Stopping in a small town and trying a local Mom and Pop place can be hit or miss.  But sometimes, you stumble across a place that serves wonderful home cooked food.  Joey’s Bakery and Restaurant in Ridgway, PA is one such place.

Joey’s has a full breakfast menu but as I was there at lunch time I stuck to the subs and sandwich part of the menu. Ridgway must be close enough to Pittsburgh to have a sandwich with that name. This means the meat of your choice served, Primanti‘s style, with french fries. Pizza is also available.

Bolstering my confidence in my choice, I noticed most of the other patrons were getting sandwiches.  The special of the day, an open faced turkey sandwich, was especially popular. If I had seen that before ordering, that is probably what I would have gotten.  Instead, I got a steak sub.  They have a Philly style cheese-steak on the menu, but I went with another option: the Black Diamond steak sub. This is a full steak, cooked to your specification, chopped up and served on a sub and covered with cheese, onions, and peppers.  I ordered it medium well and that is exactly what I got: steak with just a little bit of pink.  It was delicious.

Black Diamon Steak Sub

Very Berry Pie

All sandwiches are served with chips. They can be upgraded to fries, but these chips are no ordinary chips. They were freshly cut and came straight out of the oven, still warm when I got them. I had to wait bit because of this, but they were certainly worth it.

For dessert, you can order from the bake goods counter or get a slice of pie. Whole pies are also for sale. I went with a pie. The very-berry pie. With most very-berry pies, all the flavors mix and you get a generic tasting fruit pie. Not this one. Filled with cherries, raspberries, and gooseberries, each individual berry can be tasted while the combination gave the pie a unique taste. It is without a doubt the best very-berry pie I have ever tasted. The crust was not as flaky as I would have liked, but nevertheless was and fresh and crisp.

I did order from the baked goods counter as well, taking s sample to go. The selection was a plain donut, a cinnamon roll, and a fudge brownie. Even though I had them several days later, I could tell that the staff are expert bakers. All were very well made and tasted as they should. I especially liked the frosting on the brownie.

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I thoroughly enjoyed both my meal and the baked goods. Joey’s is a great find, and I hope to return.