Just adding Steve & Irene’s, a simple hoagie shop in Childs, PA, to my favorite places within two hours of home list. Eliza and I ordered two hoagies for lunch today and they were both fantastic.

I’d recommend the Pittsburgh or the Child’s. Both come with spicy ranch and either french fries or onion rings jammed into them. Delicious.

On Wednesday my friend Chris and I ate dinner at Pete N’ Reenie’s in Eynon, PA – a 50s-style burger/shake joint. The food was delicious, the service was good (the owner was our waitress), and the place is altogether great.

I think Pete N’ Reenie’s is going to quickly become one of my favorite places within two hours of my home. Chris had a “Blue Moon” which was a grilled buffalo chicken “burger” that had hot sauce on it. I gobbled up a Pete’s Favorite, which was a delicious burger with onion rings on it (pictured right).

But, let me tell you about the sweet potato fries. I love sweet potato fries. All by themselves they are simply fantastic fries. However, at Pete N’ Reenie’s they are one-upped by some delicious apple sauce that they serve with it. I am not sure if this is done often and I’m the only person on the planet that had never heard of it, but I don’t think I ever want sweet potato fries any other way again.

Being a burger and shake joint of course I had to leave with a strawberry shake. I love shakes that are the real deal. Real fruit floating around inside, thick, and delicious.

So, needless to say I highly recommend Pete N’ Reenie’s (and I’m not alone). You can find it at 463 Main St. in Eynon, PA 18403 (map).

Adding to my 2hourfavs list is Donovan’s Restaurant in Archbald, PA. Donovan’s serves breakfast and lunch and is your quintessential “hole in the wall” diner.

Although there is a much nicer, more welcoming side-entrance to Donovan’s the first time we visited the diner was through the less-than-welcome front door. If you saw it, and I will someday update this post with a photo of it, you would never think there was a diner inside. This is actually what attracted me to Donovan’s. It is the exact type of diner I’m most attracted to.

The owner is also the cook. And a good cook. I have never heard a single complaint about the food. Last Saturday we went there and, much to our surprise, they offered oatmeal pancakes with ingredients like bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate chips. I made the mistake of ordering regular banana pancakes (that isn’t to say they weren’t absolutely delicious, just that they weren’t nearly as good as the oatmeal pancakes that others got).

I could go on and on about this place but I think I’ve said enough to recommend that, if you’re ever anywhere near Archbald Pennsylvania – you should stop by at Donovan’s. Here is a map to its location.

Eating a Gombo at The Goose with Kyle, Jeff, and Rob. Incredisandwich.

Related: I’m adding “The Goose” to my favorite places less than 2 hours from home list.

Wow. This could be a really, really long list. I would say most people’s favorite places are within 2 hours from their home because, well, they are relatively close to their home. Obviously I have some favorite places on this earth that are no where near where I live (which is in northeastern Pennsylvania, btw). Hawai’i, New York City, some places in North Carolina and Florida, as well as various locations in California all immediately spring to mind. But they don’t count!

So, since this list will be too incredibly long to deal with – lets focus for a bit and simply create a tag here on the blog to create this list overtime. We’ll call this tag 2hourfavs.

Watch that tag. It will probably get pretty big.