Delmarva comprises a 170-mile peninsula that includes parts of Delaware, the eastern shore of Maryland, and Virginia.  For decades, its quiet beach towns suffered an even more sleepy food scene with seafood restaurants dotting the landscape and plenty of resort diner and junk food options strewn about boardwalk downtown locations.  Given its history, difficult to get-to beach locations at the time (pre-Rt. 1), and limited hotel options, Delmarva did not attract culinary talent because its visitors during this period were not hungry for much more than chain-restaurant style dining.  The past twenty years, particularly the past decade, has witnessed a revival of not only the entire Delmarva resort and residential market but, naturally, the restaurant scene as well.  With that renewal, restaurant entrepreneurs started to take notice, willing to invest in building not just new locations with creative spaces, but in the chefs who would advance their vision.  Over the past decades, many chefs trained in local restaurants and took their learned skills to big cities, with many Michelin-quality cooks finding their local training before decamping north.  With a burgeoning population came an explosion of quality dining in Delmarva.  Now, chefs are training elsewhere to bring their culinary skills to a wanting and increasingly sophisticated Delmarva community palate attracted to the wonderful beach towns.  Experienced diners are not just visiting Delmarva as in years past, they are instead, acquiring real estate and expect high-end dining, willing to pay for more culinary options. 

The Delmarva beach towns today are attracting nationwide attention not just for the beauty of the landscape, charm of local towns, family-friendly bay and ocean beaches, bountiful and engaging parks and nature preserves, and attractive shopping, but also for the food scene.  Chefs willing to experiment with food and drink, especially given the enormous availability of fresh ingredients from a local economy based historically on farming (41% of Delaware land is devoted to farming, by far, the state’s leading industry), are plying their trade to a growing local and tourist community desperate to match the ubiquitous land, fresh, and salt water fish availability to increasingly whetted appetites, all of which has created a new and welcome food economy in Delmarva.  That’s a run-on sentence and plenty of words for simply observing that the local food scene is exploding, and we all are the benefactors.

Nationally, more than 80% of new restaurants fail within two years, a startling statistic that portends fear in all food investors.  But like any industry, those who innovate, work hard, are willing to take chances, dedicating their time and resources to crafting a superior product and service will survive, indeed, thrive with a little luck and perseverance.  It takes more than that with restaurants, however, because owners and chefs must be willing to experiment with their product, keep innovating, in many cases willing to copy others, and overall remain open to rejection not just with a concept, but every day and evening, every meal.  Restaurant review websites can be brutal, especially those which proffer consumer comments, which are most these days, because all day, every day, somebody is not pleased with food, service, price, the neighbor’s manners at the next table, a crying baby within hearing distance, a delay in service, or some other grievance, real or imagined, reasonable or invented. And, those consumers, angry after the meal, blast the restaurant in a public forum.  The restaurant business is not always fair, but with the right approach and attitude, it can be very rewarding.

And rewards these days to restaurant owners are increasing across Delmarva, because the region is one of the fastest growing in the nation (sixth highest per capita growth in the U.S. in 2023).  More visitors means more home buyers, which means more diners, more restaurants, and more chefs.  That’s good for eaters who have more Delmarva dining options than at any time in Delmarva’s long history, which dates back to the foundation of the country.  Competition fosters competitors and, like any industry, consolidation – Delmarva restaurants are not immune to that immutable business fact, as a few restaurant groups continue to grow, consuming more locations, more chefs, and, of course, more power in the local restaurant community.  We leave to history to record whether such consolidation smothers innovation or creates unreasonable barriers to entry for independent restaurant investors or chefs who want to hang their own shingle.  In our view, there always is room for innovation in the industry, thereby, always room for new entrants, but the barriers are building and so is, unfortunately, the risk of independent failure.   

But no matter the prevailing business winds in the local restaurant industry, chefs cannot help but to create and experiment, and we all ultimately enjoy the fruits (dishes) of their labors, menu winners and failures, especially in the Delmarva region which offers such a lush fabric of dining taste that rewards creativity in cooking and drinks.  There is a reason that most Delmarva restaurants earning three or more stars in this collection of reviews during the summer season are so difficult to gain a reservation; local and tourist diners know good food and service, and reward those who have paid their culinary dues when creating some of the most dynamic restaurants south of New York City.

Happy dining!