New restaurants: Vegetarian Indian, Chesapeake Bay cuisines
Spicing up the food scene are two new Indian restaurants.
Masala Kitchen is a vegetarian eatery that opened earlier this month in downtown Wilmington. Coming soon is Godavari, which will offer a South Indian buffet and other foods at its 3615 Kirkwood Highway location, near Prices Corner.
Masala Kitchen at 825 N. Market St., open since April 6, recently celebrated a grand opening. The eatery is associated with an eatery of the same name in the New Castle Farmers Market, in operation since June 2013. Both are owned by Kanak Bhavsar and her son, Jaysheel Bhavsar.
Masala Kitchen’s all vegetarian menu has “street food,” such as Papadi Chaat, ($5), a crisp flatbread with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garbanzo beans, yogurt, tamarind and cilantro chutney and topped with cilantro.
It also has combo platters of basmati rice, two entrees, two roties, dal, salad and pickle ($8), and a variety of beverages such as lassi, hot chai and chaas, a buttermilk drink.
Catered meals, from veggie biryani to rice and lentil cakes dusted with red-chili powder, are available. Visit masalakitchen.net.
Godavari has taken over the space formerly occupied by the Szechuan restaurant. On its website, Szechuan owners announced they were closing the restaurant in March.
“We would think all of the customers that made our restaurant such a wonderful place, and we will miss you,” read a message on the site.
A sign on the door Monday said the restaurant was closed for renovations. According to its website, Godavari has restaurants in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, North Carolina, and Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The restaurants specialize in Hyderabadi Biryani, 100 varities of dosas, Indo-Chinese specialities and more Indian flavored dishes. It will offer a daily lunch buffet and a la carte dinner.
The menu includes chennai idly, steamed rice and lentils soaked in sambar; vegetarian and a variety of non-vegetarian main courses; tandoor; and rice dishes. For more information, visit www.godavarius.com or call (302) 999-0286.
New Rehoboth Avenue eatery coming soon
Blackwall Hitch is opening a new restaurant this summer in Rehoboth Beach.
The eatery, with locations in Alexandria, Virginia, and Annapolis, Maryland, is taking over the 52 Rehoboth Ave. spot formerly home to The Greene Turtle.
In early March, The Greene Turtle announced it was moving to a new site on Del. 1 in Rehoboth. The Rehoboth Avenue restaurant closed on March 6.
The Greene Turtle at 101 S. Boardwalk in Rehoboth remains open year-round.
Blackwall Hitch specializes in cuisine from the Chesapeake Bay region “in an urban, chic environment.” The name comes from the shipping industry. Ships that left London’s Blackwall Port docked in Maryland and Virginia and were attached to the dock with hooks. The blackwall hitch knot is a line that draws itself tight as a vessel rises and falls with the tide.
The menu includes seafood, raw oysters, fish tacos, burgers and wood-fired flatbreads. Mid-States Management Group, the parent company of the original Blackwall Hitch concept, said the Delaware restaurant should open in late May or early June. New chef is Aileen Delario, who has more than 20 years of experience in casual fine dining in the Rehoboth area. Visit the Blackwall Hitch Facebook page for more information, www.facebook.com/BlackwallHitchRehoboth/
Food truck owner operating New Castle cafe
The Fork in the Road Café is a new venture from the Delaware River & Bay Authority/Delaware Memorial Bridge.
The New Castle cafe, which opened last week, takes the place of the former Bridge Café, which closed more than two years ago. Before the cafe opened, food truck operators, including, I Don’t Give A Fork food truck, expressed an interest in having a physical location as a base of operations.
The cafe is now run by Leigh Ann Tona, owner and operator of I Don’t Give A Fork food truck. Tona also continues to run the food truck she started in 2012.
The Fork in the Road Café is located at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Plaza, Delaware routes 295 and 9 in the Julia Building. (Follow signs to EZ Pass Center.) It serves breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. The menu includes items like a mac-and-cheese cheesesteak ($7.50), chicken noodle soup and chili ($4-$5), and roast turkey sandwiches on a hoagie roll ($6).
Visit www.forkintheroadcafe.com
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 orptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter@pattytalorico