Why Dips Local?

Because parents need a game plan, too.

Welcome to Dips Local. This site is our attempt to answer the important questions that never appear on the lacrosse schedule:

Where should we eat after the game?

Who can handle a table of twelve?

Where can we find a really good cocktail?

And what are we supposed to do with the rest of the family between faceoffs?

We’re Scott and Rose Krause, parents of Owen Krause, a junior on the F&M men’s lacrosse team. More importantly for this particular project, we are longtime Lancaster locals. We returned to Lancaster almost 30 years ago and have had a front-row seat as the city and surrounding communities evolved from a place most visitors knew simply as “Amish Country” into the lively little city it is today.

Don’t get us wrong: Lancaster County’s Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch heritage remains a wonderful and important part of what makes this area special. The rolling farmland surrounding the city, and the Amish and non-Amish families who work it, also gives our restaurants access to incredible local meats, produce, dairy, grains and more.

But Lancaster has become so much more.

Over the past 20 years, development projects such as the Lancaster County Convention Center, the arrival of minor league baseball at what is now Penn Medicine Park, F&M’s continued investment around campus and a broader revitalization of downtown have helped bring new energy into the city. The Lancaster Stormers have played here since 2005, while the Convention Center now draws events and visitors directly into the heart of downtown. (Lancaster Stormers⁠)

Along the way, old warehouses found new lives, neglected buildings were restored, art galleries and independent shops opened, and Lancaster’s restaurant scene took off.

Today, you can find everything from farm-to-table dining and wood-fired Italian food to Venezuelan arepas, Vietnamese pho, Nepalese momos, Japanese street food and some seriously good burgers —all within a relatively small and walkable city. Lancaster’s food culture reflects not only the farms surrounding it, but also the immigrant and refugee communities that have added new flavors and traditions to the area. (Food & Wine⁠) And apparently, the secret is getting out.

Food & Wine recently called Lancaster’s food scene “travel-worthy,” highlighting its local ingredients, culinary diversity and growing collection of destination restaurants. The Philadelphia Inquirer has also taken notice, celebrating the city’s modern dining scene and its increasing national recognition. (Food & Wine⁠)

Those of us who live here have become a little spoiled by it. We sometimes forget that the restaurant where we casually grab dinner would be considered a special find somewhere else. Or, that the tiny neighborhood spot we pass every day may be exactly the place a visiting family would love, but never discover through a generic internet search.

That is where Dips Local comes in.

We want to share the Lancaster restaurants, hotels, activities and local favorites we have come to know and, frankly, take for granted. We’ll cover the obvious places that deserve the attention, but we also want to point you toward the neighborhood gems, unusual stops and practical lifesavers you might otherwise miss.

We’ll tell you where to go for breakfast when you're visiting or the day after a home game, which restaurants work for a larger group, where to take younger siblings, what to do on a rainy afternoon and where to find a memorable dinner when you have a little more time.

We also enjoy a good cocktail, particularly bourbon, so we plan to undertake the difficult but necessary work of evaluating some of Lancaster’s best drinks. This research will be conducted responsibly, thoughtfully and entirely for the benefit of the F&M lacrosse community. You’re welcome.

Most importantly, we do not want Dips Local to be only our guide. Lancaster is constantly changing, and no two families experience it in quite the same way.

Tell us what we missed. Comment on a listing. Share your experience. Suggest a restaurant, hotel or activity we should include, or contribute a recommendation of your own. We especially want the little details that help other parents: where you parked, whether you needed a reservation, what worked for a big group and which cocktail was worth ordering twice.

We’ll provide the starting lineup. We hope the entire Dips lax community will help build the playbook.

Welcome to Dips Local.

Let’s eat, explore and have a little fun between games.