Pennybackers

Leaving this post up for posterity, but Pennybacker's closed in fall 2012.

• Location: 14 E. Water Street
• Website: http://www.pennybackers.com/
• Food profile: soups, salads, sammies.
• Local sourcing: Not sure. If they use local ingredients, they don't say so.
• Price: $7 ish for a sandwich
• Take-out: Yes! And also catering.
• Warnings: For a grilled cheese, if you don't specify what kind of bread and cheese you want, you will end up with American on white. The servers don't always ask.
• Specialties: This is the place if you want a gourmet tomato soup and grilled cheese combo. All the deliciousness of childhood nostalgia, with the option of having actually good food. Yum! I'm also a big fan of the Corey. It's the only chicken salad I've ever tasted that can rival my mother-in-law's.

About Pennybackers:
This is a relative newcomer to the downtown dining scene, and may I say, "WELCOME!" They've done a great job renovating an old carriage house in the Pennybacker building. The place feels warm and friendly, like an English pub, and is decorated with old photos and postcards of Harrisonburg in days of yore. Although they're new to downtown, they've already invested in good works. Before their opening, they auctioned off their tables at a benefit for the Harrisonburg Children's Museum. Winners were able to make a design on the tabletops with pennies. Bonus: if you go there with a small child and the kid gets antsy, challenge him to find all 10 heads-up pennies in your table. The staff is generally friendly, and the management is superb. In the summertime, head up to the roof-top. The view is great--arguably the best roof-top view in town.

Food:
Pennybackers makes a great sandwich. They're piled thick with all the fixings, and the ingredients are mostly very high-quality. There's also a wide selection, and you can mix and match to make your perfect lunch combo. Pretty much everything comes with a side of tatertots, which makes me feel like I'm about seven years old again...not that this is a bad thing. My one complaint is that there aren't many ways to sub in another side without getting more food than I probably wanted (for example, adding a bowl of soup). I have a potato allergy, so I gaze longingly at my friends' tots, and usually surrender mine to them. Most other downtown restaurants have at least one non-potato side option.

The soups also deserve a mention. I had a mushroom brie soup there a few weeks ago that was just amazing. The tomato soup runs a little on the spicy side--great for grown-ups who long for the happy days of childhood, but maybe not that great for actual children. I'd avoid it if your child has a sensitive palate.

Atmosphere:
Casual, but not too casual. It's a good family place, but you shouldn't be embarrassed to take a business lunch there. It's warm and inviting, but not sloppy.

But what if I hate soups, salads, and sandwiches?
Who hates soups, salads, and sandwiches??? Go somewhere else. Jack Brown's is just down the block. Get a hamburger and wait for your normal friends to finish a great lunch at Pennybackers. You all can catch up at the cat store.

Kline's Dairy Bar

• Location: 58 E. Wolfe St. (the Jetsons-era building near the post office) and 2425 S. Main St. (look for the giant neon cone), also locations in Staunton and Waynesboro.
• Website: http://www.klinesdairybar.com/ 
• Food profile: ice cream and ice cream-related foods.
• Local sourcing: I don't think Kline's uses locally produced milk, which is too bad, given the amount of dairy farming in Rockingham County. If they do, they aren't advertising it!
• Prices: $2.36 for a single-dip in a sugar cone.
• Take-out: It's pretty much all take-out. Both locations offer patio seating, but you're free to take your cone for a downtown stroll. They also offer to-go containers with lids (be sure to specify when you order) and ice cream by the gallon.
• Warnings: On Wednesdays, the flavor of the week is SUBJECT TO CHANGE. I'm just telling you, so you won't be disappointed. Don't you dare ask to mix flavors (a scoop of vanilla, then a scoop of chocolate). It's seriously against the rules.

About Kline's: 
Kline's Dairy Bar is a Harrisonburg institution. It's been in operation since 1943, when Grover and Johnny Kline opened up their store on North Main (bonus points for having a founder named "Grover." How cool is that?). In the '60s, it moved to its present location on Wolfe Street. The Kline's process is slow and labor-intensive, and it yields an unusual eggless custard-style ice cream. Because the process takes a long time, each Kline's location only offers three flavors per week: vanilla, chocolate, and one special flavor. The special flavors are listed on boards at each location (and are different for each location), as well as on their website and Twitter. On a hot summer day, Kline's serves around 2000 people!

Food:
Man, that is some nice ice cream. It's nothing fancy, but it's good. It's creamy and delicious, and the fruit flavors actually taste like there was some fruit involved at some point. My personal favorite is the pumpkin ice cream, and we're just now getting into the season for it. I'm not alone--someone on North High St. put a sign in their yard last week that just said, "Kline's has pumpkin!" Kline's is usually mobbed in the summertime, and for good reason, but you'll see me gripping my sugar cone in my little mittened hands.

Atmosphere:
Kline's has that vintage small-town-big-heart feeling. You get your ice cream and admire the planters, wave to your neighbors, and feel happy. The South Main location, through no fault of anyone at Kline's, doesn't have quite the happy, mellow feel of the Wolfe Street one. You see, once upon a time, I'm sure that South Main was a sleepy little two-lane, creeping down into Rockingham's bucolic farmland. Now, however, it's five lanes of madness. You can enjoy your cone to the dulcet sounds of an 18-wheeler's airbrakes, or a posse of Harley-Davidsons out for a joy ride. The ice cream is scrumptious at either location, but the atmosphere on Wolfe St. is less frenetic.

What if I don't like ice cream?
Well, it's not JUST ice cream, you know. I had a wonderful shake there one time...ok, that's ice cream too...uhm...Rumor has it you can get coffee there. Look, if you don't like (or can't eat) ice cream, just don't go.