6 minute read
The Magic of the Bittersweet Café
Visiting an enchanting slice of heaven in the Laurel Highlands.
By Jodi Buchan
Photos by Heidi Lewis
Once upon an October, my sister-in-law and I were on our way to bicycle the Greater Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail in Ohiopyle when we drove past a magicallooking establishment: covered porch on one side, courtyard with al fresco dining sets on the other, and a grand pergola anchored in the front of the homey two-story structure. We exchanged looks. Yes!
We turned off State Route 381 onto Farmington-Ohiopyle Road where a sign declaring “Bittersweet Café” hung under the arch of a mature bittersweet vine.
Outside, the café was adorable in autumn. Pumpkins and planters brimming with late season foliage festooned the grounds. The porch, with a long rectangular table and wooden swing, evoked scenes of conversation and communal gatherings. Seasonal vignettes intimately adorned ornamented tabletops and nooks. With a honeyed tongue-and-groove ceiling, crisp, white-paneled walls, and ambient layers of light, entering Bittersweet was like walking into the embrace of a dear friend.
A long farm table stretched across the middle of the main room, serving as dining or display. In a cozy corner, two saddle-brown leather chairs near an elevated gas fireplace invited intimate conversation, a people-watching perch, or simply a place to read while sipping a caffè latte. Along one wall was a blackboard dedicated to paying kindness forward that was started a few years back by a girl who found a $20 bill on the floor and wanted to donate it to a police officer. Depending on the season, customers can purchase a snowflake or a gift card that someone in need can use as café currency. A side room of four-tops and a family table suggests a setting perfect for laptop enterprises, story-swapping, or a delicious meal after a day of touring Laurel Highlands.
A Purposeful Charm
The charming atmosphere, inviting for those whose favorite time of year includes leaf-peeping and sipping comforting drinks smelling of spice, is the result of hard work and intention by owner Terri Krysak and her family.
“I love detail, beautiful palettes,” Krysak says. “We work really hard to make it welcoming.”
This attention goes beyond a sense of place—it extends to the care in product sourcing, menu planning, and food and drink preparation.
“It comes down to knowing what’s in our ingredients,” she says, adding, “I’m adamant about fresh.” Krysak says seeking out the best from local partners is her responsibility. Partners include Footprints Farms in Gibbon Glade, whose golden-yolk eggs come from pasture foraging hens; artisan dairy fare from New Salem’s family-run Jackson Farms; and 100% pure maple syrup from Sechler Sugar Shack over in the Turkeyfoot Valley.
Krysak turns homeward to grow herbs, roast fresh tomatoes, and put up fruit and vegetables (beet lovers rejoice!). Bittersweet makes its own apple maple bourbon jam, red pepper jelly, coffee syrups, and raspberry drizzle that tastes “like a slice of summer” in the middle of winter. Krysak, who has a background in catering, turns the region’s bounty into a menu that reads upscale fresh.
Whether customers are stopping on their way to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, exploring the area while staying at nearby Nemacolin, or needing a place to have lunch with a grandchild where they can land their helicopter (no kidding), people keep “pouring in the door.” inviting presence. Grams continued to run the shop even when she lost her sight, trusting her customers to help her ring up their purchases. Ever forward-looking and planning, Krysak shared her idea of turning part of the shop into a café. Grams said, “Go for it!” in their shared spirit of making dreams come true.
Krysak says while Bittersweet Café is a locale with food and drinks, it’s also a space where “people can commiserate, share their stories … cry, laugh, read, talk, be quiet.” She adds, “It’s a place where anything can happen.” She tells how some people visiting from Oakland, California, who started up a conversation with each other learned they live a block apart and became fast friends.
Krysak believes Bittersweet is not just a place, not a brand that can be duplicated across the country (as has been suggested by some who want the café’s experience closer to home). She says it’s a place where people don’t feel different, somewhere that’s “more about heart.”
The atmosphere, the fresh offerings, the care are all characteristics and qualities Krysak attributes to her upbringing, to the Bittersweet’s beginnings: her mother.
In The Beginning
Before there was a Bittersweet Café, there was Mary Lou Fisher, a.k.a. Mom, Gaga, Grams. About 26 years back, Grams, a “people lover” and entrepreneur by nature, opened up Bittersweet Antiques in her home. The name came from her love of the vine coupled with the bitter and sweet essence of antiques.
“People from all over the world stopped in to talk with her,” Krysak says, explaining how they “gravitated toward” her quietly inviting presence. Grams continued to run the shop even when she lost her sight, trusting her customers to help her ring up their purchases. Ever forward-looking and planning, Krysak shared her idea of turning part of the shop into a café. Grams said, “Go for it!” in their shared spirit of making dreams come true.
The endeavor resulted in the Bittersweet Café and a multi-generational, family-run business. Husband, sons, daughters-inlaw, and even her 11-year-old grandson all share in whatever needs doing. Whether it’s behind the scenes, creating custom light fixtures and baking tomorrow’s treats, or upfront taking handcrafted drink orders and serving up Black Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, “they all have different, special talents.”
With the recent loss of Grams at age 95, Krysak and her family continue building on the Bittersweet legacy. In addition to the core location in Farmington and Bittersweet at the Falls in Ohiopyle (a seasonal stop for “on the go” sustenance), the Krysaks plan to open Stay Bittersweet just up the road in the coming year. Stay will include a main house with six primary suites and several self-sustaining cabins, all on an expanse of scenic property. The design details are being hammered out, literally, but Krysak says the intent is to embrace the Bittersweet magic and its mission.
Krysak says she feels blessed that the most important thing she does is create community as she talks with people. She reflects that when she wears her heart on her sleeve, people feel comfortable wearing theirs and share their stories.
“All of our stories in life are bittersweet … focus on the sweet,” she urges.
For More
Bittersweet Cafe
205 Farmington-Ohiopyle Road
Farmington, PA 15437
724-329-4411
terrikrysak@gmail.com
Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday;
noon to 6 p.m., Sunday, and closed Tuesday and Wednesday
