LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
EATING Out |
by Barry Becker |
An Oasis in Downtown Rehoboth
Eden Caf (120 Rehoboth Ave.) is a wonderful oasis in the heart of downtown Rehoboth Beach. Depending on your mood, you can dine in the outdoor garden in the back, a cozy vine covered gazebo, or you can choose the sidewalk seating out front and watch the world go by. There's a dining room in the front of the restaurant and the rear, where we sat, which is absolutely inviting and calming. With soaring ceilings and windows, it's a light and airy room with great big bamboo wrap-around chairs to get lost inside, or comfortable benches with lots of throw pillows. As usual for me, everything on the menu sounded great. For starters we split two appetizers, a wonderful warm spinach salad with goat cheese, rich candied walnuts, and a beet vinaigrette that was thick with pureed red beets that gave the salad a wonderful taste and color. We also had the smoked salmon pizza with wasabi caviar and a thin coating of horseradish-dill crme fraiche. The pizza had an incredibly light grilled crust, covered with smoked salmon and fresh fabulous dill. Entrees range from fresh seafood of all varieties (grilled mahi mahi and southern style pecan and corn crusted crab cakes with cilantro-roated pepper hollandaise, to name a few) to great sounding pastas (portabello ravioli with sundried tomatoes and pinenuts, and diver sea scallops with avocado, mango and roasted peppers) as well as a red meat or two and chicken. I really wanted to have one of the day's specials, panko crusted goat cheese stuffed pan seared softshell crabs, which sounded phenomenal, as well as one of the regular dishes, mac and cheese with goat cheese, parmesan, roasted peppers, baby spinach, grilled chicken and rosemary. But as my cholesterol level is now certifiably way into the dangerous stratosphere, I'm trying to watch what I eat even more, so I ordered the wasabi and sesame crusted yellowfin tuna, pan seared, with seaweed salad and broccolini. For our second entre we had the Chesapeake filet, crab imperial atop an angus beef tenderloin with horseradish sour cream. This was served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccolini as well. I had just a bite of this, enough to know that the tenderloin was indeed so tender you could cut it with a fork, that it was incredibly juicy and fabulous, and that the crab was fresh and rich as it should be. The tuna was sushi grade, seared just enough to heat it through, covered with black and white sesame seeds and served with lots of wasabi and soy. It was exquisite, a big fresh piece of fish, with a great seaweed salad that made me feel very healthy. And the portions here are just right! It's hard to be good when it comes to dessert, but it's one course that's hard for me to skip. We were fairly good by ordering a piece of the most incredible key lime pie I've had in ages, one of the lightest and tastiest classics, with a cookie crust and lime shavings over a creamy and dreamy lime filling. We also ordered lemon squares, two tangy lemony bars with a thick crunchy crust, served with blueberries and strawberries, and absolutely perfect for a summer (or any) evening with its very lemony tang. Eden is open for dinner beginning at 6:00, and is well worth a visit for its creative and tasty food, its extensive wine selections, the wonderful ambiance, and great and attentive service. Make sure it's on your list of places to dine while visiting Rehoboth! Eden Caf, 122 Rehoboth Avenue, is open daily. For reservations, call 302-227-3330. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 9, July 13, 2001. |