What goes around comes around

I’ve written many times that it’s anybody’s guess as to what sort of nerve you’ll hit when writing a weekly column. Everything from kind words and heartwarming compliments all the way to hordes of unruly peasants showing up at the Cape Gazette office with pitchforks and torches. Well, surprise, surprise, the last 10 years of bringing you “Beach Eats” every week on the radio are no different. Case in point: A short time ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing local Realtor and auctioneer Butch Emmert on my show. “What does a Realtor have to do with Beach Eats,” you might ask? (Please ask … or this all ends right here.)

Delaware native Butch Emmert’s family has a long history here at the beach. At the tender age of 18, Butch had the distinction of being the youngest Realtor in Delaware. But the “Beach Eats” tie-in is that his grandma Ruth was the founder and owner of the Dinner Bell Inn at the corner of Second and Christian streets in downtown Rehoboth Beach. So much dining history here at the beach! And I’ve been blessed to learn so much from so many local notables, including one of my favorite people, the sadly late Trish Vernon, the original editor of this very Cape Gazette you’re reading now. Thanks to her and so many others, my list of restaurant history is waaayyy longer than my allotted space on this page, but here’s a quick hit on some of the other fondly remembered local eateries.

Who can forget La La Land, with its bubbles, hand-painted tablecloths, and sheet-draped bar manned every day – yes, every day – by master barkeep David Engel (now at Café Azafran)? Just slightly west of there, the late Nancy Wolfe Wayson’s bouillabaisse at Chez La Mer is still the stuff of legend. (That’s the truth. Google it!) And if my email inbox is to be believed, there will never be a replacement for Doris Lynch’s chicken & dumplings at the Captain’s Table out there on the Forgotten Mile.

I loved reading former Gazette wine columnist John McDonald’s articles. They reminded me of his popular Garden Gourmet restaurants in Ocean City and Rehoboth. He was also instrumental in helping to put O.C.’s Grove Market on the map.

No retrospective is complete without mentioning Wilmington Avenue’s Fusion, Ground Zero and Celsius, Stoney Lonen (now Aroma), and Sydney’s, a Creole and jazz joint just around the corner, owned by Sydney Arzt. Which of course brings up another loss in that space: Pig & Fish Restaurant Company. We also miss their Pickled Pig out on the highway, but the remaining pigs live on in Lewes as Pig & Publican. Locals remember the sad story of the Camel’s Hump, which morphed into JAM, which recently moved south to the old Chez la Mer space. Also on the ocean block of Baltimore Avenue was Ginger Breneman’s MIXX, and the Steele family’s Café Azafran is still there. One of the go-to dining events at Café Azafran is Chef Richard’s reservations-only paella feast. Made from scratch before your eyes, it doesn’t get any fresher than that.

Café Solé on Baltimore Avenue served some of the best lunches I’ve had downtown. It became Solé, and then … it was gone. After that, a(MUSE.) took over, and now it’s Theo’s. At First & Wilmington, George Vrentzos was happiest frying eggs, scrapple and gyro meat at his Corner Grille. His daughter Irene kept at least 10 conversations going at once while dad whipped up comfort food. The place was home away from home for many. It’s now home to another tasty Greek-flavored breakfast spot, Goolee’s Grill.

Remember Manos – and its attitude issues – at Wilmington near the Boardwalk? A block west was the glitter and glow of Planet X (owner Justine is still going strong at her Blacksmith in Berlin, Md.). The adjacent building pretty much alternated between dismal failures like Cypress and Atlantic Jazz Yard, and home runs like Square One and Alison Blyth’s Yum Yum.

The upscale Drift now resides where the “no shirt, no shoes, no problem” Seafood Shack was. Before that, it was the original home of Dos Locos, and before that it was a piece of early Rehoboth Beach Methodist history. Lily Thai followed a long list of restaurants into the First Street Dos Locos spot (formerly Plumb Loco), which is now the pan-Asian Bodhi.

Summer House boss Regan Derrickson’s menu pays homage not only to former owners Sue and Richard Krick, but also to the old Sir Guy’s and Sea Horse restaurants. Remember Oscar’s restaurant next to what would become the Hotel Rehoboth? How about Bob Chin’s around the corner on Lake where Stingray is now? A young Matt Haley toiled in the kitchen there when it was Greg Talcott’s Third Edition.

I haven’t even finished half my list, and I’m already running out of real estate on this page. Let me know your favorite long-gone spots and we’ll do this again someday.