Food & Fun: 20 new Del. summertime options

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, it's starting to feel a little like summer in Delaware.

Even though the official first day of summer isn't until June 20, temperatures are beginning to climb, students are graduating and attention is turning to summertime hijinks.

Whether you're looking for the newest restaurants at the beach, first-time music festivals or new spots with outdoor fun, we've collected a list of what's new and worth your time from across the state.

So if you've been hibernating all winter, it's time to poke your head outside, start an adventure and see what has spouted in The First State since last summer.

1. Analog-A-Go-Go, Bellevue State Park, 800 Carr Rd., Bellevue. analogagogo.com. $65-$95. The newest edition of the music and craft beer festival unveiled by Dogfish Head will mix diverse acts (Built to Spill, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Talib Kweli, Ra Ra Riot) with both beer and distillery gardens. After five years at Dogfish's Milton brewery and Rehoboth Beach brewpub, the festival is being expanded and moved up north to New Castle County on Sept. 17. Think of it as Firefly Jr., minus much of the crowd. Attendance is expected to be capped at 10,000.

2. Chesapeake & Maine, 316 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach. facebook.com/ChesapeakeMaine. Dogfish Head's spin-off eatery located next door to its Rehoboth Beach brewpub opened in March with a focus on seafood. The restaurant pairs favorites from Maine, where founder and Massachusetts native Sam Calagione spent summers, and Dogfish Head's proximity to the Chesapeake region. Expect a familiar Dogfish aesthetic paired with some exclusive beers and scratch-made spirits.

3. Crooked Hammock Brewery, 16989 Kings Highway, near Lewes. crookedhammockbrewery.com. Opened in October, Crooked Hammock has already made a name for itself in the off-season, hosting a big New Year's Eve bash and drawing crowds even though the spot is custom made for for the summer. The brewery's backyard beer garden vibe will shine in warm weather, complete with an outdoor ping pong set-up, barbecue, fire pit, hammocks, bean bag toss and a large lawn. The brewery is expecting a crowd for this weekend's three-day "Memorial Day Weekend Summer Kickoff Cookout" with three overflow parking lots prepared.

4. Crust & Craft, 18701 Del. 1, near Rehoboth Beach. crustandcraftde.com. The craft beer boom has made its way to beach pizzerias. Crust & Craft, which opened in October near Midway Speedway Park, mixes wood-fired pizza and other house-made Italian favorites with more than 75 varieties of craft beer. Chef and owner Brenton Wallace may be from Pennsylvania, but general manager Wesley Brooks (Dogfish Head, Abbot’s Grill) is a homegrown beach restaurant vet.

5. Dewey Beach Club, 1205 Del. 1, Dewey Beach. facebook.com/deweybeachclub. For 20 years, the Dewey Beach Club was a go-to hangout spot for its regulars -- a place to escape some of Dewey's summer craziness. Well, it's back. The restaurant, which had been run as Port Dewey Beach over the past five years, now has new owners and an old identity. Opened in March by local son-and-father team Jeff and Tom Treacy, the retro name is sure to turn heads of longtime Dewey visitors looking for a cold drink, a sturdy meal and conversation.

6. Delaware State Fair's The LOFT, 18500 U.S. 13, Harrington. delawarestatefair.com. The state fair is doing VIP a new way this year. For five shows this summer, including Little Big Town, Alabama and George Thorogood, fans can buy "The LOFT Ultimate VIP Experience" tickets for $150 a pop. Fans will receive access to the newly-built, two-tiered LOFT viewing platform, VIP parking, gate admission, private bathrooms and more. Each LOFT ticket also comes with a pit pass or premium reserved seat. Tickets for all shows, which run July 21 to 30, are on sale now.

7. Delaware Taco Festival, Frawley Stadium, 801 Shipyard Drive, Wilmington. facebook.com/DelawareTacoFest. $40-$60. The first Delaware Taco Festival, which is taking over the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, is coming June 25. There will be more than 30 taco vendors on site, including Anejo Mexican Grill & Tequila Bar, El Toro​, 8th & Union Kitchen and Mexican Post. In addition to tacos, there will be a nacho bar, "margarita beach bar," tequila sampling tent, chili pepper-eating contest, carnival games, face painters and a mechanical bull.

8. Drummers Corner Jazz Lounge, 4793 Wheatleys Pond Road, Smyrna. thedrummerscornerjazzlounge.com. With the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington and both the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival and the True Blue Jazz series at the state's beaches, jazz is alive and well in Delaware. But New Castle and Sussex counties don't have Delaware's jazz scene on lock down. The Drummers Corner Jazz Lounge opened over the winter, pairing live jazz on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with a menu that features burgers, seafood and specialty juices.

9. Fork & Flash at Nage, 19730 Del. 1, near Rehbooth Beach. forkandflask.com. If you are a fan of Nage, we hope you handle change well. The bar has been expanded as owner Josh Grapski guns for a more casual, open feel that includes new booths and a communal table. The menu retains some old school Nage favorites, but also adds less formal items like country-fried chicken sliders.

10. Full Moon Rising Festival, Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park, 40 Rosa Parks Drive, Wilmington. eventbrite.com. $20. Yet another new festival in Delaware, this multi-genre fest on June 18 will feature electronic dance music, hip-hop and more. And it all goes down on the same weekend as Firefly Music Festival in Dover. Bob Marley's youngest daughter, Makeda Marley, is slated to MC the outdoor, waterfront festival. Acts include Newark jam/electronica act Tweed, Philadelphia's funk/hip-hop band ILL DOOTS and more.

11. Heirloom, 212 Savannah Road, Lewes. heirloomdelaware.com. Opened in December, you won't mistake Heirloom as a new cookie-cutter beach restaurant. Heirloom lives in a renovated Lewes mansion that dates back to 1899 --  a dainty home for three dining rooms that offers entrees like pan-seared New Jersey scallops ($31) to a grilled hanger steak ($28). The eatery was on the receiving end of kind words from the Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan earlier this month.

12. Historic New Castle Colonial BBQ Competition, Battery Park, 51 W. Third St., New Castle. newcastlebbq.com. For the first time, barbecue and Separation Day will collide in New Castle June 11. The debut barbecue event, which costs $5, is an official Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned event, which brings with it strict rules for the competing barbecue teams. About 50 teams be competing and they will be offering $1 samples. In addition, food vendors such as Wilmington's Locale BBQ Post will be on site selling their own meats. Music includes sets by The Bullets, Dr. Harmonica & Rockett 88 and the Blue Cat Blues Band.

13. Jimmy's Grille, 19724 Del. 1, near Rehoboth Beach. jimmysgrille.org. "Peace, Love and Fried Chicken" has a new home. After the Bridgeville diner spun-off a Dewey Beach location several years ago, Jimmy's has yet another new home -- and it's not that far from from its Dewey location. The restaurant, known for its fried chicken, homemade pies and big breakfasts, will soon open near Rehoboth's Outlet Liquors, also owned by Highway One Group. And just like its Dewey counterpart, the Rehoboth location will have a stage for live music.

14. Little Barrel Country Music Festival, Blue Diamond Park, 765 Hamburg Road, near New Castle. littlebarrelfestival.com. $35-$75. There will be a country music festival in Delaware on June 25 after all. The weekend was originally supposed to be home to the second annual Big Barrel Country Music Festival in Dover with acts like Brad Paisley, Sam Hunt and Eric Church. With that festival now canceled, the Wilmington-based non-profit Trauma Survivors Foundation has created a local replacement as a fundraiser. Nashville's Sam Grow headlines with eight other acts like A Different Breed (Elkton, Maryland), The Hung Jury Band (Bear) and Country By Night (Smyrna) on board.

15. Mispillion River Brewing, 255 Mullet Run, Milford. mispillionriverbrewing.com. "Every event from here on out will be free." It was with those words that Mispillion co-owner Eric Williams did away with ticketed events at the Milford brewery earlier this month. The announcement came in a Facebook video and the timing couldn't have been better for Mispillion fans. Last weekend's annual "Meatball-Con" food festival was free instead of the planned $40 ticket price.

16. Paradise Gill, 27344 Bay Rd., Long Neck. paradiseislandde.com. What's new at Paradise Grill? Plenty. The tropical-themed indoor/outdoor restaurant located along Pot Nets Cove spent the off-season adding a new 20,000-square-foot patio. In addition to the new space, Lewes-based Delaware Paddlesports has just begun renting paddleboards and kayaks for those looking to work off some calories after devouring crab balls and hamburgers.

17. Rehoboth Beach Film Society's Cinema Art Theater, 17701 Dartmouth Drive, near Lewes. rehobothfilm.com. After calling plenty of other local theaters home, including Movies at Midway, the Rehoboth Beach Film Society now has a theater of its own. The Cinema Art Theater opened in March and is now showing an independent film each weekend. (The Jesse Eisenberg-led 2015 drama "Louder Than Bombs" runs Friday through Sunday this weekend.)  Not only does the new 104-seat theater allow for year-round screenings, but it will also be home to the annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, which runs Nov. 4-12 this year.

18. Starboard Raw, 2000 Del. 1, Rehoboth Beach. starboardraw.com. If you've been on The Starboard's deck in recent months and looked across the street to see something called Starboard Raw, don't worry, it's not the Orange Crushes talking. The venerable Dewey bar has opened a spin-off raw bar directly across the street at the former home of Scully's Ocean Side Cafe. Raw bar offerings include oysters, clams, steamed fish and shrimp paired with a regular menu filled with crab cakes, oyster stew, po' boy sandwiches and more. And when it comes to alcohol, six different oyster shooters are offered, along with a selection of beer, wine and cocktails.

19. Weird & Awful Music Festival, World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington. facebook.com/WeirdandAwful. $15-$20. For the first time, the Wilmington underground hip-hop collective Weird & Awful is taking over the Queen. Led by Wilmington rapper Rakeem Miles, the group will host its first festival June 10 on the venue's large downstairs stage. A$AP Ant of A$AP Mob will headline the festival, which kicks off at 4 p.m. Also slated to perform: Weird & Awful founder Miles, Herrick and Hooley, Rex the Rager, Lifestream, No Sir E, Ken Masters and nearly 30 others.

20. Zip + Sip Craft Beer Festival, Lums Pond State Park, 1068 Howell School Rd, Bear. destateparks.com/zipandsip. $35. Sure, beer and zip lines probably don't go together well, by that isn't stopping Zip + Sip, a new craft beer festival hosted by Delaware State Parks. The festival, tied to its Go Ape treetop adventures at Lums Pond, runs Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. The fest will will allow zip liners to drink beer *after* their adventures. (No one is allowed to drink and then zipline.) While all zip times are filled, there are still $35 tickets available for the beer festival portion of the event, getting you 12 four-ounce beer samples. More than 10 local breweries (Argilla, Blue Earl, Dogfish Head, Mispillion, etc.)  and several food trucks will be on site.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).