In with the old, in with the new: Rehoboth restaurant dishes out creative tavern classics

Short ribs are not a culinary revelation, but the ones at The Pines, a newly opened restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, are braised in hibiscus and rose. A nominal coincidence, pine-smoked shrimp pairs with the tender cut of beef, which is served over another refurbished classic — rosemary goat cheese grits. 

It's just one of executive chef Dane Wilfong's creative takes on old school tavern fare. Peer at The Pines seasonal menu and find the chorizo is made with turkey, dolloped with a yolk and set on grilled butternut bread.

The butter-poached lobster roll is spruced up with a fennel frond and celery leaf relish. And the accompanying black garlic mayo is house-made (so is the ketchup, the bread — virtually everything on the menu). 

The risotto, underneath plump seared scallops, is purple, an ethereal pop tucked with earthy nuggets of beet. 

Wilfong took much of his culinary inspiration from a piece of artwork stretching across a wall adjacent to the bar: A ghostly figure walks down a long pier off the Atlantic in a black and white picture from the early 20th century.

"How can you take something so old and make it new, refreshing, different?" he said at the start of dinner service. "To me this place is kind of like a museum: Taking older things, putting a modern spin and feel to it."

The chef infuses familiar staples with the artistic taste of The Pines, and as co-owner Bob Suppies put it: the food "is something different that I could enjoy and eat and not spend a fortune on."

Local is central to the 8,000 square foot restaurant, from the design and wooden tabletops down to the quail eggs. Wilfong works with farms like Sussex-based Totem and Baywater in Salisbury. 

They get their tuna and lobster from Captain Kerry Harrington down in Ocean City.

“We get it right off his boat, and you can’t beat that," Wilfong said of the fresh seafood.

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Some of the ingredients are left purposefully vague on the menu. Wilfong doesn't always know, for example, the type of mushroom he'll be getting from Kennett Square, based on what is foraged that week or if the flavor profile changes.

"It's a revolving door for whatever is available," he said.

Vegetarian options are on the menu. Even in the pork chop dish, grilled abalone mushroom can be subbed for the pig.

Go up to the lounge, dubbed Top of the Pines, if you are waiting for a table or just want a cocktail and a small, interesting bite like lobster and truffle spaetzle mac balls. 

When you walk up the stairs to the lounge, take a moment to look at the walls, for they are full of memories. A toddler teethes a pack of Funland tickets. Smiling, sun-kissed faces greet Polaroids on a lazy day at the beach. Two girls scream at the end of a Haunted Mansion ride.

The 210 photos are part of the restaurant's "Let's Make History" campaign. Folks donated old (and new) snapshots of their favorite beach town memories.

"When you look at the pictures, you see the joy this town brings to people," said Suppies, who worked in Baltimore before a short-lived retirement led him to the restaurant industry in Sussex County

He gets chills whenever he sees the black-and-white shot of a young couple, circa 1910. 

"Their first date was in Rehoboth," Suppies said. "They drove to the beach." 

In an adjacent photo taken forty years later, the couple was still side-by-side in Rehoboth, though by that time, they had long since married. 

Even the restaurant's name was found in old Rehoboth. Suppies and co-owner Tyler Townsend, who grew up in the beach town, poured over history books — "like, tons of them," Suppies said.

They found a postcard meant to drive tourism to the beach town and advertised in surrounding cities as, "Rehoboth, where the pine forest meets the ocean." 

"We both said, 'Oh, The Pines would be perfect,'" Suppies remembered.

The Pines will be open seven days a week. Be on the lookout for the upcoming Sunday Brunch and happy hour. When you stop by The Pines, feel free to bring a Rehoboth-centric photograph — Suppies said they are still collecting them.

"People are excited for another restaurant in town," he said. "Rehoboth is growing into such a food-driven restaurant community."