LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Eating Out: Familiar Favorites and New Taste Treats |
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats (320 Rehoboth Ave.) has been a popular hangout of mine since I moved here four years ago. They have live music Friday and Saturday nights, a cozy atmosphere and great food, and a tasty selection of brews, including fabulous seasonal ones. Their raison d'etre, a Belgian style brew, recently won American Beer of the Year from Malt Advocate magazine. As my usual eating sidekick is off in Londoneating kidney pies and other such horrorsI rounded up a friend to join me in our eating frenzy. Dogfish offers a great selection of starters, including my favorite, the woodgrilled duck eggroll with roasted peanut sauce, but we went for two other winners, the woodgrilled portabella and goat cheese salad and the spiced, fried calamari. The salad has roasted red peppers and a light and tasty tangerinesesame vinaigrette with baby greens and is a perfect combination of flavors. The calamari is served with a ginger/lemon soy dipping sauce that's so good you just want to drink it out of its little cup. The pizzas have a wonderfully thin, crispy dough and are loaded with creative toppings. We had the Canary, done to perfection with woodgrilled chicken radiating out from the center of it like tasty spokes, plus caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and scallions. It is true, you can eat one of these by yourself, but not when you're eating as much as we were ready to pack away. One of my very favorite treats at Dogfish is the woodgrilled Atlantic salmon sandwich on a sourdough baguette. The salmon is a substantial, moist and tasty piece in and of itself, but when you add a nice wedge of tangy saga blue cheese that just warms and melts into it, with marinated red onions and topped with a lemon Dijon glaze, well, you have one of the richest and most fabulous sandwiches in town. It's almost insulting calling it a sandwich. It's served with a huge heapin' helping of delicate and crispy frites and homemade ketchup. Of course Dogfish is also known for its burgers, served on dense homemade focaccia, which makes my mouth water just thinking of it. Some of the other sandwiches (all delicious) are the marinated tuna steak, and the woodgrilled mahi mahi on black bread with grilled pineapple salsa. Not to be too piggy, we also tried the woodgrilled (how much wood do they go through here, one wonders?) pork porterhouse, one of the daily specials, and so remarkable it should be on the menu every day. A thick slice of pork, done to perfection, tender and moist and flavorful, served under a glaze of lemon rosemary Dijon on a bed of garlicky mashed potatoes with a side of broccoli. My sidekick thought the pork was "yumilicous", and I concur. There are several other main courses here, all of which sounded great, including the filet of beef in smoked bacon, onion and tomato marmalade. I had never had dessert at Dogfish before, probably because I'm always so stuffed with dinner, but we tried the chocolate covered strawberries and I have now found my first "Favorite New Food" of the season. The plate comes drizzled with raspberry sauce and a mound of whipped cream dusted with cocoa, surrounded by four of the largest and juiciest strawberries imaginable, densely coated with white chocolate, then drizzled with milk chocolate. To die for! Dogfish is once again hosting the Oscar Night Partythe third annualas a benefit for the Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Sunday, March 26 at 6:00 p.m. This is one party you won't want to miss! For ticket information, see page 38, or call the Film Society office at 3026459095. Dogfish Brewings and Eats, 320 Rehoboth Avenue, currently opens at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Thursday and Friday, and at noon on Saturdays and Sundays. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 2, Mar. 10, 2000. |