Heirloom

Tried Heirloom in Lewes. All I can say is ....


WOW!  Really good.

Serendipity

I had never heard of Serendipity in Oak Orchard, but some friends convinced me to give it a try. It's a bit out of the way, but it has a great view on the Indian River Bay, making it a destination restaurant (particularly since there aren't any other shops or restaurants nearby).

The decor is eclectic, with lots of tchotchkes on the walls and ceilings. The menu is also all over the map, with lots of Italian and seafood selections. A sign near the front door indicated that they feature Polish foods on Wednesday nights.

After we ordered, we were invited to try the restaurant's bread table, which had a nice selection to choose from. Then, I started with the Maryland crab soup, in a red base. This was a disappointment, as it was overly salted. I've had better soup out of a can.

Then, I had the broiled scallops, which came with a potato side, along with a veggie. Sadly, the highlight of this meal was the mashed pototoes. They were extremely creamy (some cream cheese added, perhaps?), with just the right amount of garlic. The scallops were overcooked and extremely tough. Nuff said. I originally chose brocolli as my veggie, but they ran out of that. (I'm not sure how, as we were there early, and the dining room was empty, but I digress). Anyway, I switched to corn, which was apparently scooped right out of the can and onto my dish.

In summary: Serendipity has a great location, some great bread, and disappointing food.

Lily Thai Cuisine

Three of us went to Lily Thai Cuisine in Rehoboth Beach for the first time on a recent weekday. We went for the $8.95 lunch special, which includes a salad and a spring roll in addition to the main dish.

I had the lamb eggplant dish -- the menu had it marked as spicy, but I found it to be only mildly so. I guess it's better to be cautious for those who are sensitive to heat. I enjoyed the dish quite a bit. The lamb had a noticably gamey taste, which didn't bother me. I'm just warning those that aren't familiar with lamb that they may want to make another choice.

One of my dining partners, who had never had Thai food before and was somewhat worried about finding a selection that she would enjoy, choice the Big Bowl, which was a seafood soup in a clear broth. She enjoyed it tremendously, and is ready to try Thai again.

Timothy's

The location of Timothy's seems to be jinxed. It seems to change hands and names every few years. I can't think of the most recent name of the place, but I still think of it as the Crab Barn. Anyway, I've been there a couple of times in its most recent incarnation ... Timothy's ... and I like it. They have a large beer selection (including a personal favorite, Victory Hop Devil), good burgers, and good nachos. The servers and management seem to be attentive without being overbearing.

I hope Timothy's makes it ... it seems like it will be a good place to hang out and watch some football games.

Irish Eyes -- Rehoboth Beach

It's Official - I've been to all three Irish Eyes in the area (Milton, Lewes, and Rehoboth Beach). This time it was the Rehoboth location that let me down, and all I had was a beer. The bartender told me she didn't know what she was doing ... it was her first day on the job. Well, she didn't need to tell me that she didn't know what she was doing when she served me a glass of foam. Since I paid $6 for that glass of foam, I guess that the joke was on me.

Annabella's

La Rosa Negra has changed its name again. As I mentioned in a previous post, the restaurant has been for sale.

It's now called Annabella's, and it describes itself as an italian retaurant and bakery. I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet.

Beseme

I met some friends at Beseme for a quick bite at Beseme, the restaurant at the Hotel Rodney in Lewes. I had a bison burger, and we shared some sweet potato fries. The burger was everything a burger should be, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the fries (I was expecting that there would be too much sweetness for my taste).

Anyway, I plan on checking out Beseme further ... I definitely enjoyed the food, atmosphere, and the friendly staff during my first visit.

Frankie's

This review takes us out of the cape region, all the way up to Dover.

Frankie’s is the new Italian Restaurant at Dover Downs. I was seeing a comedy show up in Dover, and we decided to give Frankie’s a shot since it was near the site of the performance. Wow … really poor service. We decided to split a pizza, and after an interminable wait and a few glasses of wine, the pizza arrived. Cold. As in, it had probably bee pulled out of the over 20 minutes prior to delivery to our table. We were almost late for the show, so we didn’t have time to complain or send it back. Lesson learned. I would NOT recommend Frankies.

Zorba's

Zorba’s is a smallish, informal Greek restaurant out on Highway 1 in the Food Lion Shopping Center. I went there with J. J has eaten at Zorba’s many times and he loves it, so I was anxious to give it a try.

I usually order spanikopita when I have Greek food, but I decided to go for something different. I had the pasticio (which I think of as Greek lasagna) which was excellent It came with a side Greek salad, which was very nice.

I thought that the food was good, and the prices were very reasonable. In addition to all of that, there was something just a little bit extra special about Zorba’s. The server really paid attention to us in a helpful but inobtrusive way. She quickly realized that we were friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and she encouraged us to stay and hang out at our booth, even though we had already paid our bill.

Overall, I’d say that Zorba’s is a pleasant place for a reasonably priced meal.

Go Fish!

I’m a big fan of fish and chips, so I was excited to try Go Fish in Rehoboth Beach. Go Fish is advertised as an authentic British-style shop, so M and I thought that we would give it a go. Basically, the food was fine, but nothing spectacular. However, when I think fish & chips, I’m thinking pub/street food, so for me, the $17 for a plate of fish & chips was too high. In addition, when you add if the fact that our server really pushed us out of the restaurant, it felt like we were getting fast-food restaurant treatment at fancy-pants restaurant prices. By way of comparison, M also had the fish and chips at the Blue Coast a few weeks ago, and the price was the same. M preferred the meal at the Blue Coast better, the environment is much nicer (sunset over the bay!) and the service was much more pleasant and unrushed.

We did notice on our way out that Go Fish has a take-out version of the meal that we ordered for only $10. If you are in the mood for fish and chips while you are in Rehoboth Beach, I would recommend getting the take-out platter and heading down to the boardwalk to eat on one of the benches there.

Blue Coast Seafood Grill

Blue Coast Seafood Grill and Fish Market is a restaurant (with an adjacent fish shop) just north of Bethany Beach on route 1 (southbound side). A group of 6 of us visited there a few weeks ago, and I’m sure that we will be back. Fortunately, The Blue Coast is open year round, so we will probably give it a try in the off season.

We were seated quickly, and we were given a nice table with a beautiful sunset view over the wetlands. We tried the baby spinach salad with apples, blue cheese, cranberries, pistachios, served with orange vinaigrette, which was just outstanding. For my main, I ordered the pan roasted scallops with cheddar grits, which was served with a tomato-based sauce. This dish was unbelievably good. I was so focused on my food, that I did not really get a chance to take notes on everyone else’s meals, although I do remember that everyone was very pleased with their selection.

For mains, the prices range from $18 (fish and chips) to $40 (surf and turf).

Great setting, great food, great service, and reasonable (for the beach area) prices … Blue Coast Seafood Grill was a hit with our group.

Atlantic Liquors

Atlantic Liquors on route 1 (near the Rehoboth Mall) has been the store of choice for the past 10 years or so. Until some recent changes, I thought that they had an unbeatable combination of great prices and outstanding service. In the past, when you were in Atlantic Liquors, every few minutes or so an employee would check with you to make sure that you found what you were looking for, etc.

I went into the store recently to pickup a case of beer. The case that I wanted didn't have any signs showing the price, although the price shown for another case by the same microbrewery was waaaaay out of my price range, so I wanted to check on the price before I bought. Anyway, I searched high and low and could not find any employees to help me. I finally found an employee, who was busy chatting with a friend. I waited patiently for the employee to catch up with his buddy, and when there was a break in the conversation, I asked about the price. He responded with a curt "I don't know", and went back to his conversation with his buddy. No "let me check", no "I'll find out for you", nothing. This is not the level of customer service that I had come to expect of Atlantic Liguors. Since they were not interested in my business, I headed off to the new kid in town, Outlet Liquors. Lo and behold, Outlet Liquors had the beer that I wanted, with a price clearly marked (that also happened to be in my price range).

So ... score one for Outlet Liquors. It looks like Atlantic Liquors needs to step up its game (or at least get back to where it used to be).

Tijuana Taxi - Highway One

For years, Tijuana Taxi was the best (only?) Mexican place in Rehoboth Beach. Competition from places such as Dos Locos started to damage its customer base, and it moved out to Highway One last summer, taking over the old Lazy Susan's location.

Four of us visited last week, and boy how the mightly have fallen. First, due to no fault of our server, the service was awful. He apologized profusely, but he was the bartender and only server for the entire restaurant. Then, the food. How do I describe the food? Let's put it this way ... you would be better off buying a frozen burrito and throwing it in your microwave.

If by chance you decide to go to Tijuana Taxi anyway, be forewarned about the Fajita Salad. In turns out that at Tijuana Taxi, a Fajita Salad is a plate of chili cheese fries on a bed of lettuce. Huh?

Lewes Restaurant Scene

It looks like the economy is having a big affect on the Lewes restaurant scene. Cirelli's Restaurant (formerly La Rosa Negra) is for sale, as is The Second Street Grille and Gilligan's.

The only bright spot for downtown Lewes? Kindle is moving into town (on Bank Street, next to the post office, replacing the bookstore that is there now) from its current location at Paynter's Mill.

Winter Specials 2008-2009

Monday

Striper Bites – Half Price Burgers
Summer House – Half Price Burgers


Tuesday

Jerry’s Seafood -- $5 burgers
Ledo Pizza/Midway Galleria -- Half Price Pasta Night after 5 PM (eat in)
Nicola’s – Half Price Pasta Night (eat in)


Wednesday

Adriatico/Midway – Buy one entrée, get second entrée free (cash only)
Arena’s – Half price sandwiches

Thursday

Nicola’s – Half Price on Nicobolis (eat in)


Sunday

Lazy Susan’s -- $0.99 drafts

Arena's Deli

I went to Arena’s in downtown Rehoboth Beach for lunch on a beautiful fall weekday and sat outside on the patio. Arena’s is one of my favorite sandwich places in the area, and they did not disappoint me on this visit. As usual, the service was friendly, and the only problem was deciding from the large sandwich selection on the menu. They also have a huge selection of beers, both in bottles and on tap. I had the southwestern chicken sandwich, which is grilled chicken with monterey jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole on a kaiser roll. The sandwich was great. Give Arena’s a try … good food, casual atmosphere, reasonable prices.

La Rosa Negra

Not a review this time, just passing along some information.

I haven't been to La Rosa Negra in years. I used to go there quite frequently when it was located on Second Street. Basically, I just forgot about it after it moved out of downtown Lewes. Anyway, La Rosa Negra is changing its name to Cirelli's. Apparently, people didn't realize that it was an Italian restaurant, and instead were assuming it was Mexican. So ... no ownership change, just a name change.

Kindle - Milton

Kindle is a newish restaurant in the Paynter's Mill neighborhood between Lewes and Milton. C and I have been there a couple of times. The Tuna Nicoise is an excellent starter, as is the deconstructed lobster ravioli. For mains, we've tried the filet mignon, which includes a pinot Noir demi-glace, crispy potato cake, baby arugula and spinach, and sautéed mushrooms, and this was extremely well-prepared as well. Another winner is the grilled wild salmon, served with griddled asiago polenta, asparagus, roasted artichoke hearts, red pepper coulis.

The only disappointment is that for a higher end restaurant (main courses are in the $25 to $40 range), service was very poor on our most recent visit.

Stingray

The people who run Mikimotos in Wilmington have just opened their new place in Rehoboth Beach. It's called Stingray, and it features sushi and Asian/latin fusion food. I recently tried it with J and D, and it was great! We shared a bunch of unusual rolls, such as the Stingray (shrimp tempura, avocado, and unagi) and they were all awesome.

I've been hearing a lot of complaints lately about how The Cultured Pearl's service has gone downhill, so Stingray, which is just 1/2 block down Lake Ave from The Pearl, will be stealing a bunch of their business.

Winter Dining Specials

One of the best parts of winter at the Delaware beaches is the dining specials. Here are the good deals that I am aware of. Let me know if you have others:


Monday

Frogg Pond -- Half Price burgers and wings
Iguana Grill (Milton location) – half price quesadillas
Wahoo - $3 burgers

Tuesday

Iguana Grill (Milton location) – half price pasta night
Nicola’s Pizza – half price pasta night

Wednesday

Arena's - half price sandwiches
Iguana Grill (Milton location) -- $5 burgers
Adriatico (Midway location) – buy one entrée, get the second entrée of the same or lower price for free. Must pay cash.

Thursday

Frogg Pond -- half price entrees
Adriatico (Midway location) – buy one entrée, get the second entrée of the same or lower price for free. Must pay cash
Nicola’s Pizza – half price Nicabolis.
Iguana Grill (Milton) -- half price wings

Friday

Iguana Grill(Rehoboth) -- half price quesadillas
Stoney Lonen -- half price Fish & Chips

Sunday

Stoney Lonen -- half price fresh fish entrees
Tijuana Taxi – half price entrees all day