Washington Street Ale House, Mikimotos owner dies
Darius S. Mansoory, owner of downtown Wilmington's popular Washington Street Ale House and Mikimotos Asian Grill and Sushi as well as Stingray in Rehoboth Beach, has died, staff at his Wilmington restaurants acknowledged Tuesday.
Mansoory died Dec. 31 while on vacation in Cuba with his girlfriend. He fell ill while at a hotel shortly before the couple was scheduled to leave and catch a plane home. Mansoory later died in a nearby hospital, apparently of a heart attack. The exact cause of death and other details, including funeral arrangements, were not yet available.
The 52-year-old Wilmington resident founded the Cherry Tree Hospitality Group. He zeroed in on the city's downtown area and the Rehoboth Beach resort area for his eateries.
"Darius has been a friend of mine for over 30 years," said David Dietz, owner of BBC Tavern and Grill in Greenville. "He had a heart of gold. He had a keen business sense and he ran great operations."
Mansoory, who grew up in Centreville, was a 1983 graduate of Alexis I. du Pont High School and the University of Maryland. In 1997, he bought the former Knuckleheads bar on Washington Street and transformed it, through several renovations, into the Washington Street Ale House.
Later, he opened Mikimotos, named after the Japanese pearls, in 2000 just as U.S. diners began developing a surging interest in Japanese cuisine. The eatery, next door to the Ale House, became one of the city's most popular restaurants.
Presto!, a casual eatery and coffee house at 12th and Washington streets in Wilmington, adjoining the Ale House, opened in 2006. Mansoory, who enjoyed the Delaware beaches, followed it up with Stingray Sushi Bar + Asian Latino Grill in Rehoboth Beach two years later.
In 2003, Mansoory was named Restaurateur of the Year by the Delaware Restaurant Association. To receive that honor, a restaurateur must be judged by his or her peers, customers and employees to have changed the dining scene in some way.
"He was a very creative guy when he was building his businesses," said Carrie Leishman, president and chief executive officer of the Delaware Restaurant Association. "He had a good marketing vibe and sense."
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In recent years, Mansoory spent several years in court fighting for the right to build a 720-square-foot patio at Stingray after a city of Rehoboth board denied his request for a variance. The state Supreme Court eventually ruled in Mansoory's favor, but he said the legal dispute was costly.
In a recent conversation with The News Journal, Mansoory said he had big plans for his Wilmington eateries in 2017.
"I'm just now getting back into work full time and have my plate full fine-tuning Mikimotos and the Ale House," he said in October.
Mansoory said he planned to reopen Presto!, which he shuttered in 2014, after the 2016 holidays.
"June 4, 2017, will be the 20-year anniversary of the Ale House, and I definitely will have Presto! open and everything else running razor sharp as we celebrate that milestone," he told The News Journal.
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It is not yet known who will run Mansoory's restaurants. Mansoory is survived his father Dr. Amir Mansoory, and his mother Janet Mansoory.
Sussex County restaurant owner Matt Haley had a transition plan in place before his sudden death in 2014. When Wilmington restaurateur Scott Morrison, owner of Market Street's Chelsea Tavern and Ernest & Scott Taproom, died in February 2016, the fate of his restaurants remained in question. Both eateries are still operating.
Dietz said Tuesday night he is confident that Mansoory's restaurants will continue to operate and thrive.
"His family wants to see his legacy continue. I think Darius has a lot of excellent people at his establishments already in place and I feel they are highly competent and they will ensure his legacy lives on through the opening of the restaurants," Dietz said.
Mansoory was a well-known collector who loved circus and carnival paraphernalia and other funky pieces. A Ferris wheel car once decorated the second floor of the Washington Street Ale House, and he owned a 1940s carnival game known as Hi Striker. Mansoory's house in Wilmington's Westover Hills, which he bought in 2000, had a full-size gasoline pump from a New Orleans antique shop.
He took a 1959 Cushman Highlander Motor Scoot vintage motorbike with the sidecar that he discovered in Dewey Beach in March 2010 and had it restored in Las Vegas. In 2012, Mansoory and the scooter were featured on an episode of the History Channel series "American Restoration." He appeared several times on the cable TV series starring Rick Dale and his employees at Rick's Restorations, a Las Vegas shop that restores valuable American collectibles.
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico.