The Rehoboth Beach Foodie: Dewey Beach

Dewey Beach

Dewey Beach is just south of Rehoboth Beach. It's a narrow sandbar known primarily for bars, bars and more bars, nasty fights between the "City Fathers" and the local businesspeople, and, actually a few pretty good restaurants. Fans of Dewey Beach call it "a way of life," and to love it is to love it.

Sunrise Restaurant

Written by the Rehoboth Foodie |

After multiple visits to a restaurant, but before I start to write, I usually surf the web a bit to see what others are saying. Not that I believe much of that unmonitored drivel, but it sort of gives me a place to start. In the case of the diminutive and semi-under-the-radar Sunrise Restaurant in Dewey Beach, I have never read so many positive comments about any place here at the beach. And, after 6 visits, I agree.

Sunrise Restaurant gives "no-frills" a whole new meaning. No band, no mirror ball, no bar, no flashing neon (except for the "open" sign), no ads in the

Rusty Rudder

Written by the Rehoboth Foodie |

It's no secret that the Rusty Rudder complex in Dewey Beach was more popular for its outside bar and deck, live entertainment and magnificant view of the Rehoboth Bay than it was for the buffet. The dark, cramped and walled-off restaurant interior seemed to go just fine with the hit-or-miss grub-food-fest that was the buffet.

It's hard to change old preconceptions, but when Highway One LP's John Snow and Executive Chef Pete McMahon converted Venus on the Half Shell into Ivy in early 2012, they simultaneously tackled a massive revamp of the venerable old Rudder. Floors were replaced and lightened in color, walls removed, interior windows created, paint applied, and

Ivy

Written by the Rehoboth Foodie |

At the conclusion of our latest visit to Ivy, I had the pleasure of running into Highway One, LLC owner, Alex Pires. "Mistakes were made," he commented softly. The mistakes could not have been with the food. The food is quite good and cleverly presented (think tapas on steroids: This is not Executive Chef Pete McMahon's first rodeo -- not by a long shot). The mistakes were certainly not with the decor and lighting. It's like nothing else in

Whiskey Beach Barbecue

Written by the Rehoboth Foodie |

After the demise of the Cosmopolitan Grill in early '11, I temporarily lost track of Chef Tommy Long. He had been imported from the just-a-little-too-impressed-with-itself Ponos in Dewey Beach, but an unfortunate set of circumstances conspired to keep Cosmo from becoming a reality. Or, more politely, it went belly-up.

So, on my first visit to Whiskey Beach, imagine my surprise to see

Woody's East Coast Bar & Grill

Written by the Rehoboth Foodie |

Sometimes good stuff turns up in the most unlikely places. For example, who wooda thought that you'd find an amazing crabcake at Woody's East Coast Bar & Grill in Dewey Beach? Not that I expected anything bad, but it's such an unassuming little spot, tucked into a tiny strip center with Vavala's Beach Things and a Post Office.

After many emails urging me to try the place, one of my favorite Foodettes finally took action: She told me to get

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San Francisco Examiner food critic Patricia Unterman, when asked what she means by "bad service":
"You know, if someone is completely bumbling and the food has chilled on the plate before it gets to the table, or if someone screws up the table and then doesn't handle it. If someone just confesses to it and says, "Oh, you're right, I screwed up," and it was an aberration, then I don't think twice about it. But I resent those situations where they pretend that it didn't happen."

--as quoted in Dining Out by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page