The New Buckley's Tavern - Greenville, DE

A renovated Buckley’s Tavern opened in Fall 2012; however, my husband and I did not make a visit until a warm weekend in June.  We sat outside, but had the opportunity to see some of the indoor renovations.  The restaurant is much brighter now, more inviting.  It is a welcome change from the Buckley’s of the past.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the food.  I ordered the Vegetable Wrap with Sweet Potato Fries – something fresh and (hopefully) tasty on a warm day.  Well, all I can really say is that it was just OK.  The wrap consisted of grilled seasonal vegetables with pesto and snow pea shoots.  It wasn’t really anything to write home about.  The taste was just kind of bland – maybe it needed more pesto.  The sweet potato fries were standard – lightly salted.

Although I was not impressed with the food, I do plan on going back for dinner – the Macaroni and Cheese (and the Caramelized Onion and Fontina Flatbread) were calling my name.  Maybe I just chose the wrong entrée!

Argilla Brewing Co. at Pietro's Pizza - Newark, DE

http://argillabrewing.com/

My husband and I joined two of our friends, who had been raving about the beer choices.  Two unfortunate things – one, it was Sunday and they  had their brunch menu, so we couldn’t choose from their more expansive menus; and two, their beers were mostly porters, stouts, or IPAs, none of which we like.  Oh well.  I do want to try the restaurant again when they have more beers and when they are serving their full menu.

I was kind of torn between the Kennett pizza (traditional pie with fresh mushroom, roasted pepper, and onion) and a Stromboli.  Since my husband was getting his own slices, and I knew I couldn’t finish a Medium pizza on my own, I opted for a Stromboli with spinach, roasted peppers, and roasted garlic.  Let’s just say that my concerns about the size of the pizza were ripped apart when the Stromboli arrived.  It was literally half the size of a pizza pan.  Huge!  The ricotta/mozzarella mixture inside paired quite nicely with my options.  And, I must note, that they used fresh spinach leaves!  Big smile on that one.  The Stromboli bread was thick and nicely toasted.  An all-around win!  Now I just need to taste one of their delicious-sounding pizzas J

Valle Cucina – Newark, DE

Located in the Pike Creek Shopping Center is a wonderful Italian restaurant with a warm, inviting atmosphere.  Yes, the menus are laminated and only on two sides, but the wine list is vast, the garlic bread scrumptious, and the service wonderful.
    
Our meal began with an ample serving of garlic rolls, sitting in some extra oil and topped with Parmesan.  These are pretty addictive, so be careful.  I ordered the Chicken & Apples salad to start, no Chicken – the waitress suggested that I have the Chicken on the side and give it to my husband, perfect solution!  The salad is a bed of field greens, topped with red onion, granny smith apples, many slices of brie, and cranberry vinaigrette on the side.  I was a little nervous about the cranberry vinaigrette, but it really brought the salad together, there were even little pieces of cranberry in the dressing!  A great way to start the meal.
    
As my entrée, I ordered the Tortellini Blush (they assured me that it was completely vegetarian).  The tortellini is stuffed with cheese and served in a sundried-tomato blush cream sauce (extra sundried tomatoes included).  The pasta was very soft and the sauce was delicious.  They gave me enough that I had two meals leftover!
     
We ended our meal with the Reese’s Cake – chocolate cake with layers of a peanut butter filling, topped with a chocolate frosting.  Very chocolaty, not too Peanut Buttery, but still good.  Not exactly what I expected, but still a satisfying way to end the meal.

September 2012 Update:

The gnocchi is hand-rolled and made of ricotta cheese.  It comes with homemade gravy, but their menu clearly states that the gravy has meat in it.  I asked for the marinara instead, and boy, did I make a good choice!  The gnocchi is so tender and cheesy, very tasty.  The marinara has some thick chunks of tomato in it and has good coverage over the amount of gnocchi (not too much pasta or sauce).  The sauce has hints of oregano and basil.  When I bite into the gnocchi, there is a little stringiness to the cheese when pulling away from the fork – it makes it even more appealing to me.  I think that this will be my go-to dish at this restaurant.

We had a Half-Baked Chocolate Chip cookie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.  The cookie was soft and chewy, each bite was full of chocolate chips – very mouth-watering.  The ice cream added a nice contrast to the warm cookie and the two together was fantastic. They drizzled some chocolate sauce on the plate, but this was a waste because the cookie and ice cream were in their own dish, set on top of the plate.  There wasn’t a good way to take advantage of the chocolate sauce.  Oh well!  It still tasted fantastic. 

Capers & Lemons - Wilmington, DE

http://www.platinumdininggroup.com/capers_and_lemons/
My husband and I ate at Capers & Lemons over Labor Day Weekend.  It has been a little over a year since our last experience there, so I was very excited to check it out again.  We started our meal with the Fried Polenta Sandwich.  The layers of Fontina, Spinach and Polenta were all fried as one, then topped with some tomato sauce.  It did not meet our expectations – a bit bland (especially the tomato sauce and polenta).  The next time we go, I think that we’ll try the Eggplant Florentine (my other choice).

Next, I ordered the “House” Garden Salad with tomato-balsamic dressing.  The salad was pretty large – which was awesome.  Field greens, tomatoes, a touch of onion, and awesome dressing.  A good mix of healthy vegetables.  They also served bread accompanied by lemon dipping oil.  I am not a fan of lemon, so this was not a win with me.

As my entrée, I had the Mushroom Stuffed Rigatoni.  AWESOME!!  Rarely do I finish a whole entrée, especially when I’ve had a salad and appetizer, but this was so amazing.  There were 6 small mushroom rigatonis topped with mushrooms, carrots, and haricot verts smothered in amazing truffle butter.  A nice salty taste mixed with the crunchiness of the carrots and haricot verts made this number one in my book.  The soft and moist mushroom mixture inside the rigatoni was very good, too.  The thing that made this dish, though, was the butter.  I also loved this because it didn’t leave me feeling overly full at the end.  It’s great to have three courses and still want dessert!

Speaking of…we decided to try the Warm Chocoalte Cake, topped with vanilla gelato, but skipped the raspberry glaze.  The center was very gooey and tasty, the gelato on top mixed very well with the cake.  My only complaint is that I wish there was more gelato J

Check out this restaurant – you won’t be disappointed!

Brandywine Brewing Company - Greenville, DE

Love, love, love this restaurant.  We go at least once every two months (and we don’t repeat a lot of restaurants).  I’ve had a few of their plates, but this time I chose a sandwich that was on Special – not so good – I forget what it was called, but the sauce on it just didn’t work.  And, actually, they took my favorite sandwich off of the menu (grilled vegetables with goat cheese, yum, yum).  I definitely recall their Hot Soft Pretzels – so tasty – and apple mustard is delish (the hot horseradish was too hot for me – I don’t like the feeling of my sinuses being cleared with one quick taste).  I do recommend this restaurant for vegetarians because they have a number of options and great service.  Not to mention a full beer selection!

http://www.bbctavernandgrill.com/




9/8/2011 Update:

On our most recent trip to BBC, we decided to get the Hot Soft Pretzels as an appetizer.  Very chewy, but not buttery (like an Auntie Anne's pretzel).  That plays well with the two specialty mustard sauces - the apple mustard is very good, not too much of an apple flavor and not too much of a mustard flavor.  The horseradish sauce was hotter when we had it a year ago (or my taste buds are changing).  I can still only take just a little bit, but the horseradish isn't enough to burn my nostrils :-)

I decided to have the Warm Goat Cheese and Spinach Salad as my entrée.  The goat cheese is in multiple pieces, which I like (as compared to one big piece in the middle).  The salad came topped with candied walnuts, sundried tomatoes and cranberries, and some red onion.  All of these helped add a good crunch factor to the soft spinach and goat cheese.  The dressing was surprisingly tasty.  I'm not a fan of maple, but mixed as a maple sherry vinaigrette - yum!

For dessert, I shared the Lava Cake with Strawberry Sauce with my husband.  Overall, tasty, warm, and full of chocolate - just what I need at the end of a good meal!

Santa Fe Wilmington - Latin Fusion and Mexican Grill

I’m sure that this will become apparent over time, but I love Mexican food.  It was the first cuisine that I latched on to when I started my vegetarian quest and I have never let it go.  Sante Fe Wilmington is an upscale Mexican restaurant – I have been there three times in the year that it has been open and am very pleased with it.  The owners also have a location in Newark (downtown, in college central), but I in my opinion, the Wilmington restaurant has a better atmosphere and better food (though it’s understandable because they are catering to a different crowd in Newark).  Each time that I have visited, the waitstaff and bartenders have been very nice and attentive.  The food has been good and the wait is not long.  I have noticed on the times that I have been there that there were not a lot of people, but hopefully it’s just the times that I have gone.

My first visit to the Wilmington location was for their soft opening.  The portions were small, but good.  I had the Chile Relleno because it was the only vegetarian option at that time.  It was good, though, and I think that I’ll get it again the future.  The only complaint that my group had was about the drinks, but they have gotten much better since then!  I’m not a regular margarita fan, but I do like their Mango Margarita.  I also had the Sangrita, but would stick with a flavored Margarita in the future.

The other two times I went to the restaurant provided a better judgment into the quality and quantity of food.  They serve the standard chips and salsa to start, but also have the options to add cheese or guacamole (homemade).  The vegetarian portion of the menu has expanded drastically and everything looks so good.  I have had the Veggie Quesadilla and the Vegetable Fajita Burrito.  The Quesadilla was pretty tasty with lots of cheese.  There were not a ton of vegetables, but I guess that’s a good thing because it held together well.  The Burrito is a huge portion (probably 3-4 times a normal sized burrito) with lots of rice in the filling.  There are not too many black beans, but there is a tastay fajita seasoning on vegetables.  The sauce on top has some spice, but I would in no way consider this a spicy menu option.  I may get it again, but would probably opt for the Quesadilla or Chile Relleno (or try one of the THREE other options that I have).  Last week when I went, my fiancé and I got dessert.  We tried the Empanadas de Manzana – Mexican apple turnovers, vanilla bean ice cream, tequila caramel sauce.  I am not a fan of cinnamon or caramel, but I took one for the team since my fiancé loves that stuff (plus I gave up chocolate for Lent) – the pastry was good, and he liked it a lot, so no complaints.

I definitely recommend trying out Santa Fe!




**Update June 2012**

I think I finally found my food of choice at Santa Fe Wilmington, the vegetarian fajitas.  I have had them twice in the past few months and find them fairly delicious.  I order them without the tortillas – I would rather focus on the good stuff!  The pepper strips, zucchini, and onions are perfectly seasoned.  They are served with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole.  I definitely recommend trying the guac (also for an appetizer, if you have enough people to help out).  Now, I am not someone who likes avocados (in fact, I pretty much detest them), but this guacamole is amazing!  When ordered as an appetizer, they bring around a little cart and make it right in front of you.  It’s delicious!  I love the creaminess of the dip, and the mix it with tomatoes and some other veggies – I think that helps alleviate some of the avocado flavor for me.  I also tried their queso dip – not as spicy as their salsa, but still a bit of a kick.  One of the best queso dips that I have had a Mexican restaurant – very cheesy.  Yummy!

Buckley's Tavern - Centerville, DE

I’ve eaten at Buckley’s a few times and have always enjoyed it.  They have a nice beer selection (thought I normally stick with Sam Seasonal) and a good atmosphere.  I went with my mom on Saturday for some snacks.  We shared the Sweet Potato Fries and Flatbread.  The fries were nice and crisp, served with a hot mustard – a little too hot for my liking, but the fries were great on their own.  The flatbread has wild mushrooms and goat cheese, and is topped with arugula.  The cheese gave it a nice bite.  My only complaint is that the flatbread doesn’t reheat nicely – so eat it all!

I went there for the Pajama brunch one time and enjoyed the Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Omelette.  They even made it with egg whites at my request!  Very accommodating and friendly staff!  (P.S. - if you go in your PJs, your meal is 50% off!)