The Milton Inn
The Milton Inn.
14833 York Road Sparks, MD. 21152
14833 York Road Sparks, MD. 21152
410.771.4366
So this past Wednesday night was
Debbie and her date’s 42nd Anniversary. Where’s a restaurant jaded
couple to go for a big night out. There certainly is no shortage of pricey
restaurants in Baltimore and DC to mark the occasion.
We chose to make it our second visit
to the Milton Inn in not so far away Sparks, just above Hunt Valley, The first
visit was when we are dating.
Debbie told our excellent waiter Tom
the above scenario of this being our umpteenth Anniversary and our visit there
the ancient days yore in the late 1960’s and he wryly commented, “Gee, you
folks need to get out more often!”
The Milton Inn has come to many
owners over those 4 decades but it has maintained a great reputation throughout
for its cuisine and its pricy menu. The restaurant has excelled under the
current operating partner / executive chef Brian Boston for good reason. The
food is great, the atmosphere classic.
The Milton Inn is in a 275 year old
building that has served many purposes over the years, from a boarding school
to an Inn to private residence and then the decades as a premier Baltimore
restaurant. John Wilkes Booth went to school there when he wasn’t assassinating
Presidents.
The building wreaks of history and
ambiance. The outside grounds are immaculately landscaped. The furniture is
rather plain but comfortable, the service first rate. By the way, it only took
35 minutes drive to get there using back roads from Finksburg to Sparks.
They have two separate menus at the
Milton Inn. One is dedicated purely to various cuts of beef and fish, with
multiple sauces available on request – and at additional cost. Order a steak,
you get just a steak on a plate unless you want a side of vegetables and or one
of the sauces. The regular menu is full of everything you would expect of such
a restaurant. The Tom comes up to your table and blows you away with the daily
specials that are just plain over the top. You know the grilled fois gras
appetizer isn’t enough, the special has to be venison pate with arugula and
raspberry sauce.
The wine list is several pages long
offering wine by the glass, half-bottle, bottle and jeroboam for those into
lots of champagne. Prices are what you would expect to pay in a restaurant and
the selection certainly covers all the bases. In case you weren’t already sure
that the Milton Inn is a hang-out for those with corporate charge cards and
leased Lexuses, you will note that the wines are listed by ascending price and
that there are plenty in supply for $400 and more. We settled on a very nice,
moderate priced Super Tuscan red (mostly Sangiovese grape). It was a house
suggestion and I think a good one.
By now you may have noticed that my
partner in dining out is not one to order fish or anything exotic really. When
she orders meat it is always medium / well or well done. I would prefer her
left-overs be medium but what the hey. She ordered a hefty size filet mignon
this evening and it was prepared perfectly but looked a bit lonely on the plate
all by its lonesome. Fortunately she ordered a side of sweet potato mousse; it
arrived on a regular size dinner plate and must have weighed in at 3 pounds.
There must have been a sale on sweet potatoes at the commissary this week. They
were nicely whipped or fluffed but tasted of a good pumpkin custard to me. The
cockatoos loved the ample leftovers.
I am a sucker for rack of lamb and
have ordered it may times over the years. I have never had it prepared so
deliciously and beautifully as at the Milton Inn. The plate was arranged
beautifully with a huge portion of sweet potato mousse (naturally!), divided by
several asp[arahus speas with a dollop of hollandaise. There were four douple
chop portions of the lamb ribs that were very meaty, prepared perfectly with a
spiced coating. They laid in a dark brown reduction, known to some as gravy,
that was nothing short of spectacular. I carefully diasected each rib with
knife, fork and fingers to make sure I had scraped all of the tender meat from
the bone. Were this not such a fine restaurant I would have gone the extra step
of picking the bones clean with fingers and teeth. As it was, the cockatoos got
the benefit of the still meaty bones we took home. Just imagine a cockatoo on
his perch with a dimunative spare rib in his free foot, chomping away. It’s the
same with chicken legs or crab claws, a hoot to watch.
Now I seldom get dessert but I am a
sucker for creme de brule and this being
a special occasion, guess what. Of course it was prepared to a creamy
perfection with a toasted crust of carmelized sugar.
I’d be a liar if I told you we
intebnd to return to the Milton Inn regularly because it is just too expense
for our budget but for special occasions it certainly is on our list. There are
many more items on their menu that I would love to explore. So long as some of
that sauce accompanies them.
