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New Menus, Fresher Look at Hotel du Pont

While maintaining its historic elegance and original charm, the Hotel du Pont has taken on a fresher look that includes enhancements to the Green Room dining experience and new menus for each of the dining spaces.

The menus offer inventive dishes, coupled with reinvented and beloved mainstays by Executive Chef Keith Miller. “Our new menus were developed to highlight our focus on local and regional flavors and ingredients, including partnerships with Cassaday Farms in Monroeville, N.J., and King Farms in Cochranville, Pa.,” says Miller. “Each innovative dish is developed and executed with the quality and elegance you expect from the Green Room but with a modern and approachable interpretation.”

More information on dining and special occasions at the hotel can be found at hoteldupont.com.

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New Name & Home for HoneyBee

HoneyBee Seasonal Kitchen and Market has not only changed its name (it was formerly Delaware Local Food Exchange), it has moved to a new home—11A Trolley Square.

With an array of local organic foods aimed at the health- and sustainability-conscious grocery shopper, HoneyBee fits right into the trendy Trolley Square shopping experience. And patrons are usually greeted by a delicious aroma emanating from the kitchen.

For more information on what’s going on at the HoneyBee Kitchen and Market, visit the Facebook page.

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Latte Art Throwdown

Newark’s Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co. is hosting a latte art competition this Thursday, Feb. 22, and partial proceeds will benefit Wooden Wheels’ Keep Wooden Wheels Service Alive fund. The Latte Art Throwdown is from 6-8 p.m., with a $5 buy-in for each participant. Registration ends at 5:45 p.m. Any barista is welcome to participate, even if you don’t work at a cafe.

Says Little Goat cafe manager, Jordan Maguire: “We were going to have a latte art throwdown for the heck of it, but with everything that happened with Wooden Wheels – our favorite neighbors – we wanted to make it more of a cause. We are inviting baristas both affiliated with the other cafes in the area and also non-affiliated baristas to come and compete head-to-head pouring latte art for a panel of judges.”

Judges come from management teams from Philter, Little Goat, Brandywine Coffee Roasters, and there will be a guest “townie” judge.

Local businesses are donating prizes for a raffle, and all raffle proceeds will benefit Wooden Wheels. For more, visit littlegoatcoffeeroasting.com.

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Longwood Grants $1.5 Million to Food Bank

The Longwood Foundation has given the Delaware Food Bank $1.5 million toward the organization’s Creating a Bold Future Capital Campaign. The Food Bank acquired an 80,000-square-foot lot in July of 2016 with the goal of building a new facility to serve the community.

The new facility, at 222 Lake Dr., Newark, will enable the Food Bank to operate more efficiently, grow foods on a 3.5-acre farm, train more people, feed more people, and increase educational/outreach workspaces.

The Longwood Foundation’s $1.5 million gift brings the total raised for the project to $9 million, just $1 million shy of the project’s $10 million construction budget.

For more information on how to help the Food Bank in this endeavor, or participate in other programs, or simply to donate, visit the website at fbd.org.

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Shark Tank Idea Comes to Del.

Back in 2014, Evan Lutz learned that 40 percent of edible food is wasted, while 20 percent of the population faces food insecurity. This prompted Lutz to “rescue” fresh produce that supermarkets would normally dispose of and deliver it directly to consumers at a reduced price. He called the new venture Hungry Harvest.

In 2016 Lutz’s idea grabbed the attention of ABC’s Shark Tank, which offered Lutz the chance to pitch his idea for potential shark investment. The Hungry Harvest creator was successful in persuading one shark, Robert Herjavec, to invest $100,000 for 10 percent of his business.

In January, Hungry Harvest deliveries became available in Delaware. For just $15, you can get the “mini harvest” box, consisting of a variety of fresh, superficially rejected (“ugly”) produce, meaning the produce may be smaller-than-average or irregular in shape. To order your “mini harvest” box or view other products, visit hungryharvest.net, and use code LAUNCHDE to save $5 on your first delivery.

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Iron Hill Brewery’s New Winter Lineup

Iron Hill Brewery has for the first time in its 21-year history decided to place a year-round emphasis on canned crafts, and it plans to release at least one new can each month in 2018.  It started with the introduction of the 2018 winter lineup on Jan. 11 with the release of cult favorite Rising Sun, a single-hopped IPA with Japanese Sorachi Ace hops. Two more canned brews will be added to the winter lineup in February: Bedotter, a traditional Belgian-style golden ale, on Friday, Feb. 9, and Ore House, a golden IPA, on Thursday, Feb. 22.

To learn more, visit ironhillbrewery.com.

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Brimming Horn Meadery Teams with Metal Group

 

Delaware’s up-and-coming Brimming Horn Meadery introduced two limited-release meads late last month. Brimming Horn is a Scandinavian-style mead hall that features a tasting area where meads and ciders are on tap, and served in bottles, growlers and glasses.

Brimming Horn Meadery has collaborated with the post-metal group Junius for its latest effort, a bourbon barrel mead. Brimming Horn contacted Junius vocalist Joseph Martinez at the end of the group’s East Coast tour to initiate the partnership. The meads made by Brimming Horn are complex, which mirrors the compositions created by Junius, and that symmetry gave birth to the new mead, Eternal Rituals, named after the group’s latest album, Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light.

The new mead is made from North Dakota clover honey, a light floral with just a hint of spice. After the completion of the fermentation process, the mead was placed in bourbon barrels for more than three months. The barrels gave the mead subtle hints of caramel, vanilla, and a bit more spice.

Mead maker Jon Talkington is an avid fan of Junius and thought the collaboration would appeal to what he calls the “refined mead drinker as well as the sophisticated bourbon aficionado.” Find out for yourself if this metal-meets-mead marriage is as good as it sounds. Eternal Rituals is available at the Brimming Horn tasting room in Milton, and is also available online at vinoshipper.com and brimminghornmeadery.com. Act fast: only 180 bottles were produced.

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New Book Traces Ministry of Caring’s 40 Years

The Ministry of Caring is celebrating four decades of philanthropic service in the state with the release of the book 40 Years of Hope & Charity: Serving the Poor with Respect & Dignity. Written by robin brown, long-time reporter for the Wilmington News Journal, the book traces the growth of the Ministry from a single eight-bed shelter into a comprehensive network of services that have become fundamental to the state’s less fortunate. Brown brings great insight to the book, thanks to her 40-year career at the News Journal.

The 266-page hardcover sells for $30 with pickup at the Ministry office at 115 E. 14th St., Wilmington, or $35 with postal delivery. Order it by credit card at ministryofcaring.org. You can also order it from Amazon, although that will yield fewer proceeds to the Ministry of Caring.

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State’s First Food Hall

 

By late 2018, Wilmington’s downtown will be enhanced by a 12,000-square-foot food hall housing eight chef-driven kitchens that will feature not just mid-Atlantic culinary dishes but a variety of cuisine from around the world. The food hall will be known as DE.CO (an abbreviation for “Delaware Collective”) and will be the first of its kind in the state.

The project was born out of a collaboration between developers The Buccini/Pollin Group and Seawall Development, who are hoping to capitalize on what has been a successful trend of food halls emerging in major cities. They believe the project will play a major role in the continued revitalization of Wilmington’s downtown area.y late 2018, Wilmington’s downtown will be enhanced by a 12,000-square-foot food hall housing eight chef-driven kitchens that will feature not just mid-Atlantic culinary dishes but a variety of cuisine from around the world. The food hall will be known as DE.CO (an abbreviation for “Delaware Collective”) and will be the first of its kind in the state.

DE.CO will be located in the DuPont Building at 10th and Orange streets. In addition to the new food hall, the $150 million in renovations will include retail shops and artisan boutiques. The developers are hoping the project will make the building a major community hub.

The DE.CO food hall is currently accepting applications. Interested chefs should contact Peter DiPrinzio at peter@seawalldevelopment.com.

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Fun At the Brandywine Zoo 

January brings educational, entertaining activities to the Brandywine Zoo. The schedule includes “Career & Animal Science Workshop: Animal Training” on Saturday, Jan. 20, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., for ages 12 and up. This workshop will include a training demonstration with one of the zoo animals and its trainer. Fee: $10 for non-members, $8 for members. On Sunday, Jan. 28, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., kids ages 7 and older can enjoy the “Animal Enrichment Workshop.” Learn about the kinds of enrichment the zoo uses to engage animals’ minds. Fees: $12 for non-members, $10 for members.

For more: brandywinezoo.org or call 571-7747.