Peacock Inn restaurant reopens tonight, May 25

The Peacock Inn Restaurant and Bar will reopen tonight, May 25, for dinner. Starting on Saturday, the Inn will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Mark Valenza has been named executive chef. Valenza said he will introduce new menus, highlighting what he calls, “American mosaic cooking.” Dishes will include his signature port wine chicken liver pate, poached lobster fondue with Himalayan pink salt and melon balls, avocado salad with orchid and grapefruit, and yellow fin tuna and shrimp with spicy peanut noodles.

Valenza, a New Jersey native and graduate of the French Culinary Institute, is a published novelist and a former drummer for American punk band “The The.” He toured with The Police and played gigs with everyone from The Beach Boys to Nirvana, and also worked for Jim Henson at the Muppet Mansion in New York City.

After training at the French Culinary Institute, Valenza returned to  New Jersey as sous chef at the Frenchtown Inn. He later became the executive chef at Nado and later was the executive chef at the Triumph Brewing Company. He was the chef and owner of Za Restaurant in Pennington, and then became the executive chef of the Washington Crossing Inn. The Washington Crossing Inn is owned by Genesis Hospitality, the same company that bought the Peacock Inn earlier this month. The former owners of the Peacock Inn closed the restaurant and bar in January and then decided to sell the whole business.

The Peacock Inn is accepting reservations via Open Table. The hotel is also open. In addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Peacock Inn will offer afternoon tea starting in the fall.