The Milton Inn

 A Special Place for Special Occasions

The Milton Inn.
14833 York Road Sparks, MD. 21152

410.771.4366

http://www.miltoninn.com/index.php

So this past Wednesday night was Debbie and her date’s 42^nd 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.