LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Eating OUT: Sydney's |
by Barry Becker |
It's always easiest for two indecisive eaters, when faced with a menu that features virtually everything that sounds too good to be true, to just have someone say "This is what you're eating tonight." And that's just how Trisa began our evening at SYDNEY'S BLUES AND JAZZ (25 Christian St.) on our recent visit. Sydney's has a wonderful ambiance, whether you're sitting outside on the colorful patio off Rehoboth Avenue, or inside in the coral-colored main dining room with ceiling fans, sky lights and the ever present sounds of blues and jazz. Trisa was a pure delight all night long, telling us about the food we would be eating, and sharing her love of working at Sydney's. She started us with a small basket of wonderful crunchy bread, along with carrot and celery sticks, and the most tantalizing dip I have had in a long time. It's made of horseradish, which gives it a bite, apple jelly, which makes it light, and pineapple, which gives it a nice sweetness. What a flavor combination! From there we moved into some seriously fabulous appetizers. The Beggar's Purse Americane was just divine, a light crepe stuffed with chunks of lump crabmeat, shrimp and fried leeks, served on a plate of rich light sauce. The Vegetable Bundle was like an oversized egg roll cut in half diagonally, its crispy shell stuffed with portabella mushrooms, bell peppers, scallions, and snow peas sauteed with a hint of ginger. The dipping sauce of soy, garlic, ginger and other ingredients, and the fresh sprigs of thyme in the eggrolls made them even more tasty. The Fritter and Mushroom Stack was also a winner, light pancake-like corn fritters with alternating layers of portabella mushrooms, a tangy creole mustard glaze, and a confetti of red pepper salsa and mescaline greens surrounding it. Trisa brought us our next course, the over-the-top French Quarter Oyster Salad, one of my new Favorite Foods in town adorable little baby spinach leaves with big slices of mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes and more, lightly coated with a warm bacon dressing. Where I grew up, bacon dressing was a heavy Pennsylvania Dutch concoction, but this was a very light and flavorful dressing. The crowning glory of this salad is that it's topped with incredible huge tender warm oysters wrapped in perfect bacon. Talk about heaven! On to the main courses. The menu offers the best of New Orleans cuisine, with Crab and Crawfish Cakes with cilantro lime cream, Lobster Fra Diablo, Shrimp and Crawfish over pasta in a light cream sauce, and more. But Chef Debbie Alley had selected for us the Jazzy Jambalaya, which was loaded with shrimp, chicken, clams, mussels and spicy sausage, over spicy creole rice. You can order a full course of this, or a smaller portion called a grazing. The Hurricane Shrimp was also delicious, huge tail-on shrimp skewered with green peppers and onions with a sweet sauce of honey, garlic and scallions on a bed of basmati rice. If you love shrimp, this is the dish for you, a perfect blend of flavors. Konrad and I had just been talking about the fact that we have barely had any soft shell crabs yet this year, so we were like kids in a candy shop over the St. Charles Softshell, pan fried with a sauce of shrimp and tasso ham and a touch of cream. We could have eaten many of these, and will have to go back for more. We also had a tasty melange of vegetables, including snow peas, zucchini, carrots, red pepper and broccoli sauteed in wine, which were fresh and vibrant and bursting with flavor. Even though we were our usual stuffed selves, saying no to dessert is rarely an option, at least for me. Normally I would have ordered the Mississippi Mud, a dense chocolate fudge cake, hollowed out and filled with chocolate mousse and topped with chocolate ganache and drizzled with fresh strawberry sauce and berries. But that sounded a bit much after such a huge meal, so we tried the Bananas Foster, a sinful combination of heated butter and sugar and cream and vanilla, tossed with bananas and served over vanilla ice cream. Yum! Another light and perfect dessert is the Lemon Ice with Fresh Blueberries, a martini glass filled with shaved ice and lemon which was a perfectly refreshing way to end the meal. The very personable Chef Debbie Alley sat and talked with us for awhile after dinner. It's clear she loves her job and believes in keeping the menu focused, with an emphasis on fresh, fresh, fresh, and it shows in everything we sampled. Sydney's has carved out a unique niche not only in Rehoboth dining with exquisite Creole cuisine, but on the nightlife scene as well, with nightly live entertainment. Blues and jazz singers grace the bar stage every night. Sydney's is a must-stop for great and creative food, friendly and warm service, and the best in entertainment. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 9, No. 10, July 30, 1999 |