Jake’s on the Park, Godfrey Run Farm Market, Perry’s Pizza, C&Gs food truck are rolling. Region also welcomed Nothing Bundt Cakes to Upper Peach.
Godfrey Run Farm Market in Lake City PA to add music, festivals
Godfrey Run owner Gary Faulkner died in 2022. His family has sold the farm market, cider mill and apple orchard to Joseph, Andrew Sweny of Lake City.
July produced a bumper crop of dining news in the Erie region. A Waterford fixture smoothly changes hands (and little else), while brothers teamed up to breathe new life into Godfrey Run Farm Market in Lake City.
Perry’s Tavern, formerly of the Flagship City Food Hall, reopened as Perry’s Pizza (bring your own alcohol) inside the former Virgil’s Plate, with help from former owner Gary Fleming. Chuck & Ginny’s recipes are now served out of a food truck run by their great-grandson, Nathan Goetz. And don’t forget the new Nothing Bundt Cakes, a national chain that opened a store on Upper Peach Street.
Read on to see what you missed.
Jake’s on the Park has new owners
Jake’s on the Park’s new owners promise to honor its quirks, history
After 20 years in food service, head chef James Rodkey wanted to be his own boss. So he, his wife, Sara, and friend Mark Inscho bought a diner.
Jake’s on the Park, 17 South Park Row in Waterford, might be the quintessential American breakfast and lunch diner. And that suits its new owners just fine.
James Rodkey, 41, the former executive chef at Chautauqua Institution’s Athenaeum Hotel, after 20 years in food service, just wanted to be his own boss. He’s worked at fine dining establishments — including private clubs and hotels before he started at Chautauqua — since graduating from the former culinary arts program at Mercyhurst University.
While steering that “massive operation,” he started to want to be his own boss.
His friend, Mark Inscho, food and beverage manager for the Erie Downtown Development Corp., steered him and his wife, Sara Rodkey, 43, to Jake’s owners, Lynne and Tom Ohmer, who were looking to retire.
“I didn’t know if this was the direction I wanted to go, but when I walked in I said, ‘Yep. This is it. I’m retiring here,'” James Rodkey said. (Inscho owns about 20 percent of the business.)
Brothers from Lake City take on Godfrey Run Farm Market; plan live music, festivals
Joseph Sweny, 33, and his brother Andrew Sweny, 34, with Andrew’s wife Hanna Sweny, 25, have always loved traveling and visiting farm markets. They all live within a few miles of Godfrey Run, 9000 West Lake Road in Lake City, which went up for sale in 2024 following the 2022 death of previous owner, Gary Faulkner.
“We’d always be going to visit farm markets,” Joseph Sweny said. “We always thought it would be cool to own one. Now we’re running one.”
They’ve added some outdoor and indoor seating areas and connected with many local food producers. They’re open Mondays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s rare to drive by and not see the parking lot at least half full.
They’ve added a cooler of locally grown chicken and are planning to bring in steaks and ground beef. They sell ice cream from both Penn State’s Berkey Creamery as well as Pot O Gold. Their mother, Natalie Sweny, accidentally invented their now signature sundae, which combines apple cider slushie with vanilla ice cream.
Their grand opening celebrations are coming in late August, when they’ll crank up the cider mill, and mid-September, when they get some live music acts and throw a fall weekend festival or two.
Nothing Bundt Cakes opens Erie-area store
Jessica and Felipe Valdez opened their first Nothing Bundt Cakes in Pennsylvania in 2020. Nearly five years later, on July 19, they opened a franchise in Erie.
“With Jessica’s family living in Erie, we have often visited and loved all that this special city has to offer,” said Felipe Valdez. “For years, our guests coming to Cranberry Township have asked us to open here, and we’re excited to make that dream come true.”
The Summit Township bakery at 1930 Douglas Parkway opened to the public July 19. Hours are Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Nothing Bundt Cakes has more than 700 franchised bakeries in 40 states and Canada. They offer in-store sales and delivery of its Bundtinis, the brand’s cupcake-sized Bundt cakes, as well as personal-sized Bundtlets and 8- and 10-inch Bundt cakes, plus decorations and gift options. The cakes are baked daily in 40 designs and 10 flavors.
Craving a Perry’s Pizza slice? Food hall alums branch out on their own
Perry’s Pizza opens on West Sixth with special recipes, fresh approach
The couple, which ran Perry’s Tavern in the Flagship City Food Hall, have been working for months to get ready at the former Virgil’s Plate.
Perry’s Tavern lovers, rejoice. The duo that brought you the Honey Bear pizza (house-made hot honey with mozzarella, white cheddar and freshly grated Parmesan) is back in action at an unofficial Erie shrine to pizza: 1001 W. Sixth St., where Virgil’s Plate closed last summer. Perry’s Pizza is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 4 to 9 p.m. to start. They might expand their hours after they get their feet wet.
This isn’t just another pizza shop, at least not to these owners, both 36. Bruni, whose grandparents immigrated from Italy, learned to make sausage and meatballs from her grandfather. Those are on the menu, as well as their brick oven pizzas that were popular at Perry’s Tavern at the Food Hall.
Bruni described their pizza as New York-style that’s made in a brick oven.
“If you handle pizza dough correctly, you get a nice product,” Smith said. “We are paying attention to all the details.”
Chuck & Ginny’s legacy lives on in their great-grandson’s food truck, C&Gs
Chuck & Ginny’s great-grandson serves sauce, ravioli, more from food truck
Chuck & Ginny’s recipes for sauce, ravioli and meatballs find new life through great-grandson Nathan Goetz’ food truck, called C&G’s.
Chuck & Ginny’s restaurant, formerly at West Fifth and Raspberry streets in Erie, may have closed 18 years ago, but its sweet sauce, hearty meatballs, meat and cheese ravioli and homemade pasta can still be found wherever Nathan Goetz parks his food truck.
Goetz is the great-grandson of the original Chuck & Ginny. His food truck is called C&G’s, and can run as a two-person job, with the help of his girlfriend, Sara Wettekin. His uncle, Cleve Pullian, also helps out.
Goetz started the truck in June 2024 after leaving the Saga Club, 3828 Washington Ave., after four years serving Italian food there.
Business is good.
“People have welcomed the food truck with open arms,” he said. “It’s a new era for an old restaurant. I’m just trying to do what I can to keep it around.”
Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Find her weekly newsletter at https://profile.goerie.com/newsletters/erielicious/.