The Smoke Rise Village Inn Restaurant -- Good Dining and a Nice Place to Eat for all of Kinnelon

There is a shortage of decent places to eat in the Kinnelon area, it's sad to say, but one very pleasant place with good atmosphere (think hometown tavern for the bar area, and something fancier for the dining room), is The Smoke Rise Village Inn Restaurant, which is open to anyone, and not just for Smoke Rise residents.

I'm not saying I like it for any other reason but that I really do like it -- Chef George offers a variety of interesting and fairly inexpensive food, with fixed price daily specials during the week. It's fun to go there and we find it casual and very relaxing.

Part of a pretty collection of buildings from the outside, including the old Kinney stable and barn where the restaurant itself is found, The Inn has good parking, and will do takeout -- check out the menus and details on the link above.

I am especially fond of the Sesame Tuna Salad -- the tuna is seared on the outside and served with a ponzu vinaigrette -- really good. And I like the Bistro Steak Salad -- a shell steak over greens with a bacon vinaigrette, also very good. And I have tried and like many of the other appetizers, salads, and entrees and enjoyed them, too.

It's is a very kid friendly place with room for them to run around and the staff is affectionate and tolerant.

They are not open on Monday and Tuesday. The could use a better beer selection, although it's not terrible. They do have Bass Ale, which I like -- they could have our very own excellent local Ramstein Beer produced down in Butler by my friend Greg Zaccardi's High Point Brewery, but ... they do not. Sigh. All those wonderful German style wheat beers and lagers ...

But, other than that, The Inn is a good place to go for those of us in the Kinnelon area when we do not feel like cooking, or we just want a relaxing local night out with friends.

Check it out.

~ Ted

Technorati Tags: Smoke Rise Village Inn Kinnelon Restaurants Smoke Rise Inn Smoke Rise Restaurant Del.icio.us Tags: Smoke Rise Village Inn Kinnelon Restaurants Smoke Rise Inn Smoke Rise Restaurant