This week’s Good Stuff highlight? Happy Valley Restaurant Week!

Happy Valley Restaurant Week 2025 kicked off on Friday, June 13 with 28 restaurants serving up brand new entrees, appetizers, drinks and desserts for one week only. Actually, HVRW is 10 days, but you are going to need the extra time to eat your way through all the deliciousness that our talented chefs and mixologists are creating just for HVRW!

A bunch of us local food lovers from the Rediscover State College team have been working to bring this celebration of State College culinary goodness together. We’ve been busy talking with chefs, photographing (and tasting!) the specials, and promoting the event around town. A highlight for us is witnessing the enthusiasm and creativity of chefs, restaurant owners, GMs and culinary staff.

Photographer Matt Fern in action at Flour & Stone

It’s impossible to pick favorites, so we are going to dish (get it?) on the five restaurants that have participated in all five years of Happy Valley Restaurant Week since it was relaunched in 2021 — it was formerly known as Happy Valley Culinary Week.

One of our first stops this year was Pine Grove Hall, where Head Chef Brittney Pereda loves whipping up colorful and flavorful creations for HVRW. She is also the Head Chef of Flour & Stone, Pine Grove Hall’s new sister restaurant right next door and a new addition to HVRW.

Pereda brought us into the kitchen and created her dishes right in front of us. At Pine Grove Hall she prepared an Asian-inspired cucumber salad with pickled ginger and fried shallots. For Flour & Stone she plated a dish with North African roots: Lamb Merguez and peppers with a harissa yogurt and flatbread. We cleaned our plates — everything Pereda makes is delicious.

(Above) Chef Pereda topping her Lamb Merguez with Bulgarian Feta
(Below) Smashed Cucumber Salad HVRW Special at Pine Grove Hall | Photo: Matt Fern

In downtown State College, chef John Clickner had only been at Federal Taphouse for a few weeks when we talked with him last year. Now, with a little over a year under his belt at this establishment, Clickner presented a selection of made-from-scratch wow-worthy dishes. His chicken quesadillas and brisket mac and cheese bring elevated comfort foods to the table. These cheesy dishes would pair well with the Pickletini cocktail special or one of the many (do we know how many?) beers they have on tap. And we wouldn’t skip dessert. The triple layer lemon cake is a summer treat.

(Above) Federal Taphouse Chicken Quesadillas
(Below) Their HVRW Triple Layer Lemon Cake | Photos: Matt Fern

Just a short drive from State College in nearby Bellefonte, State Burger Co. owner Dustin Smith told us that his team has been brainstorming for months in preparation for HVRW. State Burger Co. uses HVRW as an excuse to let their imaginations loose and to have fun! This year they dreamed up a whole Willy Wonka-themed milkshake they are calling The Golden Ticket. And yes – there are five Golden Tickets to be claimed during HVRW for gift certificates and fun prizes from State Burger Co.

State Burger’s Willy Wonka-themed milkshake, The Golden Ticket | Photo: Matt Fern

When we rolled into the Hublersburg Inn, GM Erin Pugh and her team pulled out all the stops. This year, they are featuring a gazpacho, two seafood entrees, a baked custard, and three cocktails! It’s always fun doing the photo shoot out on the back patio – a great summertime spot to enjoy dinner, drinks and live music.

Hublersburg Inn’s HVRW cocktail lineup: Fairy Garden Club, Guava Chili Sour, and Charred Lime and Cilantro Palomo | Photos: Matt Fern

Finally, RE Farm Café continued to impress us with the flavors they create with simple and in season ingredients. Chef Brenda Palmer finished her local Pole Cat Hollow Farm chicken with a black currant sauce made from berries picked just outside the building! And some of us were extra happy to see an alcohol-free beverage special, The Garden Party. This fresh mint and cucumber drink could be described as “the mojito’s far more interesting cousin.”

(Above) The Garden Party, ReFarm’s HVRW alcohol-free beverage special
(Below) Their Black Currant Chicken | Photos: Matt Fern

You can find a list of all 28 restaurants that are participating in this year’s Happy Valley Restaurant Week along with the specials they will be preparing on theHappy Valley Restaurant Week website. You can also follow along on social media @happyvalleyrestaurantweek.

How can you participate in the fun?

Step 1: Browse this year’s list of participating restaurants.
Step 2: Decide which drool-worthy meal you’ll try first.
Step 3: Dine out or order in from June 13-22, 2025.
Step 4: Use #happyvalleyrw to show us your favorite Restaurant Week meals! Plus, fill out the participation card (find a hard copy or fill it out online) to be entered to win a grand prize of tickets to Spikes and the Curve baseball!