The
Valley Inn has slowly unveiled its personality over the past few
months, starting with limited pub hours and gradually expanding service
to seven days a week. Tonight, a renovated dining room will also be open
for food and drinks.
The 60-seat room, pictured top, has
a handsome, masculine feel with a thoroughbred-racing theme, honoring
such places as Pimlico Race Course, Sagamore Farm, and Saratoga in New
York. Every wall houses artwork and accouterments, including items found
in a jockey’s locker, pictured left.
The booths and
banquets feature rich-brown sapele-mahogany tables and butternut walls.
Jockey lamps will eventually light each table. Two fireplaces add to the
coziness.
“This isn’t your grandmother’s Valley Inn,” said owner
Ted Bauer today as he pointed out various paintings he had commissioned.
“There’s a lot more activity.”Since the decades-old building opened its doors on December 30, patrons have been filling up the bar area, pictured, he said, which is adorned with art that strives to capture the area’s sporting life—from fishing to golf and horses.
A few dog pictures reflect the mid-19th-century inn’s past when there were dog races on the property.
Since
1922, The Valley Inn, officially in Lutherville, was owned by two
generations of the Hatfield family. In late 2010, Ted, who also owns The
Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley, acquired the property.
Renovations are still continuing with two other dining areas expected to be ready in a few months.
With
the opening of the dining room, the menu has been expanded and will
continue to grow in the next two-and-a-half weeks when lunch service
begins. For now, the kitchen, headed by chef Roger Shugars, offers a
tightly scripted menu with soups and salads, appetizers, and “plates”
that range from a 10-ounce Valley burger to grilled mahi mahi.
The
cheese-steak sliders and char-grilled oysters are very popular, Ted
said. Diners will also find a jumbo-lump crab cake, mini meatloaf,
house-made shrimp salad, and a grilled eight-ounce tenderloin among
other offerings.
“We wanted to have a roadhouse mentality, not be
high end,” Ted said of the menu. “We want to be a place where people
feel comfortable and come by for conversation and dinner and light
fare.”
The Valley Inn, which opens at 4:30 p.m. daily, is located
at 10501 Falls Rd. The phone number is 410-828-0002. No reservations are
accepted. Seating is first come, first serve for now.