Zava’s new dinner menus includes this Expresso Tataki Ahi Tuna appetizer.
Now that the Fourth of July is in the rearview window, it’s time to truly celebrate summer.
Dining outside and enjoying live music, sipping vino in a vineyard and bubbles on a farm, enjoying fresh produce and preparing delicious dishes at home all have their place.
Zava’s dinner menu includes seafood bouillabaisse surrounded by mussels ($30).
Zava in Milton now offers breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Dinner is served
Zava Café in Milton, which opened as a breakfast and lunch spot, now serves dinner Wednesday through Saturday.
Expect creative entrees — co-owner/chef Danio Somoza also owns Harvest Tide Steakhouse in Lewes and the Mexican-influenced Zocca in Bethany Beach.
Zava’s dinner menu includes crispy skin salmon with velouté sauce, bouillabaisse, pepper-crusted ribeye and assorted seafood over pasta.
The restaurant takes reservations, but make sure you call the Milton location, not the original coffee shop in downtown Rehoboth Beach.
Rockin the Docks concert series allows patrons to order from Grain’s food stand.
Beachin Bash has partnered with Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery to provide luxury picnics on the picturesque grounds.
Alfresco dining
Music and food create a harmonious marriage, and that’s especially true when you’re dining outside at a concert.
The Rocking the Docks concert series at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal is adjacent to Grain on the Rocks, and concertgoers can order from Grain’s food stand, which also sells beverages — including bottles of wine.
Many outdoor events have food trucks or allow you to bring your meal.
Don’t want to cook? Kate Applebaum, who owns Cajun Kate’s with her husband, Don, suggests popping into the Philadelphia Pike restaurant before attending the free Thursday and Sunday concert series a Bellevue State Park. Nothing goes with the blues like a po’boy.
You’re in luck if you can’t get enough outdoor dining.
The event company also organizes pop-up events at the winery, and the first is scheduled for July 26.
Groups get a “boho” table with a plated four-course dinner and wine flight. Check the winery’s website for details, which should appear soon.
Meanwhile, Beachin Bash and Brittingham Farms in Millsboro will present Brunch and Bubbles at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 16.
The event features a continental brunch, mimosas, picnic setup, music from River and Rhodes and a visit from Charlie the lamb. Tickets are $75.
Pokelicious opened this month at the Chancery Food Hall and Market.
New to Wilmington
This month, The Chancery Market Food Hall will welcome Pokelicious, which continues to prove that the public just can’t get enough poke.
The Hawaiian version of sushi is also the star of Poke Bros., which opened a Rehoboth Beach restaurant off Route 1 earlier this year.
Pokelicious will specialize in customizable poke bowls made with fresh tuna, salmon, shrimp and chicken teriyaki. The menu also will include fruit-infused water and homemade desserts.
Pokelicious is the U.S. food business by proprietor and chef Jhonathan Gomez, who is from Venezuela.
Wilmington chef Andrew Cini has been quietly collecting readers for his newsletter, “Empty Bowl,” which features recipes, personal commentary and profiles of Wilmington-area chefs.
Published through Substack, “Empty Bowls” has a free and paid subscription model. Subscribers receive supplemental editions.
“It’s an ever-growing rolodex of dishes, condiments, pastries and spreads that I’ve used in my catering and banquet career,” the chef explains.
Proceeds help raise funds for Delaware food initiatives.
Snuff hMill Restaurant has partnered with Hagley Museum to showcase heirloom produce such as its sour cherries.
Expect a bountiful bevy in the next few weeks, said co-owner Bill Irvin, who visits the gardens to collect the produce.
Thus far, Chef Robert Lhulier’s team has used French sour cherry varietals to make cherry crisp and cocktails. The fruit trees have been on the grounds since the 1860s, Lhulier said.
This is not the first time local culinary pros have leveraged Hagley’s produce.
Wilmington Brew Works (WBW) in Wilmington has used Hagley’s apples and cherries to make a Fruits of Eleuthrian Mills cider.
Speaking of Snuff Mill, the restaurant will celebrate its second anniversary on July 20. Choose the 5:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. seating. Tickets are $180 per person, and they are going fast.
The Rocking the Docks concert series at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal is adjacent to Grain on the Rocks, and concertgoers can order from Grain’s food stand, which also sells beverages — including bottles of wine.
