Bethlehem: Tavern at the Sun Inn (March 2017)

My spouse and I dined at the Tavern at the Sun Inn for dinner on a Saturday evening in early March 2017. The Tavern is open for dinner on Thursdays through Sundays. You can reserve a table via telephone.

The Sun Inn has been located on Main Street in historic Downtown Bethlehem for over 250 years. In 1758, the Moravians built a two-story stone “public house of entertainment. (The third story was added many years later, and the building has been enlarged and renovated several times.) In 1777, during Revolutionary War times, Army troops camped in the fields behind the Sun Inn, and the Continental Congress met at the Inn while moving from Philadelphia to York, with some members staying there. Famous past guests included Martha and George Washington (who visited separately), Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The Sun Inn closed to overnight guests in the early 1960s, but reopened as a museum and restaurant in the early 1980s. The museum has remained open continuously since the 80s, but this version of the restaurant only recently opened in December 2016.

The Tavern at the Sun Inn offers seating in several areas. The second floor features a bar room and two dining rooms. The bar room contains an L-shaped bar that seats about eight patrons at high upholstered bar stools with backs, or at a table opposite that bar that share a long wooden banquette bench on one side. The main dining rooms offer seating at tables with high-backed Windsor chairs. The first floor of the building contains the Sun Inn museum, with three period rooms including a keeping room, a kitchen, and a bedroom suite. (The rooms are closed off with a rope, but you can peek inside or ask staff to allow you entry.) A small bar in the basement (called a ratskeller) offers food and drink to six patrons seated on backless stools. In the warmer months, you can also dine outdoors on the brick patio in a fence-enclosed side courtyard. Décor includes colonial items like replicas of flags and vintage photographs (with explanations) displayed prominently on the neutral walls and offset by the wide wood-plank floors. Although this is an old historic building, a non-marked modern handicapped entrance is available at the rear (rather than climbing the many steps necessary to reach the side/front door), and the restaurant offers an elevator behind-the-scenes.

Chef Billy Gruenewald operates the Tavern at the Sun Inn. A graduate of Liberty High School and Penn State University, with a degree in hospitality management, Gruenewald also operates The People’s Kitchen and The Bolt & Key Café at Lehigh University.

The Tavern at the Sun Inn serves rustic American cuisine inspired by seasonal ingredients that would have been available centuries ago when the Sun Inn was founded. We shared two tasty starters: the mini chicken pot pies (six miniature homemade crusts filled with diced chicken, peas, and gravy), and the beef crostini (thinly sliced toasted bread topped with short rib and greens). We were a bit disappointed that even though we ordered a complete meal with starter and main, the restaurant did not provide bread service. As entrees, we chose the pear-glazed airline (Frenched) chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto (served with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans) and the sliced venison sausage (served with mashed sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts). For dessert, we shared the delicious blueberry white chocolate bread pudding, served warm with a dollop of whipped cream. A full liquor license is available in the bar room and the rathskeller, but the two main dining rooms are BYOB. (The same food menu is available in all areas.)

We enjoyed our dinner at the Tavern at the Sun Inn, but for one of us who worked there in the mid-1980s, the nostalgic trip down memory lane featured more prominently than the food.