Publisher’s Letter

Happy New Year! As we have done for 22 years, County Lines celebrates our local restaurants — the “Best of the Best” — as part of our annual Dining Guide.

This year the “Best of the Best” focuses on local dining spots that have consistently offered a delightful, dependable and scrumptious meal at over 100 restaurants, eateries and saloons. Whether due to their delicious preparation, lovely ambience, or prompt and friendly service, they have consistently pleased their diners and contributed to our community.

Our “Dining Guide 2026” and “Food Events” articles offer a full calendar of festivals, cooking competitions, restaurant weeks, beer gardens and wine tastings. Try one. Or two. Or …

For home chefs, “What’s Your Taste in Cookbooks?” provides a selection of cookbooks for all kinds of palates, from plant-forward plates to pasta ensembles to chocolate desserts. In “Protein,” a registered dietician looks at the public’s current craze and separates the hype from the facts.

In “Give Me the Simple Life,” our Food Editor Liz Tarditi remembers her first tastes of polenta, pâté and caviar, explaining that “the best” usually begins with “something deliciously ordinary.” “Winner, Winner, Rotisserie Dinner” describes why a chicken from Costco may be more versatile than you think.

In Brandywine Stories, as we look forward to the nation’s semiquincentennial, we turn to the past, and how we cooked 250 years ago. Read “Hearth to Hearth: Colonial Cooking in Chester County.”

For 2026, we suggest a new direction for the sober-curious and the caffeine-cautious. “After Dry January” explores swapping your morning’s java jolt for a cozy pot of tea.

Finally, check out our Best Local Events section for more fun to discover in the Brandywine Valley.

Perhaps you already have County Lines delivered to your mailbox. Save it for future reference. At CountyLinesMagazine.com, you can read the January issue online. At Issuu.com, you can read the digital issue. Or click “Get A Copy” on our website to find locations to pick up your own print copy.

We hope you’d like to subscribe to County Lines. Do it on our website or call 610-918-9300. For single issues, try Baldwin’s Book Barn, Wellington Square Bookshop, Main Point Books, More Than Books, Bookish Notions or Reads & Co. Bookstore. Visiting an advertiser is also a great — and free — way to find copies!

We hope you enjoy this issue. From all of us at County Lines, best wishes for a happy New Year!

Thank you for reading.

Best of the Best 2026

Eating well in the Brandywine Valley is easy. We’re blessed with a bounty of choices for places to eat, drink and meet up. For 2026, we focus on places with a loyal following, where the local community gathers, for breakfast, lunch, dinner and happy hour. They are places that draw patrons back again and again. Make plans to share with family, friends, and neighbors and make new memories at these local favorites.

Give Me the Simple Life

Some of our classic gourmet foods were originally peasant food. Polenta, for example, became a staple 16th-century Italy, when affordable American corn became widely and cheaply available. Pâté had its origins as finely ground meatloaf. In fact, with slightly different seasoning, it can be compared to scrapple. Caviar began in Russia as the breakfast of fishermen. They craved the saltiness, which kept them going through their hard labor. In 19th-century America, saloons put out bowls of caviar for free, more or less like pretzels. Somehow, the humble eventually became highbrow.

Hearth to Hearth: Colonial Cooking in Chester County

As the 250th celebration of the Declaration of Independence approaches, we are reminded that the revolution was sustained not only by courage but also by food. Colonial cooks wasted little, ate what they harvested, and preserved crops, livestock and game by pickling, drying, smoking and salting. Early kitchens were places of chemistry, endurance and community. While battles claim the headlines, the cooks fed soldiers, neighbors and families through scarcity and fear.