The Fractured Prune

It's hard to believe that a city the size of Philly doesn't have a gourmet doughnut shop along the lines of Portland's Voodoo Doughnut, or New York's Doughnut Plant. The closest thing we have to a shop cranking our creative doughnuts is The Fractured Prune, a franchise started in Ocean City, Maryland, now with a handful of locations in Maryland, two locations in Delaware, and one location each in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

My once or twice yearly trips to the beaches of Delaware make the Rehoboth Beach Fractured Prune my best bet at sampling hot, haute doughnuts. It's been a long wait since last summer, but I finally got some Fractured Prune doughnuts this past weekend.

Go early, or else the shop is closed in the afternoon, as I sadly found out. And call in your order if you want more than a couple of doughnuts, as a friend schooled me when he woke up the next day at the crack of dawn to bring back three boxes of doughnuts — at least two of each specialty doughnut off their menu!

The Fractured Prune makes all of their doughnuts to order, starting with a single cake-style batter. Sorry, no yeast doughnuts at all. Once the doughnuts are fried, they get a dip in one of their many glaze flavors: honey, banana, chocolate, maple, cherry, strawberry, lemon, raspberry, orange, peanut butter, blueberry, mocha, mixed berry, mint, and caramel.

The doughnuts are then loaded with your choice of toppings: rainbow sprinkles, chocolate jimmies, coconut, peanuts, Oreo cookie, mini chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon sugar. Create your own combination or choose one of their specialty combos from the menu.This all sounds so freakin' fantastic, but, admittedly, I was not blown away by The Fractured Prune's doughnut, and, yes, I got to eat them while they were still hot, and pretty much sampled every variety from their specialty menu.

My only major disappointment is the flavored glazes. They're just too thin to provide a walloping flavor punch that a thicker frosting would. When I order a caramel dipped doughnut, I want to be punched in the face with caramel, not left wondering what this brown, sugary slick is. And is that blueberry? It's blue, but I'm not sure.

The doughnuts themselves are a bit smaller than a doughnut from Dunkin Donut, and are a more craggy and airy cake doughnut. No real complaint there, just noting the difference.

I think my year-long anticipation of a Fractured Prune doughnut may have built up unrealistic expectations, but I would not be unhappy to make a pit stop at The Fractured Prune on future beach trips. The Trail Mix with banana glaze loaded down with nuts, coconut, and chocolate jimmies would be my first choice.

The Fractured Prune
Locations in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio

Groucho's

A little slice of home recently landed in the college town of Newark, Delaware, in the form of Groucho's Deli, a sandwich shop hailing from my very own hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. But how did a deli that was started in South Carolina in 1941 end up in Delaware? According to a Delaware News Journal article, David Richardson, the owner of the Delaware Groucho's (now a franchise with all but just a few location in South Carolina), grew up in Columbia, but his wife, who is from Delaware, wanted to move back to The First State, and so they brought Groucho's with them.

The history behind Groucho's goes that Harold Miller (nicknamed Groucho because of his resemblance to Groucho Marx with his mustache, cigars, and joking demeanor) dreamed up the recipe for coleslaw, potato salad, and salad dressings while he was still a child in a Philadelphia orphanage. Groucho took those dreams with him to Columbia, and in 1941 opened what was one of only a few Jewish-style delis in the area.
I know Groucho's very well. Their subs were one of maybe only two non-home cooked meals my family would eat at our kitchen table. It was always such a treat when my Mom decided to go down to, at the time, the one and only location of Groucho's on Harden St., Columbia's own college area, to pick up an order of subs to bring back home. As I perused the rack of exotic chocolate bars and tins of hard candies in the gourmet grocery section that was a deli fixture only up until the the 1980's, my Mom was at the counter getting winks and a discount from Groucho who mistakenly believed my Mom to be Jewish.

What we took home was Groucho's signature sandwich, the STP Dipper, a soft, long roll filled with melted cheese and mounds of warm turkey and roast beef topped with crumbled bacon. God, these were good! But that was when I ate meat.
As a vegetarian, Groucho's doesn't have much of interest for me — various salads (actually not bad, but they aren't part of my childhood memory), and a couple of sandwiches filled with cheese and veggies either on a roll, sliced bread, or in a pita. About every couple of years I'll order a veggie sub just to jog the memory of the excitement of taking a trip down to the deli with my Mom and eating this sacred food of my youth.

And, so, I visited the Newark Groucho's to pay homage to my youth and ordered the veggie Italian sub. Slices of four kinds of cheese — Provolone, Swiss, Muenster, and sharp American — are melted on a soft roll, then topped with chopped lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. It's basically a salad on top of a roll with melted cheese, and it's a little hard to eat without using a fork to eat some of the salad first.What is strikingly different at Groucho's from all the hoagie and sub shops in the Delaware Valley is the softness of the bread. The bread is cloud-like and can be easily squished down into virtually nothing, a far cry from the sturdier, crusty breads of a hoagie or sub from around these parts. I know y'all are staunch about the firmness of your hoagie and sub rolls, and even which bakery supplies the bread, so the bread at Groucho's is really going to throw y'all for a loop.

You also won't find any broccoli rabe or chunks of sharp Provolone at Groucho's. These are not traditional Italian hoagies. Nor are Groucho's specialty sandwiches typical Jewish deli fare. What you will find is Formula 45 sauce, which is pretty much Groucho's claim to fame.Formula 45 sauce is a secret blend of Thousand Island and Russian dressings along with dill and spices. It's up to you, dear eater, to either employ the dressing as a dip for the sandwich or as a spread to slather inside the sandwich. Groucho's and their Formula 45 sauce is the reason I am such a huge proponent of special sauce — or any sauce — on sandwiches.

Formula 45 sauce even caused rifts in the deli sandwich eating community of Columbia when a former employee of Groucho's opened Andy's Deli a few blocks away from Groucho's with a strikingly similar menu and special sauce. Groucho's and Andy's is Columbia's own Pat's and Geno's, but the rivalry is more subdued, and no guidos line up on the sidewalk for a sandwich.Groucho's thinks their Formula 45 sauce is so good they put it on almost all of their specialty sandwiches. For 60 cents you can get a small side of Formula 45 to slather on their other sandwiches, and if you find yourself as smitten with Formula 45 as much as I am, you can even pick up a pint for $5 to take home.
Are you, birthrighters of the hoagie, going to love Groucho's sandwiches? I don't know. I invite you to wipe all notions of what you think is a proper sub or hoagie out of your head, go into Groucho's, and, if you eat meat, order the STP with Formula 45 thinking of it as nothing more than a sandwich.

Besides the STP Dipper and veggie Italian sub mentioned here, Groucho's also serves a wide variety of salads, clubs and deli sandwiches, including low-fat options.

P.S. Delaware's own Capriotti's (also now a franchise) still makes my favorite vegetarian sub — they have veggie turkey, for cryin' out loud, and, yeah, I prefer the sturdier bread — but when I order mine I have Capriotti's make it with Russian dressing. Just a little secret I learned from Groucho's.

Groucho's
170 E. Main St., Newark, DE 19711
302-533-6307

Bye-Bye, Wilmington

I actually haven't left. But I have. I will continue to work in Wilmington, beautifying and making y'all look awesome, but I no longer live in Wilmington. Yeah, I'm actually kind of sad about this.

This means I probably won't be eating out very often in Wilmington or Delaware. Future Wilmington restaurant reviews are now on the endangered list.

I know I've got one more Wilmington review up in here somewhere (it involves dessert). And I have friends in Wilmington that I'd race back to the state for in the event of a party or outing, so our relationship may not be completely over.

Guiltily, I feel as though I slighted Wilmington in favor of Philly in the restaurant review department, but in looking over at the side bar listing all the places I've been, I'm actually surprised at how many places in Wilmington I got to, especially considering that I rarely go out in Wilmington. Out of the 151 reviews currently listed, 37 of the restaurants are in Wilmington or right outside of Wilmington. Not bad. And, I still have about 25 Wilmington places on my to-do list.

Well, au revoir, Wilmington. I will leave you with a list of only good things...and skip the bitch-fest.

A few of my favorite things in Wilmington:Domain Hudon - A cozy wine bar that serves great food (they recently got a new chef, so I'll definitely have to make a return trip) that was right around the corner from me.

Alcohol - While not as great as states that let you buy wine and beer in every grocery store, at least DE doesn't have the asinine liquor laws that PA has.

Tax-Free Shopping - It is veeerry nice! Since I'll still be visiting almost daily, I'll be sure to stock my car before returning home.
Capriotti's - Hand's down, best veggie turkey sub in the area. I cannot believe how many times I've eaten their sub (it's a sub, not a hoagie at Capriotti's), and, mmmm, oh my god, it tastes so good. I do not intend to live without Cap's. Take-out!

Delaware Center For Horticulture - They plan, plant, and maintain some of the most thoughtful and beautiful median strips (and other public spaces) I've ever seen. Anywhere. Driving along the busy roads in Wilmington is gorgeous...if you take time to notice the small things.

Clean Streets - Litter is minimal in Wilmington. It is a wondrous thing.
Brandywine Park - The best part about this downtown park with a scenic river and canal, tall trees, picnic tables, rose garden, and wide paths is the surrealism of walking right past the llamas and birds of prey at the neighboring Brandywine Zoo. That and it was, literally, right in my backyard! It is every American family's cliche dream to live next to such a park smack in the middle of downtown with gorgeous surrounding neighborhoods. No family here, but I'm shedding mondo tears for the loss of this one.

People - There are some brave mo'f'er's in Wilmington that have de-lurked and befriended me. As in, out of the blue with no relationship to me or anyone I know, asked me to dinner or to a party. I, of course, accepted (as long as they pass the creep test and don't want me to drive more than 20 minutes to meet them), and have met some really great friends.

Raw Food Dinners and Potlucks

Thanks to a couple of friends that are into eating raw, I had the pleasure of being invited to tag along with them to a raw dinner in Newark, DE, catered by Kim Lemberg and Pat Umbel. Kim is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Pat is a Certified Natural Health and Holistic Nutrition Counselor. Both Kim and Pam are Certified Raw Food Instructors through the Alissa Cohen program, and together these two ladies host catered raw food dinners, and also host raw food potlucks.

For the extremely reasonable price of $20, I was treated to a truly delicious raw dinner that included a mango smoothie, chili, enchiladas, crackers with salsa, and key lime pie. If you're curious about raw food, these dinners are a great place to discover just how good raw food can be. And that would be seriously good!Kim and Pat are hoping to have one raw food catered dinner in the Newark, DE, area once a month, and one raw food catered dinner in the Gap, PA, area once a month. Here is the schedule so far:

August 27 - catered raw food dinner at the Kinzer Fire Hall in Kinzers, PA
September 11 - catered raw food dinner at the Newark Co-op Limestone Presbyterian Church in Newark Wilmington, DE

Pat holds a raw food potluck the third Monday of each month at the Kinzer Fire Hall in Kinzers, PA. Kim's first raw food potluck will be September 15 18 at the Newark Co-op.

To attend any of these events all you have to do is RSVP by email to Pat (paumble@yaoo.com). And be sure to get on their email list for monthly notices of events, or check Kim's events page (presently not up to date) and Pat's events page.

Burrito Bandido

After my lackluster lunch date with Qdoba's rice and bean burrito, I figured I'd bump Burrito Bandido in Wilmington towards the top of my list, since I've heard good things about this (mostly) authentic Mexican restaurant that happens to do an off-the-menu big-ass rice and bean burrito (not authentic).

Oh, how I wish all restaurants, regardless of their size, would make a website so I could check out their menu before traveling to god knows what ugly neighborhood they reside in (MenuPages doesn't cover every city). If Burrito Bandido had a website, I would have known that there was nothing vegetarian, save a cheese quesadilla, on the menu. But, really, I kinda knew that was coming, as most authentic Mexican restaurants are all about the meat.What $5 will get you: one rice and bean burrito with two salsas.

And just so you know, Buritto Bandido's beans and rice contain lard and meat juice. I, of course, didn't think to ask about the presence of lard or meat juice in my off-the-menu rice and bean burrito until after I had arrived at home with my take-out and taken a bite into what would have been an otherwise fine, but not rockin', rice and bean burrito. Whoo, the beans had enough sodium to sub as a salt lick.

And, don't worry, this lard-in-bean/chicken-stock-in-rice thing happens all the time to me unbeknownst, and it doesn't make me sick or flinch. I don't like it, but it ain't no thang.

But...the people who work at Burrito Bandido are really friendly, the bright building is quite a cheery site in it's wasteland-of-Wilmington location, and meat-eaters say great things about their food. So get on it, Wilmington!

And here's their muy cute, single-fold, business card-sized menu. You're welcome.
Burrito Bandido
227 N. Maryland Ave., Wilmington, DE 19804
302-652-5749
Mon.-Thurs. 10am-10pm; Fri.-Sun. 9am-11pm

Afternoon Tea At Hotel Du Pont

Not one to play with dolls or dream of ponies (seriously, girls, the horsey fantasies are sick), I preferred to play war games with my best boy buds and climb trees as a child. But despite being a tomboy, I did fancy breaking out the tea set every once in a while to serve my stuffed animals a proper, if but imaginary, afternoon tea.

If you were once a little girl (are there any boys out there who played tea?), you can live out your childhood right in downtown Wilmington in Hotel du Pont's Lobby Lounge. That's right! The stodgy and elegant, rich-grandparent-approved Hotel du Pont serves up afternoon tea and little girl fantasies on weekend afternoons. You don't even know how giddy I was to finally make a reservation for a proper afternoon tea and strike though an item that's been on my to-do list for years.

Afternoon tea with dainty tea sandwiches, scones, petit fours, and, lets not forget, tea is such a simple nicety that everyone - stuffed animals, little girls, women, old dames, and even boys and men - should take the time to enjoy it's frivolity.
We selected the cheapest ($18 per person) of the three tea services which include tea, tea sandwiches, scones, and petit fours. The two other services are identical to the service we chose, but include champagne and chambord (I believe priced at $23 and $28 per person).

After choosing one of a selection of loose leaf teas printed on the menu, a tea pot filled with tea leaves and hot water is brought to your table. You then place the strainer over the cup and pour yourself some tea. The very attentive servers will refill your tea pot as you drink it down.
There is no specifying of which tea sandwiches are brought to your table, but the servers kindly removed the chicken salad sandwich from our plates (tables of three or more have their tea sandwiches brought to the table on a tiered stand), and returned with a few repeats of tea sandwiches. On our plates were smoked salmon sandwiches, watercress and Boursin cheese sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, and roasted pepper sandwiches. Man, do I love tea sandwiches. So simple, yet so classy!After polishing off the teas sandwiches, a basket with two different scones arrived with a tee-tiny pot of strawberry preserves and a small plate of Devonshire clotted cream and lemon clotted cream. The larger dried apricot and walnut scone was sweeter than the small currant scone, and the clotted cream was an indulgence that I would never eat alone at home.

Believe it or not, at this point we were actually stuffed. Afternoon tea is quite filling, so big boys don't shy away if you think the servings are dainty. Finally, we got the tiered stand! Presentation is everything. Little cones filled with cream and topped with a blueberry, the tiniest madelines you've ever seen, lemon jam tarts topped with strawberry mousse, towers of chocolate and chocolate mousse, strawberry jam tarts topped with strawberry mousse, and chocolate dipped almond macaroons - we ate everything!

I then died and went to little girl heaven.

Best part - other than revisiting a childhood fantasy - was watching a darling little girl slathering gobs of preserves and cream on a scone while exclaiming to her grandmother,"I want to live here forrreeeever...because it's fancy." Me too, me too.

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Afternoon tea is served on Saturday and Sunday at 3:00, 3:30, and 4:00 in the Lobby Lounge. This means you need a reservation, but I have no idea how anyone on the reservation list actually got their reservation. We called on three separate days at many different times of the day and could never get anyone to pick up the phone when we were redirected to wherever it is you're redirected to make reservations. We finally told the general operator our troubles, and the operator took down our info and promised to walk our reservation over. Someone dropped the ball somewhere, and when we arrived we did not have a table. But the excellent wait staff prepared us a table lickity-split. This frazzled the wait staff a little because they only prepare so many tables and make so many sandwiches, so any unexpected guests throw a cog in the wheel. Make a reservation, but good luck!

And I'm sure you've heard of the coats-required dress code of Hotel du Pont's more formal dining room, The Green Room. Tomboys and haters of formal wear will be glad to know that the Lobby Lounge only recommends business casual attire.

Afternoon Tea in the Lobby Lounge at Hotel du Pont
11th and Market Streets, Wilmington, DE, 19801
800-441-9019
302-594-3100
Sat. and Sun.: 3:00, 3:30, and 4:00 p.m.
reservation required
business casual attire

Olé Tapas Lounge

It's unfortunate to be a Spanish tapas restaurant within a fifty mile radius of Jose Garces' Amada and Tinto in Philadelphia. You are going to be measured by the high bar Garces has set, and, probably, not measure up. And that was the case with our first visit to Olé Tapas Lounge in Newark, DE.

It was probably a mistake to dine at Olé Tapas on Valentine's and being forced to order their prix fixe menu, but if their website or the person who took my reservation over the phone had mentioned the holiday menu, I probably would have saved Olé Tapas for some other evening.

I'm not fond of prix fixe menus because: 1) half of the time restaurants don't have vegetarian options (Olé Tapas was thoughtful enough to accommodate vegetarians); 2) vegetarians can always eat cheaper off the menu; and 3) you don't get to order the foods you like. But it was what it was, and our party of four settled. Plus, the seven courses with seven wine pairings for $70 per person was not that bad of a deal.

Olé Tapas sits in a strip mall between a Dunkin Donuts and a Jackson Hewitt. The interior with crescent booths, large round tables, and bar has a feel of new construction trying to be warm and cozy, but misses the cozy mark. Large tables sit as islands in the aisle between booths on the wall and the bar, making the dining experience not so intimate, and a TV above the bar tuned to sports seemed out of place in a restaurant that is obviously not a sports bar.

Things started off rough when our server appeared fifteen minutes after we sat down to apologize for not seeing us and bringing water. Didn't see us?

The night's menu was printed on cards, but the wine pairings and vegetarian options were not. So when our first course was dropped off without any description and the wine did not appear until five minutes later, also without an explanation, we all started thinking, "Um...hello!" It took a couple rounds of courses having to explicitly ask the server what we were being served and what the wine was (she could only point to the wines on the list) before she got into the groove of informing our party what we were eating. Our server was plenty nice, patient, and accommodating, so I'll have to blame the managers/owners for not training their servers how to present food and wine pairings.
Everyone at our table agreed that the pumpkin hummus was a winner with it's subtle pumpkin flavor and velvety texture. The flavors aren't huge with this humus, but are still delightful.
This peasant-type dish of garbanzos (the server called them lentils) with spinach and onions was the best dish of the evening, and, while I did not see this dish on their regular menu, it should be added to the menu (Update: it's on the menu as garbanzos con chistorra, but you'll have to request it be made without the sausage if you're veg.) The spices (my palate has been failing me lately on singling out spices) were complex and interesting.
The third course befuddled us all. Olé Tapas called this thick potato soup-like dish a potato omelette. I get that traditional Spanish tortillas are like omelettes with potatoes, but this was neither a tortilla nor an omelette. With a fried waffle-cut potato chip atop a thick potato slurry, this dish tasted like liquid sour cream and onion potato chips. Not a bad thing, just not an omelette.
This salad of greens, red onions, pickled grapes and a strong cheese (don't eat with a notebook, sorry) was interesting just because of the pickled grapes, which I enjoyed quite a bit, but another at our table was put off by the whole plate. To each his own, I guess.
A glass of Cava poured over strawberry sorbet and a strawberry seemed like a cop-out course and wine pairing, but was quite delightful. I would have preferred a glass of Cava unmuddied by sorbet alongside a cup of sorbet unmuddied by Cava. And to each his own, again!
The main course of mushroom and goat cheese tart with accompanying onions, pumpkin, peppers and beets was quite large and filling. The tart filling was musty and mushroomy good, but the tart shell itself was flavorless and lacking the elusive flakiness. The vegetables were mushy and lacking interesting spices – kinda like baby food.
The study of chocolate dessert course was hit or miss. The white chocolate ice cream with raspberry swirl tasted great, but was already ice cream soup when it landed on our table. The chocolate tart with toasted almonds was flavorless and lacking intensity. The truffles rolled in cocoa, on the other hand, were quite intense and satisfied the chocolate craving that the tart could not.

I can't say we had anything unpleasant at Olé Tapas, but, other than the garbanzo and spinach plate, there was nothing that excited me or made me want to return and order it again. Unfortunately, Olé Tapas is missing the intense flavors and brilliant combinations that Garces delivers just 40 miles down the road.

I will say that in comparison to Delaware's other Spanish tapas restaurant, Orillas in downtown Wilmington, Olé Tapas has a wider selection of vegetarian dishes and cheaper prices. And if you eat at the bar on weekdays during happy hour, you can't beat Olé's half-price tapas. And on weekends, Olé has half-price wine bottles. (Update: just check their website for specials; they apparently change.) Orillas in downtown Wilmington wins on atmosphere, though, with their tighter more intimate quarters in an older building with exposed brick walls. Either way, Delawareans, you at least have a couple decent Spanish tapas options if you're just too pooped to drive into Philly.

Olé Tapas Lounge
1126 Capitol Trail (Kirkwood Hwy), Newark, DE 19711
302-224-9378
Mon.-Thurs., 11:45am-9pm; Fri., 11:45am-11pm; Sat., 4pm-11pm; Sun., 4pm-9pm

What I Did On My Holiday Weekend

This Labor Day weekend was filled with a big ol' bunch of nothing to do -- except bake (three blackberry themed goodies), make ice cream (poured scalding milk on my hand), ride my bike (Delaware Greenway rocks!), and take liberal naps (I'm half cat). My only real outing of the weekend was a trip to the New Castle Farmer's Market just south of Wilmington in New Castle, Delaware.

Unless I'm going to the DMV, I never attempt to go immediately south of Wilmington. The traffic is atrocious at all hours of the day, and I just can't figure out why. How can an 8-lane highway be parked still just south of Wilmington (I-95 and Hwy 13)? Is it because everyone lives in lower Delaware, but works in Wilmington and Philly? Whatever the reason, it has kept me away.

Because I never go south of Wilmington, I've never seen the New Castle Farmer's Market until last weekend when coming back from the beach we detoured from the stopped traffic on 95 to hop onto the stopped traffic on 13 (can't win!). We passed a huge parking lot filled with hundreds of cars, a large building with "farmer's market" on the side, and an outdoor flea market. Being a sucker for flea markets, I put the New Castle Farmer's Market on my to-do list.

I started inside the building first. The building is long, but not very wide, so the size is a little deceiving from the road. Inside there are two large produce stands (one at each end, and not all local produce), various shops selling cheap knock-off goods, a Mexican grocery, candy shop, Amish bakery and butcher shop, Mexican restaurant, pizza joint, seafood restaurant, pretzel shop, ice cream shop, another meat counter, and a couple of other American burger and sandwich type places (I know I left some things out; I'm not a directory).My first stop was at Stoltzfus Amish Bakery. (Are all the Stoltzfus bakeries related, or is it just that every third Amish person is named Stotlzfus and owns a bakery? This is a serious question. Amish aren't keen on making websites, so the puter box reveled no answers.) Amish classics like shoofly pie and whoopie pies do not thrill me, so I went with a slice of red velvet roll. The cake was flavorless and tough, but perhaps the cake needs that tough texture in order to be rolled without cracking. Cream cheese frosting saved the day.
I had every intention of picking up lunch at the market, but nothing excited me. The thick stuffed pizzas were the most tempting, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat all that cheese (had a salad later at home which makes for bad food blogging, but saves calories).
The real fun is outside at the flea market where you get to riffle through people's collected crap in search of treasure. No flawless set of original Fiestaware was found, but I did pick up a pickling recipe book amid the hundreds of crockpot cookery and microwave cooking books. Do you think in 30 years well laugh at all the celebrity chef and special diet cookbooks we buy now that will end up at flea markets?I also got two Corelle cups that were the perfect size for the blackberry pudding I made (very pretty, but strange -- coming soon).

Despite the horrid traffic on 13, I will be back to the New Castle Farmer's Market for the flea market (love 'em!), but probably never back to the indoor section (it's not a true farmer's market, and I have no need for knock-off purses).

Riverfront Market

Wilmington has its own version of Reading Terminal Market, only it’s called Riverfront Market, and it’s miniscule in comparison.

With only twelve vendors along the two aisles in this restored historic warehouse on the Christina River and Riverfront Park, you’d be mighty disappointed if you were expecting an eating destination as large and varied as the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

But if the crowds at Reading Terminal Market make you avoid that market like the plaque (like I do), you’ll find the Riverfront Market in Wilmington charming.

There’s this riverfront revitalization project going on in Wilmington (like every city in the U.S.), where they put in walkways and landscaping along the riverfront and called it the Tubman-Garret Riverfront Park. At one end of this park you have a small outlet mall (don’t bother), and really cool cranes on the waterfront from WWII when they used to build ships. On the other end (almost the end) you have the Riverfront Market. In between are businesses and a few restaurants that have tied their landscaping in to the park.

About four years ago, before I even lived in Wilmington, I got intimate with the park when I, along with two other women at the landscape company I briefly worked for, spent a week hand weeding the entire park. I pull weeds all the time – and love it – but this was one of the least enjoyable things I’ve ever done.

I particularly did not enjoy having strangers repeatedly ask me if I was hot in my Carhartt coveralls (I’m never hot. Mind your own fucking business), being sexually harassed my bums (Dude, I’m dirty and in coveralls! Raise your standards.), and being leered at by people leisurely enjoying their late afternoon cocktails from patio tables (I was jealous).

This week of weeding four years ago acquainted me with the Riverfront Market. We stopped in a couple of times for hot chocolate. Once, I even forwent my bagged lunch and grabbed some sushi from the sushi stall and a cookie from the Amish bakery and deli. I haven’t eaten there since.

The week before Christmas, I stopped by the Riverfront Market on three separate days to see what a vegetarian could scrounge up. Here’s what went down:

Day 1

I circled the entire place (quick trip) to see what I could eat:

Market City Cafe – slice of pizza
Eeffoc's – coffee
Jeenwong Thai Cuisine– eggplant and tofu stir-fry, veggie fried rice, veggie lo-mein
Olde World Cheese Steak Factory– veggie cheesesteak
Lapp's Kitchen – salad
Tokyo Sushi – veggie sushi, edamame, seaweed salad
Jona Miller’s Butcher and Bake Shop – pastries, Garden Griller panini
Riverfront Produce – fresh and dried fruits, nuts, candy, bottles of fresh squeezed juice
P&S Ravioli Company – eggplant parmesan sandwich, veggie rabe sandwich, ravioli in containers from the deli case that they’d heat up.

If it were up to me, I’d eat the sushi, but I’ve already had the sushi. My blogger-self tells me to try something else. I’m not eating fruit, nuts, or pastries for lunch. I’m not eating a lame salad, or an even lamer slice of pizza.

I go for the small Veggie Rabe sandwich ($3.95) at P&S Ravioli Company. The Veggie Rabe has breaded and fried eggplant, broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, and provolone. It’s a sandwich. Very Italian. If I were to order it again, I’d ask for some tomato sauce. (I don’t know why people make sandwiches without any sauce or spread. Inconceivable!)

Day 2

I’m curious about Jeenwong Thai Cuisine. They have a small steam table with serving trays filled with the day’s offerings behind a glass pane separating your filthy face from the food. It’s mostly meat.

I ask the jovial guy behind the counter what’s vegetarian. They have an eggplant and tofu stir-fry, veggie fried rice, and veggie lo-mein. You can get some meal deal, but there aren’t enough veggie options to make a meal deal I’d be interested in, plus I don’t really need that much food.

I opt for the eggplant and tofu stir-fry, and ask for the smallest container. He asks me if I want just the stir-fry in the container, or some rice, too? I’ll take rice, too. Steamed or stir-fried? Steamed. He rings me up for $2.75!

The stir-fry contains firm fried tofu, eggplant, cauliflower, red peppers, and onions atop short grained white rice. The stir fry is very mild. If it weren’t for the lemongrass, I’d say this was a stir-fry at a Chinese restaurant. I do appreciate the rounded, short grain white rice at the bottom.

There were other dishes, like the curries, I would have rather tried, but they were not vegetarian. I do like the friendly guy behind the counter, the price, and the authentic rice.

Day 3

Am I really going back? My masochistic, semi-obsession with veggie cheesesteaks is telling me to go back and try the veggie cheesesteak at Olde City Cheesesteak Factory. Uhg, ok.

First, I peak to see what’s offered at the Thai place, since the first two days I went they had the same eggplant and tofu stir-fry. The steam table is completely different from the days before, but I don’t see any veggie option other than the fried rice and lo-mein. Bummer.

At Olde City Cheese Steak Factory, the girls at the counter are very nice. I ask what’s on the veggie cheesesteak ($6.75). Onions and peppers done up Cajun-style with cheese. If you want to add mushrooms or anything else, you can for a charge. I’ll just do it up normal with Provolone. Do you want ketchup on that? Uhhhh... How about on the side? OK.

Everyone who ordered before and after me has already gotten their sandwich. I’m thinking that veggie cheesesteak stuff (I’m assuming there’s some soy or seitan involved) must be frozen, or something. Really, it’s not that long of a wait.

What I have to wait on is a table. Tables with tops depicting historic photos of life and industry in Wilmington are clustered at the ends of the market and off the side towards the center. These tables are all full. There’s also a sweet upstairs level with seating (only plain tables here), and an open center that overlooks the lower level of the market. This is where I like to sit, and these tables are full, too.

I wait at the bottom of the stairs and P&S’s deli case to keep an eye out for people leaving from the upstairs. I notice that water is dripping from the upper shelf in P&S’s deli case onto the unwrapped plate of chicken cutlets on the bottom of the case. Gross. I know lots of unappetizing things happen in kitchens that I can’t see, and eating it makes me stronger, if not sick, but I do not like to see this.

A ten minute wait, and I’ve got a seat upstairs. I open my sandwich, and it’s grilled onions, peppers, and melted cheese. No fake meat. So much for assuming. I pick up my onion and pepper sandwich to find the bottom of the roll disgustingly soggy. It could not have been wetter if I had thrown it in the river outside.

And what’s this Cajun-style the counter person was talking about? I assumed Cajun spices, but there were no spices. I don’t think anyone from Louisiana or Philly would claim this sandwich.

I’m perusing Spark (Wilmington’s free weekly that insists on putting scary photos of local “models” on every issue cover), and there’s a piece about Riverfront Market in the dining section. How timely. They say the Garden Griller panini ($6.50) at Jona Miller’s Deli pleased the vegetarian in their crowd. Did I miss the Holy Grail?

I went downstairs for sandwich #2! One asparagus, avocado, roasted pepper, grilled onions, and pesto on grilled sourdough, please. They also throw in a pickle and a bag of Kettle Chips. I don’t eat chips often, so hate the free bag of chips deal at delis. I would have loved a cookie, though.

The bread is crisp. The pesto and avocado combo is a little odd, but tasty. The asparagus spears are awkward when you think you’ve bitten through a spear, but the whole thing pulls out of the sandwich and hangs from your mouth like a limp cigarette.

This is my favorite sandwich out of the bunch, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to eat a Garden Griller. The asparagus also makes for technical difficulties when eating the sandwich.

Well, that was my week at the Riverfront Market. My initial instincts of eating sushi four years ago were probably right. The market is a beautiful building on a riverfront park. And the park, I must say, is a nice place to eat lunch outside when the weather is nice.

But, you wanna know why you really stop in the Riverfront Market to grab a quick bite to eat?

You’ll need some fast food after you’ve squandered your entire lunch hour at the best Salvation Army that’s directly over the bridge from the market.

This place is HUGE, well organized, and always has what I need. I’ve found ski bibs that fit me; a pretty blue rain coat (a real one) for work; a red wool pea coat; a punch bowl for a party that I’ll never use again, but that’s ok, it was cheap; don’t know how many skirts; pretty plates… oh it just goes on. They even have couches that I'd sit on.

This is one place Wilmington does have over Philly.

Riverfront Market, 3 S. Orange St., Wilmington, DE, 19801
Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sun., closed
Some vendors open at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast

Wild Chives & Rosemary

Update: no longer open.

I have passed Wild Chives and Rosemary, a corner lunch and breakfast spot in the mostly residential 40 Acres neighborhood of Wilmington, twice a week for the past two years. The sidewalk marquee advertising the daily specials of quiche and beef stroganoff make me yearn for the indulgence of actually taking the time out of the day to enjoy lunch. For two years, I have threatened to stop in and eat at WC&R.

I finally did it! But I’m afraid my two years of imagining what this corner eatery held only led to disappointment.

The corner store front, with plants in the windows, not to mention promises of quiche from a place with an herbal moniker, had me imaging a frilly, girly atmosphere inside. So, I was shocked to see a cluttered counter with a small open grill and prep area when I walked in the door.

The stark white walls sparsely decorated with photos of local landmarks high above anyone’s eye level didn’t convey any loving coziness. And the tables (except one picnic table taking up valuable floor space) were those cheap, fake wood veneer-topped tables with plastic edges you find in office break rooms. My inner amateur designer was screaming for the pictures to be lowered, a coat of colorful paint, and an eclectic assortment of antique tables to give the restaurant a cozy ambiance to reflect their name and location.

To top off the white wall and cheap table feeling of not caring, beverages were served in plastic Solo cups. Really!? The waste. The cheap image. This disturbed me to no end.

I read somewhere that WC&R’s salads were good, so decided to give one of the twelve salads on the menu a go. With so many salads to choose from such as the inventive curried chicken, salmon with avocado, tangerine and turkey, and classics like Caesar, nicoise, anti pasta, and chef salad, I got a little confused after reading all of the descriptions in an attempt to narrow my selection down.

I ended up ordering the wrong salad. I ordered the mild mediterannean salad with oven baked herb tomatoes, leeks, feta cheese, black olives, cucumber, and croutons with house-made herb vinaigrette thinking that there were chic peas on the salad. The whole time I kept wondering where the chick peas were. The chick peas were on the nicoise salad. Doh!

This is not a salad at a fine dining establishment, but a salad you eat as an excuse to escape from the office. The salad was large enough to be the proper lunch staple large salad. With twelve salads to choose from, including the option to make your own salad from a list of ingredients, I’m sure you can find a favorite.

After years of dreaming of quiche, I had to try a piece. I ordered a piece of spinach quiche to go for dinner. While I was at it, I took the servers dessert suggestion and ordered apple crisp for dinner, as well.

I enjoyed the spinach quiche with hints of sweet nutmeg that evening. Good, but again I think my fantasies of dainty dining unfairly built up my expectations for something grander.

The apple crisp was good in that homey, buttery, cinnamony, apple way, but there was no crisp to it at all. (I checked this upon immediately walking home. It did not sit for hours.) This was apple pie filling in a cup.

The soup, salad, and sandwich offerings, including the quiche specials, are classic lunch fare – nothing out or the ordinary. WC&R is just a reliable lunch spot, and an excuse to not stay in the office. WC&R is, food-wise, exactly the kind of place I would meet my mother for lunch once a month when she was not retired.

Well, Wild Chives and Rosemary has been marked off my list. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again. If they ever put some love into the interior and 86 the Solo cups, let me know.

Wild Chives & Rosemary, 1836 Lovering Ave, Wilmington, DE, 19806
302-655-1190
Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., closed