Cup o' Joe
Food, travel, and news on the Chesapeake Bay
Hot New Restaurants at the Beach
I recently returned from scouting new shops and restaurants at the Delaware beaches. (I suppose someone has to!) You’ll be able to read the full feature here in about two weeks, but I thought I’d give a little preview of what I think will be the hot new places this season:
1. Henlopen City Oyster House. This Rehoboth Beach oyster bar replaces the popular Celsius restaurant along Wilmington Avenue. It’s a handsome space, all right, done up in sophisticated, oyster-y grays and whites with big picture windows overlooking the street. Hasn’t Rehoboth Beach always needed a real raw bar? Henlopen City delivers by offering a half-dozen different types of oysters on the half shell, and a great selection of mircobrews and wines from boutique producers.
2. Conch Island Key West Bar and Grill. They’re already calling this boisterous Rehoboth restaurant/bar “Starboard North,” after the famous Dewey Beach bar. The vibe is definitely a little more mature than the Starboard, but with live bands on Saturday night and all-day happy hours on Sunday, the party spills out onto the sidewalk. Local opinion is definitely divided.
3. Betty’s Pure and Simple. Most things owner Matt Haley (Fish On! Bluecoast, Northeast Seafood Kitchen, Catch 54) touches turns to gold, so I expect this place will do well, too. The menu features sophisticated takes on standard comfort food (mac ‘n’ cheese, meatloaf, etc.) and most entrees cost less than 20 bucks. Unfortunately, both our meals were WAY over salted. Ease up, chef. The dishes may hearken back to the ‘70s, but the sodium content doesn’t have to.
4. Nicola Pizza on the Avenue. It only took 39 years, but Nicola Pizza finally opened another (much larger) location. The new bi-level restaurant features the Upper Deck, a hoppin’ sports bar on the second floor. Menus are the same throughout.Maybe now you won’t have to wait more than an hour at the old location to get a table!
Remember, check back on our home page in two weeks for the full story.
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Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/09/10 at 01:50 PM
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