Photo courtesy of Rehoboth Main Street (rehomain.com)
Here at Rehoboth in My Pocket, we’re all about beach, food, fun, and fireworks!
Living life to the fullest! Celebration!
So, in celebration of July 4 weekend at the beach, we’re lowering the price of our app – the Rehoboth in My Pocket travel guide for iPhone and iPad – to just 99 cents!
Here’s the scoop: One day only, on Wednesday, June 29, download the Rehoboth in My Pocket app for only 99 cents! (A 75% savings over the usual $3.99 price!) *Important note: Buy the app early in the day – Apple resets the price rather randomly, so no guarantees the price stays at $.99 until midnight. Just sayin’.
Buy apps for your beach-loving friends and your vacation-loving parents (just choose “Gift this App” when you buy it, and enter your friends’ email address!).
Then, head out to Rehoboth and raise a ruckus. And don’t miss the Rehoboth fireworks on July 4!
Here’s what’s new in the app:
✔ All entries updated for 2011!
✔ New categories, including Events, Hidden Gems, Eating Out-Outside!, Pet Friendly, and Open Year Round!
✔ 35 new entries, including handy lists for vacationers – such as Grocery Stores and Beer/Wine/Liquor Stores – plus dozens of events in Rehoboth, Lewes, and Dewey Beach
✔ More internal and external links to help you find what you need
✔ 160 pages and 700+ photos!
View "Rehoboth in My Pocket app just 99 cents June 29" on its own page.
Upscale Italian on the porch
“They pronounce it the Italian way: zebra. Like Debra. Which makes you feel just a tiny bit continental when you tell your friends that you’re having dinner at Zebra (Debra).
They have one of the rare dining porches in Rehoboth, so it’s a tough call: porch on a balmy summer evening? Or safari room inside, with giraffe or leopard print walls – which somehow manages to not look goofy, but instead romantic and kind of restful?
Delaware Today critics voted Zebra “Best Upscale Italian,”" and they deserve it. They serve a perfect Caesar salad, and the homemade black & white pasta with scallops is so fresh you can taste the flour in the pasta (in a good way). The pappardelle pasta with mushrooms is spectacular, as is the carbonara (it’s the sauced kind – not the dry, purist kind). The rigatoni Bolognese, and any of the risottos, are also worth a try. And you can get the pastas in “small plates” as a main course (they are plenty). Most in the $11 range, they help save a little money – and a few calories. Service can be extraordinary, or extraordinarily slow.
Our one big constant complaint is the by-the-glass wine prices – around $10, and up. That adds up fast, and has made us head to less lofty restaurants on more than one occasion.
Definitely make reservations.
Price: Entrees $20 – $30+
Open: Daily for dinner in summer. Also serving dinner on weekends starting in April, and fall through December 31.
Phone: 302-226-1160
Address: 32 Lake Avenue, Rehoboth Beach
Directions here
See more dining options in Rehoboth in the Rehoboth in My Pocket app for iPhone and iPad, just $3.99 in the iTunes store.
Crab cakes for the connoisseur
Big Fish Grill is an extremely popular place – same owners as Summer House (another line-out-the-door place), and they don’t take reservations.
You’ll find several big, bright dining rooms with lots of wood, stuffed marlin overhead, tuna and barracuda and smaller fry on the walls, and a fair amount of noise bouncing around.
Voted Best Appetizer, Best Crab Cake, AND Best Dessert in Delaware Today’s “Best of Delaware,” there’s much gastronomic happiness here. Seafood is the specialty, of course, with most entrees under $20, including a big choice of seafood pastas and fried platters, plus daily specials offering up the fresh fish choices.
Carnivores have a few choices, such as pork chops, grilled chicken, and a couple of steaks, and kudos to these guys for doing their best to cater to the allergic among us: specialty menus offer entrees free from dairy, egg, garlic, nuts, or shellfish, as well as gluten.
New for 2011: Big Fish now has a Raw Bar in their remodeled tiki room, featuring fresh shucked oysters and clams, plus other raw bar delicacies. The raw bar is open daily.
A Little Fish menu for kids ranging from $5.50 for pasta or meatloaf to $9.95 for tuna (gotta love a tuna-eating toddler), and that includes a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.
Happy hour at the bar Monday-Friday 5-7 and Sunday 4-6, with $2.50 domestic beers and other cheap-o beverages, plus a nice selection of $4 appetizers, including fried oysters and four sliders – pulled pork or cheeseburger.
Rates: Entrees $12 – $25
Hours: Summer hours: Open daily for lunch at 11, dinner from 4-9:30 Monday through Friday, and 3:30-9:30 weekends. Winter hours: Lunch daily at 11, Dinner Monday-Thursday 5-9, Friday 4:30 – 9:30, Saturday & Sunday 4-9
Phone: 302-227-FISH
Address: 4117 Route One, Rehoboth Beach
Directions here
See more dining options in Rehoboth in the Rehoboth in My Pocket app for iPhone and iPad, just $3.99 in the iTunes store.
The thorny debate about commerce, noise, and neighbors is no stranger to Rehoboth. Over the winter, it appeared as if evenings during 2011 beach season would become a little quieter for downtown residents and renters, and a lot less lucrative for restaurant and bar owners with outdoor patios and late-night business. (Think curtains blowing in the breeze atop Cultured Pearl, the deck high in the trees at Porcini House, the friendly patio at Cloud 9.)
The code required outdoor food service to end by 10 p.m. and patios to be cleared by 11 p.m. After recent debate, a new city council vote suspends that time limit until December, allowing restaurants to use their outdoor spaces until their normal end of business. Safe for now.
Here are a few spots where you can (still) have a drink or a meal outdoors in downtown Rehoboth:
Outdoor dining in downtown Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
View "Late night, outdoor dining in Rehoboth Beach: safe for now" on its own page.
So much great stuff going on at Hobos
. Natural, organic, local foods. A warm welcome to special diets (call ahead for gluten, peanut, or other sensitivities or special requests). Lots of lovely design touches, front porch seating, cozy bar, and a romantic lounge space in the back that can be reserved for groups of up to 10 or 12.
The head of the kitchen is Executive Chef Gretchen Hanson, who describes her culinary style as Global Eco-Fusion, a “celebration of the subtle simplicity of street food from around the world.” Gretchen’s menu focuses on the cuisines of Mexico, Europe, and the Mediterranean with a focus on locally grown produce.
Here’s the SWAG: Hobo’s Restaurant and Bar invites you in for a FREE NOSH with purchase of lunch entrée OR FREE NOSH or DESSERT with dinner entree. The Nosh menu changes, but usually includes Bruschetta and Artichoke Tapenade, Summer Goat Cheese Dip, fresh Pico de Gallo and Guacamole, and more.
Limit one per table. Just show them this listing to claim your freebie! Expires October 31, 2010.
56 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, 302-226-2226, www.myhobos.com
View "Try a Nosh! Savor a Dessert! From Hobos Restaurant" on its own page.
It’s closing in on Labor Day and we are sad. And we have a confession to make. We are no longer Rehoboth homeowners – after three years on the market, our rental house sold in mid-June. So we no longer have sleepless night worries about the house burning down mid-season. But on the other hand, we have no Rehoboth to look forward to come September, once the renters clear out.
So, we’re sad, and we’re torturing ourselves by remembering all the things we love so much: morning walks in The Pines, cinnamon-y Cafe con Leches at Cafe a Go Go, riding bikes on the Junction & Breakwater Trail to Lewes, browsing in Browseabout Books, napping, chocolate espresso martinis at Hobos (and crab dip, and crab quesadillas, and and and), fish and chips at Go Fish (at off-season prices, especially!), everything at Pig & Fish. We could go on and on (which is why we wrote an app about it).
But the story we haven’t told you yet is about our last weekend. Last weekends are the pits. You’re exhausted from all the boo-hooing and grubby from all the packing and hauling, and the pressure to have the perfect ending is immense. How to choose??
So we picked two last meals (one would never have been enough). And we picked two new places, places that we’d never been able to get into before (too popular), and that would send us off with new memories of an old friend.
So here’s your No iPhone Friday – a two-fer, to two new friends who sent us off with full bellies and happy hearts.
GreenMan Juice Bar & Bistro
Finally, finally got into GreenMan, after several years of passing dejectedly by the often-packed porch, and can now report: true happiness. The long list of fruit and tea smoothies is just the teaser to get you in. What keeps you sitting on that cute front porch are the generous, creative – and even healthy – grilled sandwiches, chilled sides, and soups and quiches of the day.
I asked for a recommendation and went with what I heard: The Bengali: grilled flatbread sandwich stuffed with Indian-spiced sauteed spinach, slices of ripe tomato, and mild goat cheese. $8.95. Worth every penny. Makes you want to go buy some spinach just to see if you can recreate those subtle, tasty Indian flavors.
We also tried The Havana: Organic Smoked Turkey Breast, Turkey Pastrami, Swiss Cheese, Dijonnaise, and Dill Pickle. Also $8.95. Excellent adaptation of the Cuban.
For breakfast, oatmeal with organic toppings; Creme Brulee French Toast; Sausage & Gravy (with turkey sausage); Quiche of the Day or Crepes of the Day; breakfast sandwiches with free range, local organic eggs on ciabatta, whole wheat bagel or wheatberry toast; GreenMan Breakfast Wrap with organic vegetables and potatoes sauteed with tofu in a whole wheat wrap, served with fresh tomato salsa; granola bowl with yogurt and fruit.
Breakfast and lunch only. 12 Wilmington Avenue, Rehoboth
Blue Moon Restaurant
When restaurants in Rehoboth grow up, they want to be Blue Moon. Nearly three decades in business, these guys still have it going on.
Blue Moon is housed in a brilliant blue Victorian beach house and has a couple of cozy dining rooms – one with a fireplace for winter nights, and one with a retractable roof for summer evenings – and a small drinks patio out front.
The menu offers traditional seafood and meats, but prepares them in the most mouth-watering ways.
Check this out:
Roasted Baby Rack of Lamb
Grain mustard-herb crust, butternut-potato-gruyere lasagna, asparagus, baby carrots and pinot noir reduction.
Or this one:
Braised Buffalo Short Ribs
Gorgonzola grits, charred Brussels sprouts, crispy onion rings, salsa verde, smoked tomato jus
Yum. And after Labor Day, locals flock back for the $35 Tuesday Tasting Dinner with three courses and wine. When you can get a discount here, grab it: Blue Moon is the most expensive restaurant in town.
Thursday evenings are karaoke at 9:30, but if you’re thinking of trotting out your best My Way for a lark, know this: Rehoboth has some world-class talent. So bring your A game.
The Blue Moon Divas Show on Fridays at 9:30 has been called the best drag show in the state. No cover. 35 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth
View "No iPhone Friday two-fer: Green Man and Blue Moon" on its own page.
Porch at Hobos Restaurant
(See the Rehoboth in My Pocket travel guide/iPhone app for more on all of these great spots. Are we missing somebody? Let us know!)
Adriatico – large covered porch right on the busy corner of 1st Street and Baltimore – good for people watching
Aqua Grill – Massive deck for one big party
Arena’s Deli and Bar – Several tables on the sidewalk in an attractive shopping “alley”
Blue Moon – A unique design lets Blue Moon roll back the roof in the back dining room on nice nights or sunny days for brunch
Café Papillon – Casual, shaded seating in a shopping alley courtyard, self-serve
Cloud 9 – A quiet, elegant restaurant in front; a hopping bar in the middle; an enclosed, laid back patio out back.
Cultured Pearl – Magnificent rooftop deck with wooden gazebos, soft lighting..and fish ponds
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats – Enclosed patio with several tables
Eden – Few cozy tables fronting the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, plus some balcony seating on the second level
The Gallery Espresso – Lower level courtyard just off the Avenue with several tables for relaxed (self-serve) seating
Hobos Restaurant – Large, romantic covered porch opening onto Baltimore Avenue (pets welcome)
Lori’s Oy Vey Café – Casual, self-serve seating for breakfast or lunch in a shady courtyard
Porch at Mariachi
Mariachi Restaurant – Big third-floor covered deck strung with white lights and in sight of the ocean
Pig & Fish – Small sidewalk seating area with patio umbrellas
Planet X – Eclectic porch seating with built-in banquettes and tables squeezed in around a big old tree, very romantic
Purple Parrot – Cozy “alley” of covered seating along the side of the restaurant, with a new “sand pit” bar out back.
Rigby’s Bar & Grill – Dogs are welcome on the small garden patio out back
Royal Treat – Two screened porches, for breakfast or ice cream
Victoria’s (in the Boardwalk Plaza Hotel) – Lovely restaurant and pub seating directly on the boardwalk with ocean views
Zebra Ristorante – Romantic, low-light porch wrapping around the front and side of this restaurant, overlooking quiet Lake Avenue
Zoggs – Tucked into an alley just off the Boards, big open area with very casual seating and – listen to this – 70 different kinds of rum!
(c) Rehoboth In My Pocket, 2011
View "…Outdoor Dining in Downtown Rehoboth?" on its own page.
Hobos Restaurant & Bar on Baltimore Ave is busy! Tomorrow night they’re hosting a Georgetown SPCA fundraiser with live music by Cathy Gorman from 6 – 11, and then on Saturday it’s their first ”Meatout” dinner, celebrating a day of plant-based food choices. They’ll feature an open buffet with all you can eat meatless dishes. Catch up on your veggies! $25 per person. Call Gretchen to make your reservation at 226-2226 or email info@myhobos.com.
We had some in-cre-di-ble cream of crab soup at Hobos recently.
And some sweet ‘n spicy hog wings (yes, hog wings) at Pig & Fish that were fall off the bone fatal…
Oh, and some absolutely authentic Fish and Chips at Go Fish!…
And then there was that tasty little BBQ pork sandwich ($2.95!) and the blackened chicken quesadilla ($4.95!) off the bar menu at Summer House during the blizzard…
Who can forget the light, crispy flat bread appetizer at Rigby’s, with the sprinkle of arugula, prosciutto, pecorino, pine nuts, and a few golden raisins?
…the pan-fried rockfish at Salt Air Kitchen…
…French onion soup at Nage…
And we wonder why we can’t lose the baby fat.
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