Rehoboth Beach – Arrival and Dining

…continuing with our September 2023 road trip.  We arrived at our destination in Rehoboth Beach.  It would be our home base for the next 2 nights.

We’d booked 2 nights at the Beach View Hotel…but unfortunately this photo isn’t what we experienced upon our arrival.  Sunshine was completely absent!  I’d picked this hotel for a couple of reasons.  It is close to the beach and the boardwalk, it’s near the center of ‘downtown’ Rehoboth Beach, it had good reviews and it wasn’t over the top expensive.  Of course, we were ‘off season’.

We could see the ocean from our balcony…we just had to look down the street to our right.  Of course, the weather didn’t help with the ambiance…it was blustery and fairly chilly for the end of September.

We thought that Beach View Hotel was perfect for our stay.  FYI, they provide snacks and wine to guests in the lobby area in the early evening.  Website: Home - Beach View Hotel (rehobothbeachview.com).

So after checking in and unpacking, we wandered down to the beach…where we were pretty much blown away by the wind.  The surf was up, that's for sure.  No one was on the beach and we didn’t stay long either.  One positive for Rehoboth Beach is the fact there aren’t many high-rise hotels or condos along the beach that overwhelm the views.

Looking back from the beach to the businesses lined up along the boardwalk, we could see that this version of an Atlantic Ocean boardwalk wasn’t a mind blowing amalgamation of off the wall tourist ‘entertainment’ venues.  On the other hand as you can see, the weather was so bad that the boardwalk was pretty much closed down when we arrived…

…so what to do?  The answer was for our group to seek solace in the form of food and drink.

The first couple of photos of our restaurant of choice were borrowed from their website...but we wish that it had been sunny as shown.

We selected Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake and Maine or was it Dogfish Head’s Brewings and Eats…which adjoin each other at 316 and 320 Rehoboth Avenue in the center of town.  In effect it is a very large restaurant…and probably because of the season, tables were widely spaced apart.  The bar was the most active part of the restaurant.

Brewings and Eats originated in 1995 as the smallest commercial brewery in the United States and it marked the beginning of the Dogfish Head story.  Back at the start, they only brewed 2 – 3 10 gallon batches a day on their homebrew system.  Today, Dogfish Head operates a large brewery that produces over 262,000 barrels of beer annually.  In addition, 2 Dogfish Head locations operate under license from the company, with 1 each in Maryland and in Virginia.

For those among you who are true beer lovers, you can learn about the various brews that Dogfish Head produces by going to Dogfish Head Brewery - Wikipedia.

Bonnie took this photo of Laurie and me that I’m not all that crazy about…but it does show the rather weird booths that line a couple of the walls in the restaurant.  I guess that privacy was the objective…

So onto the food!

As usual we started with a couple of appetizers.  Diners have a choice of wood-grilled dry rub, house brined charred BBA or Buffalo style wings.  All are served with bleu cheese and carrots.  We ordered the Buffalo Style Wings. ($15.00) The wings were a bit above average and they were large too.

Our second choice for an appetizer was Dog Head’s Fried Calamari. ($15.00) While I would have preferred more calamari on the platter, it was a mix of fried red peppers, banana peppers and jalapenos.  It was sided with honey sambal sauce.  Despite my preferences, the calamari was done right and I did like the fried jalapenos.

FYI, for those beer lovers out there, we imbibed in 2 different Dog Head brews, the Blue Hen Pilsner ($6.00) and the Tasty Traveler. ($6.00) We enjoyed both of them...

One of our entrees was a wood-grilled ‘burger’…which once again begs the question…when is a burger not a burger?  As per the Dog Head menu, the choices include dry aged Black Angus beef, turkey, dry rubbed chicken breast of a ‘Vegan Beyond Burger’.   Optional sides are French fries, coleslaw, mac ‘n cheese or seasonal vegetables.

This was the “I wanna be sedated” Black Angus beef burger.  This messy but tasty creation includes Swiss cheese, wood ‘fired’ mushrooms, garlic aioli, lettuce and tomato…with bacon as an add-on. ($17.00) The seasonal vegetable was chosen as the side dish, in this case grilled Brussel sprouts.  

Unfortunately I made the hopeful mistake of ordering Dogfish Head’s version of Beef on Weck. ($17.00) It is described as shaved ribeye on a salt and caraway seed Kaiser Roll with a side of jus and horseradish.  I chose the coleslaw as my side.

The reason I took a chance with this menu item was that one of the best sandwiches we’ve ever had was Beef on Weck in Buffalo New York.  My clue that it wouldn’t be the same or even close began with the bun.  The ‘real’ beef on weck sandwich is served on a kimmelweck roll…a completely different taste and texture.  Also, the beef in Buffalo was either of a higher quality or it was shaved much thinner…bringing out more flavor.

Still, to be fair it was a decent but not great sandwich.

Bill decided to order the ‘Steak Frites’, a Roseda Farmes dry aged wood-grilled 8 oz. flat iron steak with house-cut French fries and herb butter. ($26.00) He was pleased with his choice.

Another entrée was the Cheddar Brie Grilled Cheese sandwich. ($17.00) This creation included the cheddar and brie cheeses with Granny Smith apple slices, bacon, honey and arugula on grilled sourdough bread.  It was well received.

Well we should have stopped eating at this point but desserts were available.  We did limit ourselves to a single order of Banana Maple Bread Pudding with banana dulce de leche gelato, barrel honey rum caramelized bananas and wet nuts. ($10.00) It was sweet and it was a large serving, easy to share.  

Maybe its just me but my problem with the bread pudding is that it was ‘cake-like’ and cold.  My idea of bread pudding is that it should be moist and it should be at least warm so the ice cream or gelato melts a bit.  Still, it wasn’t bad and we didn’t leave any behind...

To learn more about Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats and to peruse their menu, just go to Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales | Off Centered Stuff For Off Centered People.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave