Café Azafran
Blending Mediterranean and Spanish food culture – the only Rehoboth Beach restaurant daring enough to mix these cuisines – Café Azafran has been serving mostly authentic Spanish-leaning food since 2010 to a growing audience. The menu features excellent tapas starters, lots of soups and salads, and large plates that melt together coastal seafood and beef classics, mostly in a Spanish or Mediterranean style, and all of it tastefully prepared. Crab fried rice is fresh and generously served, and the halibut with phyllo crust has proven to be a popular option. Perhaps the most opportunistic and popular evening is the once-monthly paella night, where Café Azafran posts off the outside deck a giant frying pan heated with an industrial flame, creating at two scheduled times per evening wonderful seafood and meat paella for everyone in the restaurant who desires the dish – its preparation is nearly as fun to watch as it is to enjoy – think of a giant street food display. Service at this family-owned restaurant can be inconsistent, and it gets crowded and loud during the summer months, leading sometimes to visitor unease when seating gets tight. But the food and fun are worth the sometimes wait, especially when exotic cocktails are introduced, which are fairly priced along with the rest of the menu. Café Azafran is not high-end dining, but it can be high-end enjoying if you experiment with the menu and temper your patience with the staff.
