Quick Bites: 'America's Best,' a new mall restaurant and vegan ice cream

The Herald-Mail
·3 min read

America's Best Restaurants features Captain Benders

SHARPSBURG — The crew of America's Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focusing on bringing attention to local, independently-owned restaurants, brought ABR Roadshow to Captain Bender's Tavern at 111 E. Main St. in Sharpsburg this month. The episode will be aired on social media channels at a later date.

Captain Raleigh Benders opened the tavern in 1936 after the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which had provided his livelihood, closed. The tavern has the oldest continuous liquor license in the county, with a run of 87 years. Stephen Kemmet has owned the tavern for the last 15.

Rumor has it that the tavern's signature menu item — “The Monument - Tower of Death,” a triple half-pound burger layered with chili, ghost pepper cheese, “death sauce,” fried pickles, a thick onion ring and spicy dipping sauce, will be featured.

The restaurant’s finished episode premiere date will be announced on America's Best Restaurants' Facebook page and will be featured on its website at https://americasbestrestaurants.com/rests/maryland/captain-benders-tavern.

Lady Jay's Catering and Restaurant in Valley Mall.
Lady Jay's Catering and Restaurant in Valley Mall.

Lady Jay's Catering & Restaurant opens at Valley Mall

HALFWAY — Lady Jay’s Catering & Restaurant opened Friday at Valley Mall, offering offering soul food cuisine, gluten-free options, vegetarian options, keto-friendly, and more! It also provides family meal options and its own version of “meals on wheels” — directly from their kitchen to yours.

Find the restaurant near J.C. Penney, 17301 Valley Mall Road.

Big Dipper makes PETA's 'Nice Cream Trail'

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently unveiled a “Nice Cream Trail” to help vegans, people with lactose intolerance, and everyone looking for dairy-free ice cream find these options in Maryland, and one local shop made the list.

The Big Dipper at 1033 Virginia Ave., Hagerstown, offers a vegan Hershey’s hand-dipped flavor (such as Classic Cookie) and a vegan soft-serve flavor (such as Strawberry, Black Cherry, or Pistachio) every day, PETA noted in a news release.

“Customers are clamoring for ice cream that’s kind to cows, and more shops than ever are meeting the demand for delicious, dairy-free desserts,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in the release. “PETA’s ‘Nice Cream Trail’ gives ice cream lovers the scoop on where to find the best vegan ice cream, and we encourage everyone to support these local businesses.”

Shops on the “Nice Cream Trail” will receive a window sign from PETA along with pamphlets that show a trail map for all the shops.

Let us help you

Do you own a bar or restaurant? Have some news? Share it with Quick Bites, and share it with the whole county. Here's how it works:

  • Give us just a paragraph or so about what's new at your establishment. Please include the name, phone number and email address of your contact person so we can verify the information or get further details as needed.

  • Email this information to lifestyle@herald-mail.com. Put Quick Bites in the subject line.

  • We'll compile the information into a digest to run periodically in our Lifestyle section.

We're looking for contributions for this feature from restaurants, coffee shops, wineries and breweries, food trucks, bakeries and special event venues. To be included, please send your information to us by 4 p.m. Fridays.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Quick Bites: News from local eateries