Wilmington & Grow-A-Pirate: Days Three and Two, Respectively

Deluxe

114 Market Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 251-0333
deluxenc.com

AFTER 48 HOURS, our little Grow-A-Pirate buddy was doing well. His head peeked over the top of his water glass this morning. We decided to transfer him from our hotel room to more luxurious accommodations inside a pilsner glass at my brother's apartment. While this was the last picture we took of him, my brother promises he will send another along in a few week's time, assuming there's not, Grow-A-God forbid, some kind of unfortunate Grow-A-Pirate accident and that my brother's apartment is large enough for such an experiment. Only time will tell.

Also telling is the time on the clock above the pancakes, pictured below. It proves not only were we eating pancakes after Noon, but nearly after 1:00 p.m. Of course, when your brother's girlfriend flies in from Italy the night before, has her luggage lost between two cities on two continents, still goes out drinking, wakes up and requests pancakes, well, you make the pancakes. Welcome back to the States, please pass the maple syrup.

Post-flapjacks, the duo of my brother and Elisa drove straight to Target in an attempt to replace some missing essentials, and my mom, Mint and I headed towards the beach by way of a few shops and Arlie Gardens. Mint, being a fan of gardens, and my mother, being a fan of Arlie Gardens in particular, would hardly have missed the chance to stop by, and myself never being one to complain about good scenery didn't complain. Besides, the Arlie Oak, which is more than 600 years old, never ceases to blow my mind. Six. Hundred. Years. People, that's old.

We all met back up at the beach, as is custom, and returned to Wilmington a while later for yet another dinner of extraordinary proportions. I briefly mentioned a few posts back about Wilmington's doing away of franchises in its historic downtown proper, but tonight's outing exemplified the remarkable accomplishment of such a snobbish policy: the owners and chefs that have flocked to downtown Wilmington have created a truly incredible culinary scene. Deluxe, or so I'm told, is one of its pillars with a simple and contemporary take on American cuisine.

There was North Carolina yellowfin tuna over spinach and quinoa with cucumber relish and Korean BBQ sauce; peppercorn grilled NY strip steak with goat cheese whipped potatoes; rabbit confit with bok choy and grilled sea scallop; not pictured, an incredible tandoori-baked salmon. I can't say anyone was disappointed with anything. Except, perhaps, with the chicken:

You can dress him up. Taking him out is questionable.

With our stomachs bursting a la our Grow-A-Pirate friend upstairs, we all proceeded to the sleek Pravda, a new Soviet-themed vodka bar situated in the downstairs of my brother's building. The crisp red lines of Pravda's interior mark off a space of sparse decor--a few cheeky Commie-kitsch posters and the obligatory red stars. The revolution will apparently be ironic. The place was full of fresh-spun 80's pop, courtesy of a DJ hiding conspicuously behind an empty dance floor. I suppose this type of Euro-trash revelry (with more actual dancing) might have made sense in post-Soviet-era Russia, but in Wilmington? Well, I suppose everybody does secretly love Cyndi Lauper. At least Mint does.

Let the Feast Begin!

Port City Java
21 N. Front Street
Wilmington, NC 28401

(910) 762-5282
portcityjava.com

South Beach Grill
100 S. Lumina Avenue
Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480
(910) 256-4646
southbeachgrillwb.com

Elijah's
2 Ann Street
Wilmington, NC 27501
(910) 343-1448
elijahs.com

IF ONE OF my favorite culinary truths about New York City is the vast abundance of international and creative vegetarian food to be found here, then one of my favorite parts of traveling south and east to the Atlantic Coast is the buckets and buckets (quite literally) of seafood to be had there. And in a city like Wilmington, whose historic downtown has managed to outlaw franchises, the buckets to be had are mighty, mighty tasty indeed.

We start, however, with a blueberry muffin procured from Port City Java, which sits downstairs, conveniently, in my brother's apartment building, which is oddly enough a former Masonic temple:

Not the most delicious blueberry muffin I've ever had, truth be told, but when you're sitting alongside the Cape Fear sipping iced coffee on a 95-degree Saturday morning eating said blueberry muffin in the company of Mint, mom and brother, its tastes okay. Throw in the view and one doesn't complain:

The day was spent mostly at the beach, which included the ice cream cone (top) and 75-degree water, after which my brother took off for the airport to meet his girlfriend, Elisa, while my mom, Mint and I grabbed a late, light lunch at the nearby South Beach Grill. Situated at one of the main entrances to Wrightsville Beach, parking can be a frustrating affair, but more enjoyable food within walking distance of the sand is hard to find.

Lunch was wasabi-crusted sea scallops, a 'Seafood Napoleon' of shrimp, fried tomatoes, and crab meat with boursin cheese, and a plate of seafood nachos featuring creamy crab, a few more shrimp and homemade tortilla chips, all shared between the three of us. The creative fare might not be as finely-executed as that in downtown Wilmington, but the ambitious dishes are well-prepared and make most excellent beach fare.

After making the fifteen minute drive back into Wilmington, we took a few hours to relax, clean up, and share a bottle of wine. And then, once again, it was time for food. (I love Wimington!) My mom's recommendation for tonight: Elijah's.

Sitting off the end of Wilmington's riverside boardwalk, where the cobblestones of Ann Street mark the end of the city's main drag, Elijah's sits sprawled out with its triple-terraced patio overlooking the Cape. It's beautiful spot to sit on a summer evening and dig into a bucket of seafood. Literally. "The Carolina Bucket"--crab legs, shrimps, mussels, clams, corn, slices of sausage, and bunches of fresh oysters. Had we known the bucket (below, top left) would be so deep, we might not have also ordered the chef's Grill Plate, a pile of blackened salmon, mahi mahi and skewered shrimp. Suffice it to say there was a lot of food.

Dessert, somehow, was deemed necessary. Apple pie and a chocolate cake were ordered, the latter (above, bottom left) boasting more than a pound of butter and chocolate per slice. The thing was a veritable chocolate truffle, engorged and molded into something resembling a slice of pie so rich and dark it appeared a black hole at our table that we could only hope sucked the calories out of itself. Even more confounding was the Cape Fear coffee my mother ordered (above, bottom right). It looked innocent enough; the Bailey's, Khalua, and amaretto all involved begged to differ.

And so began the weekend.

Four Hours by Sea, Eight Hours by Land

Boheme Cafe

400 E. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 347-9898
bohemecafe.com

Ah, the wholesome bounty of a continental breakfast!

After returning from the dizzying heights of the Brookshire's "Cloud Club," where magical breakfast is served daily until 9:30 (at which point magic simply must rest and prepare for lunch), Mint and I stowed our luggage and wandered over to The National Aquarium. This Baltimore favorite has been praised by everyone we've talked to who have passed through its doors, and even by a few folks who have themselves heard nothing but high praise. We can confirm the praise is all well-warranted.

While hardly the most sprawling aquatic institution I've ever been in, and a little lacking in penguins for Mint's taste, the three buildings that house the Aquarium's exhibits and installations are both compact and comprehensive. Its "permanent collection," a towering hall criss-crossed by escalators with a tank of sea turtles and sting rays below and walls of fish tanks encircling its edges, a saltwater version of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim in New York, was particularly impressive.

Visitors to the aquarium would do well to stop by the Boheme Cafe, just a few blocks away on Pratt Street, to grab a quick breakfast or lunch away from the aquarium's masses. My "Lil' Italian" breakfast sandwich of scrambled eggs, steamed spinach and provolone on rosemary focaccia made a great lunch to go, as did Mint's eggs and sausage on toast. Both are served all day, both $4.50.

Our plan had been to spend five hours at the aquarium and six hours driving south to Wilmington, NC; we managed four with the fishes and about eight stuck on I-95. Not quite the numbers we were hoping for, and certainly not ones that were going to arrive us in Wilmington in time for dinner. So, consoling ourselves with a third breakfast in one day's time, we pulled off the road somewhere in Virginia in search of a Denny's. I'll spare you the details.

Delicious as only Denny's can be delicious

We made it to Wilmington with enough energy for a few drinks with my already-drinking brother and ma at Hell's Kitchen before staggering over to our room at the nearby Hilton. There, we found a pile of pirate-themed presents awaiting our arrival. Thinking at first we had stumbled across some "Wilmington Magic," a closer examination of the pirate map included with the treasures showed signs of my brother's involvement (an arrow pointing to the pirate's "booty" and a "stoned dolphin" gave him up).

And so we plunked our Grow-A-Pirate into a glass of water and fell magically asleep.

Spring Break, Part VIII: Begin the Grand Finale

Hell's Kitchen
118 Princess Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 763-4133
www.hellskitchenbar.com

Circa 1922
8 N. Front Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 762-1922
www.circa1922.com

THE PROBLEM WITH being "on vacation" is the part where you start eating every meal like you can afford to eat every meal like you're on vacation. Arrived with my mother in Wilmington to stay at my brother's place for a few days, we immediately began this with lunch at Hell's Kitchen. Of course, Adam, my brother, works at Hell's Kitchen, which makes it a easy choice.

I've eaten at Hell's now a handful of times, and not once have I been disappointed. Not only is the food excellent as bar fare, it would be excellent by any standard at any other restaurant. It's that good. And the kitchen is vegetarian friendly (which is not always the case at bars) in that they can actually tell you what's in the food (which is not always the case at a bars).

My ma and I had the grilled tuna sandwich and black bean burger, respectively, both with the sweet potato fries that are a signature item at Hell's (NOTE: ask them to go light on the brown sugar if you don't want yours to be too sweet.) And while the menu is solid, the kitchen is good enough that you would do as well just to try the daily specials, whatever they happen to be.

For dinner, we dropped in on Circa for tapas and wine--a "happy hour" special of sorts that offers any item on the tapas menu for $3.

Now, I'm perpetually annoyed by restaurants that have taken to calling appetizers "tapas" simply because they are small portions of food. The "tapas spirit" is a poor excuse to use a singular Spanish culture as a way to sell more appetizers, and there are only three things on the "tapas tradicional" menu at Circa that you would ever find at a bar Spain: Serrano ham, olives, and cheese.

That said, Circa is one of the more enjoyable restaurants I've ever been in. The places looks incredible, the food is great, and while the "tapas" menu is laughable, the bruchettas and grilled shrimp are excellent deals for $3 each.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Yes on both counts.