lot of connections to the past.

Don't you think that Simon Ward is looking down, smiling at what we're doing here?

I do.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: In the beginning, Liz and Steve's motivation was to have a venue where they and their friends could play their music.

In this historic building, they have that now and so much more.

LIZ GROVE: It feels like it's full of that spirit of community and people and, of course, musicians, artists on stage.

So we're just kind of-- I think we're caretakers for a while of the space.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: From early origins as a historical society to a vaudeville stage to today, Pine Grove Hall is now a place to eat, drink, and listen.

Thanks for watching Culinary Connections.

NARRATOR: Culinary Connections is supported in part by The Rockwell Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Supporting the arts, science, technology, and education and a proud supporter of local programs on WPSU.

TAMRA FATEMI-BADI: More episodes of Culinary Connections and a full menu of local programs are available at video.wpsu.org or on the PBS app.

And to experience a whole world of international cuisine, check out World Kitchen at wpsu.org/worldkitchen.

[music playing]