P.J. Scanlan’s sticks to its goal of providing customers with homemade comfort food.

The restaurant at 317 Linden St., Scranton, is a family-owned and -operated business that serves classic dishes along with daily specials. The menu ranges from soups and salads to sandwiches and hot platters, as well as desserts.

Chef’s Table chatted with co-owner Nancy Scanlan about the restaurant that was established more than 50 years ago.

Q: When did you open?

A: We have been in business since 1968, however, not in the current location. We have been on Linden Street for 13 years.

Q: What type of food do you serve?

A: There are just a few items, such as sandwiches, wraps, homemade soup, homemade chili, roasted turkey breast (fresh and made daily), chicken, homemade meatloaf, grilled Reubens, hamburgers, salads and crab cakes as well as the daily specials.

Q: What’s your specialty?

A: There’s a few specialties. The chili and all of our salads are very popular. We offer many different salads. All of our salads have homemade salad dressings as well as romaine lettuce (in most). We also offer pasta salads. One is Soy Linguini, and the other is a Greek Pasta Salad.

Q: How did your menu come to be?

A: We just put (on) more or less basic sandwiches. We wanted upscale but also didn’t want to be too fancy. It’s good, basic comfort food that most people like as well as foods we like. My husband passed away, but he really started and helped with the menu.

Q: What type of seating do you have?

A: We have indoor seating as well as outdoor seating, which is a porch that is covered. The outdoor seating has about 10 tables. Inside, we have a private front room for meetings or presentations, which seats about 18 people, but anyone is able to sit in there. The dining room seats about 75 to 80 people, which is smaller now because of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our dining room is pretty spacious though, so we have been able to seat people comfortably while also being safe as well.

Q: Do you offer catering, event space, etc.?

A: We have a separate room for small groups, such as meetings. We deliver trays of sandwiches, salads and dessert to places such as offices, but we do not send waitresses to serve. It’s not typical catering.

Q: Where do you see the restaurant headed in the future?

A: Remaining the same but with more social media presence. We would like to be more into social media, but we are currently on Facebook.

Q: Is the restaurant offering dine-in or outside seating, delivery or curbside pickup?

A: We offer all of the above.

 

Contact the writer: arhodes@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127