One thing I really like about living in the Mount Washington Valley is the fact that there are so many independent restaurants here. There are very few chain-restaurants in town, and many of them just don’t make it. Since I’ve lived here, I’ve seen KFC, Wendy’s, Friendly’s and now Pizza Hut close up shop.

My daughter’s annual choice for her birthday is Delaney’s Hole in the Wall. It’s a short drive north of the actual North Conway village. Owned by a local family, Delaney’s has been open since 1994. When I used to work at the hotel and someone would ask me where to go for Sushi, I’d always recommend Delaney’s, even though I’m not a Sushi person myself.

In the year of the Corona Virus, their usual extensive menu has been whittled down a bit. The new menu didn’t have the specific dish my daughter was looking for, but she still wanted to go. When she first suggested it, I was hesitant. Like many restaurants up here, they had switched to outdoor dining. The thought of eating under a tent on hot blacktop was not enticing to me, but it was her birthday. A few weeks back, the tent was damaged in a storm, so they began serving inside with tables distanced per COVID guidelines. I liked that idea much better

No reservations are taken. We arrived a little after 6 and put our name on the list. We were told about an hour wait. There’s a roped-off area on the front lawn with tables and chairs and a waiter will serve you drinks there. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you feel) the area is 21 and over only. We had two in our party underage, so I sat there by myself. I have to say it was really nice to sit there as the sun was setting, enjoying a drink. I would say we did wait close to an hour before we were seated.

We ordered appetizer, which I unfortunately didn’t photograph. We split an order of mozzarella sticks between the kids. It comes with homemade marinara sauce. For the adults we had the Award Winning “Doing the Wing Thing.” Full chicken wings are deep fried and covered with buffalo or honey hot sauce. It’s served with chunky blue cheese dressing, cut up carrots, and celery. We devoured it.

The birthday girl chose baked lobster tortellini for dinner. The lobster isn’t inside the tortellini, but Maine lobster is tossed with four-cheese tortellini and a homemade smoked pork belly cheddar cheese cream sauce before being bakes with a panko parmesan bread crumb topping. I’m not crazy about lobster, but I tried it and it was good. My daughter finished the whole thing.

Knowing I usually don’t finish things, I chose the broccoli & chicken penne that night so I could heat it up the next day. Chicken and broccoli are sauteed in a white wine garlic parmesan cream sauce and then tossed with penne pasta and topped with shredded parmesan. It was quit good that night and my leftovers were just as good the next day.

The two men chose 10′ pizzas. They both came out fresh and hot. My husband devoured the BBQ chicken pizza. After having half of the mozzarella sticks, my son managed to finish half of his cheese pizza with hamburger and also brought the rest home for the next day.

My granddaughter had a cheeseburger off of the kids’ menu, but her favorite thing was the home-made bottled root beer.

The bill wasn’t bad at all. Five people with drinks and appetizers came to $134. I don’t go out often, especially in the summer when we’re mobbed by tourists, but Delaney’s is definitely one of the places I like and I feel I get a good meal for what we spend.