Four new dining and bar options are open at the Nittany Lion Inn. What’s on the menus?

The newly renovated Nittany Lion Inn is open and with it comes four new dining options for Happy Valley.

Since the Scholar Hotel Group acquired the inn from Penn State under a long-term ground lease finalized in 2023, the famed hotel at 200 W. Park Ave., State College has undergone extensive renovations and upgrades. It reopened to the public earlier this week.

Gary Brandeis, CEO and founder of the Scholar Hotel Group, hopes the space will be enjoyed by not only the hotel guests, but the entire community. During a tour of the hotel in August, he said people who aren’t staying at the hotel are welcome to hang out in the lobby, use the Wi-Fi, get coffee, work or study.

Below are some highlights from menus from the four new dining options at the Nittany Lion Inn — Dear Joe:, Triplett’s, Lionne and 1855 Lounge.

Dear Joe:

Hotel guests or people walking through can get their coffee and pastries at Dear Joe:, the Nittany Lion Inn’s new coffee shop.

The coffee menu includes espresso, double espresso, lattes, Americano, macchiato and cappuccino, and french vanilla, caramel and mocha are the flavors available. Plus, you can add latte art.

A number of fun snacks are on the pastry menu, including danishes (cream cheese, fruit and a savory option with blue cheese, pears and walnuts), croissants and a variety of muffins — including a Nutella chocolate chip flavor. Scones, cinnamon buns and banana foster sticky buns are available as well.

Rotating seasonal flavors of macarons are on the menu as are two different flavors of pretzels.

Two different breakfast sandwiches are available: sausage, chive scrambled egg patty and cheese on a bagel, and bacon, sweet pepper scrambled egg patty and cheese on a croissant.

According to photos on the coffee shop’s Facebook page, they offer pre-made salads and sandwiches, as well.

Drinks range from $4-$8, depending on the size, and the pastries and breakfast sandwiches range from $3-$10.

During a tour of the Nittany Lion Inn in August, Brandeis said people can get coffee and enjoy it in the Dear Joe: space or throughout the hotel lobby or courtyard. It’s open to anyone, not just the hotel guests.

Dear Joe: is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Triplett’s

Triplett’s — previously Whiskers — is a more casual bar at the Nittany Lion Inn. Its name is a toast to Wallace “Wally” Triplett, a Penn State football player in the mid-1940s and the first Black student to earn a varsity letter on the team, and the first to be drafted by the National Football League.

Brandeis previously told the CDT he met with Triplett’s family to share what they wanted to do at the Nittany Lion Inn, and his family gave them permission to rename the space for him and to honor his legacy. A picture of Triplett is featured on the wall of the bar.

Triplett’s food menu is broken up into sections: first period, second period, small but bold, between the buns and desserts.

First period features items like assorted olives in olive marinade, spiced fried chickpeas and marinated mozzarella with lavash and grilled bread, and Happy Valley Farms jumbo chicken wings with blue cheese dip and celery. The wing flavors are buffalo, honey sriracha, barbecue or scotch bonnet pepper honey dip.

One of the second period items is a mixed greens salad with Japanese cucumber, baby carrot, tomato and spicy honey mustard dressing.

If you’re looking for something “small but bold,” options include jumbo shrimp with garlic, olive oil, lemon and grilled bread, grilled lamb kofte with onion-tahini yogurt sauce and spiced nuts, and fried crispy squid with citrus garlic dip, parsley and shishito peppers.

Three “between the buns” options are are on the menu, like an eight ounce angus beef chuck and brisket burger that has bourbon bacon onion jam, peppered crispy bacon, blue cheese, crispy onion and lettuce on a toasted brioche bun served with shoestring truffle fries.

An impossible burger and a sous vide cilantro chicken breast sandwiches are also on the menu. Tofu and tempeh substitutions are available.

To top off a meal, four dessert options on the menu include a chocolate berry layer cake, the tasty Tripletts (three macarons filled with red wine ganache, whipped vodka lemon curd and amaretto caramel), campfire beignets (deep fried and tossed in cinnamon sugar, served with warm chocolate sauce, marshmallow fluff and freeze-dried raspberries), and an ice cream trio of Penn State Berkey Creamery.

Food prices range from $8 to $20; cocktails range from $14-$18.

Cocktails and drinks have their own menu. Choose from seven specialty cocktails — pineapple mule, smoked colonial dutch, barbershop mojito or a classic margarita, to name a few — or from four non-alcoholic drinks, like a raspberry pineapple crush or creamy cherry drink.

Miller Lite, Yuengling and West Coast IPA from Boal City Brewing are all on tap, and a number of beers are offered in bottles/cans, including local favorites from Robin Hood Brewing and Boal City Brewing. Several red and sparkling/white wines are on the menu.

The kitchen at Triplett’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The bar is open from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Lionne & 1855 Lounge

Lionne and 1855 Lounge is the Nittany Lion Inn’s high end restaurant and cocktail lounge. Lionne — French for lion — is where “innovative American cuisine blends seamlessly with European influences for an unforgettable dining adventure,” the website states. Indoor and outdoor seating is available.

According to photos of the menu posted on the popular Facebook group “Foodies of State College” by a recent customer, the Lionne menu has appetizers like a French escargot casserole with savory French toast and bagel chips, and mustard honey rosemary glazed lamb chops over apple risotto. Of course, it has Brandy Maine lobster topped with Lionne lobster bisque.

Salads include the Signature Lionne Salad – Maine lobster, duck confit, butternut squash, sliced cucumber, radish, with truffle balsamic dressing. There’s also a Caesar style salad and a mixed greens option.

For the main course, choose from eight dishes ranging from $29 to $75. Seared Alaskan salmon, pan seared day boat sea scallops, homemade linguine, car grilled filet mignon, Amish free range chicken breast, 30 day aged 16-oz bone-in rib eye steak, assorted garden veggies over sweet corn bisque, and arugula gnocchi served with chicken meatballs are all on the menu.

To end with something sweet, five desserts are on the menu, including a Sicilian lemon mousse, Italian ricotta cheesecake and honey peach panna cotta.

The 1855 Lounge — previously the Alumni Lounge — will have a full bar but will have a lot of high end bourbon and whiskey, with an elevated menu of small plates.

Lionne is open from 4-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The 1855 kitchen is open from 4-10 p.m. Sunday through Saturday. The 1855 bar is open from 4-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The 1855 Lounge is closed on Monday.

Reservations for Lionne can be made through OpenTable.