The Grove Market & Smokehouse
Perhaps the most unique chef-driven casual dining, but upscale eating experience you will find in Delmarva, if not anywhere, The Grove Market & Smokehouse (known locally as the ‘Grove’) is a must-visit if you can score a difficult call-in reservation, typically reserved only for repeat patrons. The 30+ year restaurant sits in a small former bait shack buried in the middle, literally, of nowhere Bishopville, MD, offering only a handful of tables on either side of an exposed tiny kitchen along with a few outdoor tables, provoking wonder how such masterful meals emerge from organized chaos imprisoned in such a small cooking area. The restaurant’s former mismatched décor and settings could have been set piece props straight out of a middle America circa 1945 film, but when the restaurant sold in 2021 to a local owner who also hails an Anguilla bar, a more commercial approach to restaurant dining was eased into the experience. Gone are the twice daily seatings, replaced by a more common hourly reservation system, still composed of call-in and hand-written expressions of the Grove’s dedication to a yester-year approach to dining. The seasoned and veteran servers have been replaced by able substitutes, but the Grove gained much of its former acclaim through not only carefully crafted food, but service and ceremony. You begin with the experience of learning the daily farm-to-table menu, down to the ingredients, herbs, sauces, and style of cooking for each dish, announced, depending upon the server you draw that evening, with wonderful (or pedestrian if you are not fortunate) splendor to several tables at once by your soap-box declaring server on either side of the restaurant. The menu explanation, delivered only verbally, requires you to pay attention, because mental note taking is difficult given the depth of the explained specials, and the announcement is not repeated to your inquiring table with the same zest or attention to detail.
The Grove specializes in smoked dishes, and its ubiquitous spreads and duck may be the best in Delmarva. Few local restaurants prepare seafood like the Grove, and even its usual filet special is more than equal to steakhouse quality, especially when the complimentary sides are enjoyed, which you will find really are farm-to-table, and bountiful (care to pick from the garden in the restaurant’s backyard?). Beware, the Grove only takes cash, and there are no menu prices announced – you are handed a slip of paper at the conclusion of the meal, and a memory that will last a culinary lifetime, especially when you try to muster enough adjectives to describe the evening to wanting friends who may never receive a reservation callback. The Grove used to be a meal and ceremony, but today, the theater of learning the day’s specials is largely absent, replaced by in-and-out servers reading from notes and young food runners auctioning-off the plates to the table. You still will depart the Grove having enjoyed a memorable meal and a good yarn about how you just enjoyed the best smoked fish dish and Bumbleberry Pie ever served on an old table with mismatched chairs and sometimes miscellaneous glasses and plates, with no atmosphere other than repeat guests commenting on how the Grove used to be, years ago. Alas, the Grove does not earn or lose its stars (and appeal) based upon its former grandeur, but it is difficult not to remember how your former love used to present itself before maturity (and commercial appeal) so brazenly changed its culinary landscape. For decades, visitors applauded their menu-declaring server and the food at the end of a meal, but today, paying your bill and reminiscing about the old Grove color your experience. Still, the Grove warrants four stars for the uniqueness of its food and presence, and the overall experience from a kitchen that still yearns to (and does) deliver. While no visitor will refer to the Grove as elegant, the experience has a certain elegance in that it is unique, fun, and rewarding, still ranking among the most satisfying in Delmarva.
12402 St. Martin’s Neck Rd.
Bishopville, MD 21813
410-352-5055
