“I’ve been a part of Restaurant Week in State College before, but I’ve never been the chef that actually gets to put out the food,” says Chef Tyler Moran of the Hublersburg Inn. Moran has worked in several kitchens around town and in kitchens up and down the East Coast before arriving in the Hublersburg kitchen in October.

Moran is bringing one of his favorite dishes, pupusas and jalapeno coleslaw, to Restaurant Week. “It’s a simple dish, but has a lot of flavor,” Moran says of the El Salvadorian dish he came to love from working in kitchens with El Salvadorian and Hondoran staff. Braised pork shoulder, refried beans and cheese are mixed into corn flour and then flattened on the griddle. The tip for maximum enjoyment is to get the ratio of pupusa to slaw, or curtido, just right. Then swipe the bite through the adobo sauce lining the plate. 

The second dish is an eight ounce Norwegian salmon, which is a nice hefty portion but not too heavy for a summer meal. The vegetable of the day and jasmine rice with garlic and shallots pick up a nice flavor from the tamari glaze on the salmon. “Tamari is a soy sauce but it’s gluten free — so it’s friendly for everybody,” Chef Tyler says of his thoughtful glaze choice. 

General Manager Erin Pugh just returned from the Brooklyn Bar Convention, bringing with her new inspiration for their cocktail menu. “Cocktails are my specialty,” Pugh says as she tells us about their Restaurant Week drink special. “We love to play with bourbon. It’s our spirit of choice.” 

The Cherry Tree cocktail is a slight take on the Paper Plane, with muddled cherries, amaro, Aperol, lemon juice and, of course, bourbon. The drink is a real summer stunner with a frozen cherry ice cube to top it off. 

“What we do here is be creative,” Pugh says of how the front of the house and back of the house work together with incredible trust and support from their owner, Andi Heidt. 

The patio at The Hublersburg Inn is naturally shaded and prime for summer dining. Wednesday nights are for pizza on the patio and Thursday nights they have live music.