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The owners of one of Howard County's most popular restaurants, Victoria Gastro Pub, are once again hungry for expansion. The Marriner family will open a new restaurant this fall in a prime downtown Ellicott City spot, serving suds from their growing farm brewery.
Manor Hill Tavern will replace The Diamondback Tavern at 3747 Old Columbia Pike, says Randy Marriner, who's aiming for a late September opening. Diamondback Tavern announced on social media that it will close June 25.
Randy says he and Donald Reuwer of Land Design and Development will purchase the 6,600 SF building next month from Tiber River Properties and then lease it to Victoria Restaurant Group. Randy says the purchase and renovation will total $1.5M. Randy and Mary Marriner, and their daughters, Tori Marriner Buscher and Rachael Mull, operate the restaurants and Manor Hill Brewing. Howard County's first farm brewery began operating a year ago.
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“Don’s been trying to get me to go to Ellicott City for years. This happened to open up at the right time,” Randy says. “Ellicott City is screaming for another good restaurant.”
Located 15 miles from Baltimore, the historic town contains a number of antique stores, eclectic shops and a handful of full-service restaurants, including Tersiguel’s French Country Restaurant, Portalli’s Italian Restaurant, Pure Wine Café and Ellicott Mills Brewing Co.
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The tavern will serve upscale bar food and dedicate eight taps to Manor Hill Brewing’s farmhouse-style ales. The taproom at Manor Hill Farm serves guests on the weekend but can only hold 50 guests at once, Randy says. Manor Hill Brewing will produce 2,500 barrels, up from 1,000 last year, with a goal of eventually reaching 15,000 barrels.
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The Marriners’ other new restaurant, Food Plenty, is on track to open in Q1 2017 in Clarksville Commons, a new mixed-use building near routes 108 and 32. It will serve comfort food with locally sourced ingredients. Randy says he expects developer Greenstone Ventures to turn over the 5,500 SF restaurant to the Marriners this summer to begin the build-out.
To serve its growing restaurant operations, Victoria Restaurant Group hired Johnson & Wales graduate Paul Giannaris as its chief culinary and operations officer. Paul’s family operates the legendary Nick’s Airport Inn in Hagerstown. Next month Alewife’s Chad Wells will join the group as executive chef.
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