Milton Inn

Steve de Castro has been looking for a place in Annapolis to open his second Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a couple of years now. The owner of the Baltimore franchise has finally found his spot: Marmaduke's at 301 Severn Ave."The size definitely appealed," says de Castro. "Others have been too small. And the fact that there's plenty of parking. It was totally remodeled a few months ago, so I have a lot to work with."That raises the question: Why would Marmaduke's owner, Bill Heim, sell so soon after renovating and "upscaling" the menu, making the place more of a restaurant and less of a pub?

Baltimore County Restaurant Week begins Friday, and Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce are kicking things off Wednesday at Cafe Troia.   Restaurants participating in Baltimore County's Summer Restaurant Week , which runs Aug. 10-19, are offering fixed-price one-, two- and three-course lunches and dinners. At Wednesday's kick-off event , which begins at 11 a.m., chefs from participating restaurants like Barrett's Grill, Basta Pasta Ristorante, Cafe Troia, Island View Waterfront Cafe, the Milton Inn and Towson Tavern will prepare some of their menu specials for sampling.

It's a far cry from the Ladew Topiary Gardens cafe to a tavern in Dundalk, but Jane Fallon of Jane Fallon Catering, who runs the cafe, isn't worried. On Tuesday she's taking over the Phillips Inn at 7018 Holabird Ave."It's a comfortable, down-home kind of bar environment," she says, and she's planning appropriate food. No dainty tea sandwiches here: Look for ribs, nachos, barbecued chicken and homemade coleslaw on the new menu.* Last year, the Zagat Survey of America's Top Restaurants ranked the Prime Rib No. 1 in Baltimore.

A winner expandsFirst it was the Bombay Grill in Mount Vernon. It did so well the owners opened the Bombay Peacock Grill in Columbia. Now they've opened a third restaurant, the Cafe Bombay, at 114 E. Lombard St. Although its hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, the self-styled bistro is more casual than its siblings; and the manager says they concentrate on lunch and parties. Specialties include kebobs, curries and Indian vegetarian burgers.Sophisticated ThaiPornpilai Boonn worked as a doctor of pathology until she quit to raise two kids.

Brian Boston makes Valentine's Day sweet at the Milton Inn in Sparks. The 40-year-old chef can create a chocolate box to hold a surprise engagement ring or whip up a Lovely Raspberry Tart to win a lover's heart. "We decorate ... so it's extremely romantic in the restaurant," says Boston, a native of Baltimore County who has spent the past 26 years in the kitchen on this holiday. If you're thinking of making a dinner at home, Boston has one suggestion: Keep it simple, "so you can spend the most time with the person."

Milton Inn, 14833 York Road, Sparks, (410) 771-4366. Open Mondays to Fridays for lunch and dinner, Saturdays and Sundays for dinner only. No-smoking area: yes. Wheelchair-accessible: yes. Prices: appetizers, $7.75-$8.75; main courses, $19.50-$23.50.When the waiter describes an entree at the Milton Inn he doesn't say it contains mushrooms, he calls them "U.S. mushrooms." That's to differentiate them from the wild mushrooms and the ZTC enoki mushrooms and the shiitake mushrooms and the porcini mushrooms, all of which appear in one dish or another.

Two of Baltimore's most celebrated chefs, Michael Rork of the Harbor Court Hotel and Mark Henry of the Milton Inn, are moving to Maryland's Eastern Shore to run their own restaurants.Tomorrow will be the last day at the Harbor Court for Rork whose eight-year reign at the Inner Harbor hotel brought its posh Hampton's restaurant national honors, including being repeatedly named as one of the Distinguished Restaurants of North America. Friday Rork will be in St. Michaels running the Town Dock, a 250-seat restaurant that he and his wife, Betsy, purchased.

More ChampagneFirst it was Champagne Tony's in Federal Hill. Then it was Champagne Tony's in the Belvedere. Now Champagne Tony a.k.a. Pauli Santi has left the Belvedere to open a new bar and grill, Santi's (3321 Eastern Blvd., [410] 391-2725). The restaurant, which should open by the end of the month, will feature homestyle cooking plus imaginative Italian dishes. Prices will range from $5 to $14.Meanwhile Champagne Tony's in the Belvedere has a new chef, Sean Haase, who comes from the Wild Mushroom in Canton.

What a year for area restaurants 1997 has been. You don't often find restaurant stories on the news pages unless a kitchen catches on fire or several customers get infected with E. coli.But there was such intense interest in the high-profile Milton Inn in Sparks that its closing in September made The Sun's front page. Remarkably, the staff moved practically en masse to a new location in the Admiral Fell Inn in Fells Point. That new location, however, happened to be Savannah, known for its New Southern cuisine and its wine cellar.

How many stories have you read about a big chain store or restaurant moving into an area and taking over where a mom-and-pop place used to be? Well, here's one story where just the reverse has happened. In 1968, the International House of Pancakes opened on Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville. Shirley Stein was among the waitresses there. Stein continued working there over the years, eventually becoming a manager and helping to open a couple of other IHOPs around Baltimore. Fifteen years ago, Stein's daughter Karen Rocha joined her on the job. She, too, eventually became a manager, then general manager there.