"If you want to spend $100 for your meal, you still can," Steve Haffner told the Centre Daily Times this summer. He was talking about the pan-seared steelhead trout, the most expensive entree at Fillmore Farm Café & Gardens and one of the few dishes carried over from RE Farm Café. He added that a $100 diner should leave full, with no need to stop somewhere else on the way home. In the same interview he made the opposite point too. You can also come in on a Tuesday morning for a crepe and a coffee, order at the counter and skip the reservation entirely.
The trout and the counter now share a building at 1000 Fillmore Road. That pairing is the whole change. Steve and Amy Haffner didn't really change what the place serves. They changed how often a regular has a reason to drive out.
A Dinner Destination With Three Nights a Week
To see how big the change is, start with the old schedule. In January 2025 the Centre Daily Times listed RE Farm's hours as Thursday 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 5 to 11 p.m. Sundays often went to cooking classes. One was a Lebanese class with guest chef Ghadir and head composer Brenda Palmer. RE Farm called its chefs "composers." Diners could sit at a counter facing an induction open kitchen and talk with them during dinner.
Duke and Monica Gastiger built all of that after they bought the 57-acre farm, known as Windswept, in late 2016. They were longtime restaurateurs, with Spats and The Rathskeller behind them. Before them, Tom and Sara Songer had run Windswept as a bed and breakfast and wedding venue starting in 1992. The Gastigers took down the original house and put up a new building on its footprint, using a lot of reclaimed material. The floors came from the State College North Building's gymnasium. Old apple crates from Harner Farm became shelving near the entry. Old shovels were turned into ceiling fixtures the owners called "Shovel-iers." The farm ran on five wells, and solar panels on the barn powered the property.
It was a special-occasion restaurant, and the new owner describes it that way. Steve Haffner told the Centre Daily Times that RE Farm customers might come once or twice a year, for a private party, an anniversary or a holiday. When the Gastigers began talking publicly in early 2025 about handing the property to a new owner, they said they hoped that person would share their commitment to sustainability and reuse.
The New Owners Came From a Farm, Not a Kitchen
The Haffners both grew up in State College and spent about 20 years away for work. After Steve retired, they bought a farm in Port Matilda and started raising pigs, cows, chickens and turkeys. They were already looking to expand when RE Farm went on the market. "The views from the back porch are amazing," Steve said of the property.
That background explains what came next. A family with a working livestock operation down the road had its own supply of meat and eggs. According to the Centre Daily Times, all of the café's meat and eggs now come from the Haffners' farm. The charcuterie board uses meats from that farm, processed by local butchers. When the kitchen needs something it doesn't grow, it looks to Pennsylvania producers first. The house-made ricotta, for example, starts with Vale Wood Farms milk.
They also kept the kitchen leadership. The Centre Daily Times reported that the Haffners kept the prior chef on staff, and Town&Gown's September feature names chef Brenda Palmer, the same name RE Farm gave its head composer in 2025.
The Week Got Longer in Stages
Fillmore Farm Café & Gardens opened on March 16, 2026. Breakfast and lunch were added on June 30. In July, the Centre Daily Times listed breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday. The café's website now lists Sunday as well.
| RE Farm Café, January 2025 | Fillmore Farm Café, July 2026 | Fillmore Farm Café, current website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast and lunch | None listed | Tue–Sat, 8 a.m.–2 p.m. | Tue–Sun, 8 a.m.–2 p.m. |
| Dinner | Thu 5–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat 5–11 p.m. | Thu–Sat, 4–9 p.m. | Thu–Sat, 4–9 p.m. |
| Days open to diners | 3 | 5 | 6 |
The bottom row is the story. The building is the same, the views are the same and the chef is the same. Over about six months, it went from three evenings a week to six mornings a week plus three evenings.
The Haffners lowered prices as well. The Centre Daily Times reported that prices were "lowered significantly" while the restaurant kept its focus on quality and local ingredients. Steve says it's working. "Our guest count is way up, almost double what they historically had and we haven't done any advertising at all," he said, crediting word of mouth and social media.
What a Weekday Visit Looks Like
Breakfast and lunch run on counter ordering. You find a seat, and there's no reservation or dress code to think about. The breakfast menu covers omelets, pancakes and French toast. The crepes get the most attention, savory and sweet, including a banana and peanut butter crepe and a lemon sugar and blueberry crepe. Lunch is sandwiches, salads and burgers that change with whatever is growing. The Haffner Farm burger and the pulled pork sandwich have been early favorites, according to Steve.
Thursday through Saturday evenings, dinner is a slower, sit-down meal with Italian roots that trace back to the three years the Haffners lived in Italy. Steve says Amy became a very good Italian cook while they were there. The menu includes chicken parm and eggplant parm, a Bolognese with seared tomatoes and shishito peppers, and two lasagnas that use crepes in place of pasta. For dessert there's crème brûlée, along with sorbets made from the garden, including mint and chocolate, and strawberry balsamic.
Some practical details from the café's website:
- No reservations are needed for breakfast or lunch.
- Online dinner reservations are open for parties of 2 to 6. Larger groups should call.
- Dinner comes with a full bar, and the restaurant is not BYOB.
That reservation policy is newer than the July coverage. At that point, reservations were encouraged only for parties over six, and outdoor seating was first-come, first-served.
The Marketplace Turns a Stop Into an Errand
A short drive for lunch is one kind of habit. A short drive where you also leave with a dozen eggs is another. The on-site marketplace sells seasonal produce from the farm, free-range eggs by the half-dozen or dozen, honey, hot sauces, specialty seasonings and other locally made goods. Town&Gown says the marketplace offers the same produce and eggs the kitchen cooks with. The marketplace page doesn't post its own hours, so plan to shop while the café is open.
For a gathering, the Saint Isidore Room is a private space named for the patron saint of farmers. It's used for birthdays, showers and rehearsal dinners.
Fall Here Is Still Being Worked Out
Town&Gown's September feature is the best guide so far to what the cooler months might look like, mostly through the bar. General manager David Contreras and the bartenders test seasonal cocktails, often at home first. Summer drinks included a strawberry-mint mojito and a Strawberry Rhubarb Old Fashioned. For cooler months, Town&Gown reported, the team has been experimenting with a spiced apple Old Fashioned garnished with apples dehydrated in-house, a tiramisu espresso martini and a pumpkin spice martini. Ask before ordering, since those were described as experiments, not a set menu.
The Haffners have also mentioned what's next: Sunday brunch, more outdoor seating and possibly live entertainment. Sunday breakfast and lunch are already on the hours. A dedicated brunch service hasn't been announced. Live music would follow some precedent on this property. In 2023, the Patton Township Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to give RE Farm a partial waiver from the township's noise rules for amplified-music events from March through November. Staff noted they had received no complaints in the previous two years.
On a quiet October weekday, all of this sits on Fillmore Road a few minutes from University Park Airport. The counter opens at 8 a.m., the trout is still on the dinner menu, and the eggs in the marketplace came from the same Port Matilda farm as the eggs in your omelet.
Like Fillmore Farm Café, Annette Yorks Group cares about the details that make a place feel like home, from where to get Tuesday breakfast to which corners of Patton Township are changing. Send us your questions about what's new around Fillmore Road and we'll gladly share what we know. Annette Yorks and the team are here when you need us. Let's make your next move.
