STAFF WRITER MARK NARDONE DISHES ON THIS WEEK’S
BEST WINE EVENTS AND MORE
March 2013
03/19/13Newark's Wine and Dine is HereComing this week: Newark’s Annual Wine and Dine Downtown. Billed as a “culinary and wine extravaganza featuring a dazzling array of tasty delights prepared by the chefs of downtown Newark’s very own restaurants” the event pairs great food with complementary fine wines from around the world. Seventeen downtown restaurants have selected unique wines to feature with their special menus. Restaurant-wine pairings will offer a $2 per 2 oz. taste of wine. Premium tastings and flights may also be available at varying prices. Special guest Julie Johnson, owner and winemaker of Tres Sabores Winery in Napa Valley, will be at the Stone Balloon Winehouse pouring her very special wines. No tickets necessary. Pick up a glass at any participating restaurant, then pay as you... |
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03/12/13A Special Night at MoroIf you doubt vinegar can be as complex as wine, call Moro in Wilmington soon to reserve your place at the Minus 8 Vinegar dinner on March 22. Chef-owner Michael DiBianca will prepare an amazing selection of food made with these unique and delicious vinegars. Winemaker Rachel Thompson started making the Minus 8 vinegars in 1996 on a 100-acre vineyard in Canada’s ice wine region. “It was an immediate home run,” DiBianca says. See why. Your meal will begin with tuna tartar served with Minus 8 cured green apple-vanilla sea salt-olive oil roasted almonds. Follow that with pan-seared scallops with heirloom squash purée and a gastrique of Minus 8 Concord Grape with crispy prosciutto-micro greens. Next comes pan-seared rockfish with a cake of crispy polenta and... |
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03/05/13MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival is HereIt’s here: The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival begins March 6, with international winemakers and chefs teaming up with world-class local chefs to make spectacular food and wine events in unique venues around the Brandywine Valley and Delaware’s Culinary Coast, including Rehoboth Beach. All in all, there will be more than 40 events, from wine dinners to beer and spirits tastings to a pop-up restaurant to gourmet lunches. The highlight: a 1,000-Point Wine Tasting (that’s a tasting of 10 100-point wines), a black-tie Gala Winemakers Dinner and Live Wine Auction, and a Gospel Brunch. Among the special events will be the MasterChef Rematch, when six former contestants from all three seasons of Chef Gordon Ramsay’s “MasterChef,” including past winner... |
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02/26/13Chocolate Fest is ComingThe 23rd Annual Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival happens March 2 at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. It’s not only a day for chocolate lovers to gather. It’s a day of fun for the whole family, so local businesses are cooking up some sweet specials, including restaurants and spas offering chocolate-themed specials. Starting Friday night, restaurants such as Victoria’s, Cabo Modern Mexican Tequila Bar, Salt Air, Blue Moon, Eden, Planet X, Lupo di Mare, Hobo’s and Dos Locos will be cooking up special menu items and desserts. Chef Jay Caputo at Espuma will offer a three-course chocolate menu paired with wines for $45, as well as some featured chocolate desserts. If your sweet tooth goes beyond chocolate, Kilwin’s Rehoboth Avenue offers one scoop of ice... |
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02/19/13Café Scalessa is BackCafé Scalessa, from its comfy pocket along Greenhill Avenue in Wilmington, offers sheer Italian-American escapism. Owner Don Scalessa furnishes his restaurant with a wiseguy motif. Then there are the notations on the menu: “Our pastas are cooked to order, capish?” and my favorite: “Leave the gun, take the butter cake.” Dean Martin is heard on the house speakers. There are chianti-colored walls. There are mobster movies playing on three TV screens on endless loops. Since its inception in 2002, the tiny café had built an impressive following on the back of its old-school Italian charm. Bada-bing, bada-boom. Chef Don’s food—predictable but reliable—was culled from family recipes. But in 2011, Scalessa suddenly sold his restaurant.... |
