This Pearl’s Got Culture
Last Sunday, my honey, Sharon, and I
experienced the first Cultured Pearl annual buffet in their new location
on the fourth block of Rehoboth Avenue at Lake Avenue. This was our third
year of attending the buffet, and it gets better every year. We saw many
acquaintances also dining at the event, including friends from Wilmington
whom we had not seen in way too long. The food was absolutely incredible;
owners Susan Townley Wood and Robert Wood really outdid themselves.
In essence, it was two buffets in one.
First the hot food buffet and then the sushi and salad buffet.
The hot food buffet offered up one
delicious dish after another, and you know we tried as many as we could!
The vegetable tempura was lightly battered and kept crunchy by some kind
of miracle. The seafood pasta was overflowing with shrimp, crabmeat and
scallops in a beautiful cream sauce tossed with roasted tomatoes and
asparagus. The pork tenderloin was true to its name (very tender), and
served with a bit of spinach and blue cheese and a nice garlic undertone.
There was chicken teriyaki and a couple other hot dishes that I missed out
on, but the plate is only so big.
The highlight of the hot buffet, though,
was the beef. It was absolutely delicious. Everything was yummy, but this
beef had us interrupting conversations to ask, “Oh my goodness, did you
try the beef yet?” Wow, it was good. It was filet with some kind of
flavorful sauce. I hate to say barbeque sauce, because that will conjure
up some pit beef sandwich in your mind. This beef was not cooked in a pit.
This was a gourmet barbeque-like sauce. The filet was sliced thin and
melted in my mouth. Did I say it was really good? Yum.
In addition to their wonderful miso soup
and green salad with ginger dressing (both of which I order all the time
when we dine there), the soup and salad bar also offered all kinds of
things I had never tried before. There was something called Karai Edamame
which is an edamame salad (soy beans) tossed with garlic, sea salt, and
spicy chili oil. It was wonderful, especially when eaten with the Squid
Salad which I hesitate to describe, except to tell you that it is not
something I would have ordered, but after trying a sample, I can not wait
to order a whole serving off the menu upon my next visit. It was
wonderfully tender and flavorful with a nice ginger and spice combination.
The first thing I tried off the sushi bar
was a wonderful seared ahi tuna served with a dollop of wasabi mayonnaise
and seaweed salad. I loved it. Next I took a variety of sushi and maki.
Sometimes people get confused about the difference between the sushi, maki
and sashimi. Sushi is when they take bite-sized pieces of raw or cooked
fish and serve them on a little mound of cold cooked rice. Maki are rice
and fish or vegetables rolled in a seaweed or rice paper and sliced into
round pieces. Sashimi is when they serve thin bite-size slices of fresh
raw fish by themselves.
The sushi bar offered all three: sushi,
sashimi and maki. We stuffed them down like we would never get the chance
again. One of my favorites is the Mexican roll, a type of maki that
has tuna, avocado and crunchy tempura bits. The Dynamite has salmon and
tuna with a dab of spicy mayo on top; it is put under the broiler for a
minute until the mayo warms up.
It’s a goal of mine to try all the maki
on the Cultured Pearl menu, and after seven years of eating at Pearl, I
have not been able to achieve this goal. I admire anyone who has!
The service at The Cultured Pearl is always
excellent; if you haven’t visited their new location yet, it should be
one of the first things you do this year at the beach. I strongly suggest
making reservations; I have the Cultured Pearl in my cell phone because
you never know when the need for a maki will hit you!
Mark your 2009 calendars for the first
weekend in March for the Cultured Pearl’s annual buffet. All these items
are also available on their regular menu. The Cultured Pearl is open 7
days a week for dinner starting at 4:30 p.m. Winter specials include 25%
off maki (sushi rolls) between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. on certain days.
The menu can be seen at
www.culturedpearl.us/. For details about the winter specials,
reservations, ordering and pickup, call them at: 302-227-8493. The
Cultured Pearl is located at 301 Rehoboth Avenue in downtown Rehoboth
Beach, Delaware.
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