'Cutting-edge comfort cuisine' at Wilmington's Movable Feast
Patricia TaloricoMovable Feast Chef Lisa Scolaro likes to take her customers on what she calls "culinary adventures."
At the gourmet take-out shop and cafe tucked away on Wilmington's 2510 W. Fifth St., Scolaro tries to introduce diners to vibrant flavors as well as ingredients and dishes they might not have experienced before.
When Scolaro serves four-course, prix-fixe dinners in the cafe on the second Wednesday of every month, she tries to be well ahead of food trends.
"What we were trying to do is cutting-edge comfort cuisine," says Scolaro. "It's more about trying something new and twisting thoughts on what a dish should be."
The reservations-only Movable Feast dinners are inspired by the seasons, themes and upcoming holidays. Snagging one of the 40 available seats is sort of like joining a secret supper club. Call (302) 656-8892 or visit movablefeastde.com
Themes have included an Indian Summer Harvest in September with smoked trout and oyster chowder and a tomahawk pork chop. Aloha August highlighted ahi tuna poke seaweed salad and Kalua pig sliders. A December Après Ski dinner zeroed in on rich, cold-weather friendly dishes like petit cheese fondue and braised short rib ragout.
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Scolaro says a core group of loyal customers have been attending the meals. But she has been seeing new diners of all ages each month since she began working at the cafe 2 1/2 years ago. Before that, she spent 18 years as an executive catering chef at Swarthmore (Pa.) College.
"It's all different walks of life. It's people who knew me a long time ago," says Scolaro, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, who headed kitchens at the old David Finney Inn in New Castle, Tiffin in Wilmington, and the former Mirage restaurant in Newark.
The meal starts at 6:30 p.m. with a reception, the chef says.
"You sit down by 7 p.m., and, because it's on a school night, you're out by 9:30 or 10. By then, you've probably made 10 new friends."
Extending meal hours beyond a usual operating schedule can be a boon for food businesses. Their "pop-up" style dinners offer excitement and encourage customers to return – and tell all their friends.
Movable Feast owner Stephen Horgan says the monthly meals usually sell out. And Feast is not the only area cafe that holds monthly "pop-up" dinners.
De La Coeur, a breakfast and lunch cafe in Wilmington's Forty Acres neighborhood open most days from 7 a.m. until about 3 p.m., also stays open later two days each month for dinners. The cafe, in operation since September 2015, is owned by husband-and-wife team Alex and Gretchen Sianni.
The next prix-fixe dinners will be held at the 1836 Lovering Ave. cafe on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, beginning at 7 p.m.
The cost for the January meals, which includes artichoke bruschetta, a mixed green salad, cream of mushroom soup, lamb stew and a poached pear and almond tart, is $80 per person. Reservations are also being accepted for an upcoming Feb. 14 meal. Visit delacoeurcafe.com or call (302) 660-7178.
Billy Rawstrom, owner of Maiale Deli & Salumeria in The Cannery Shopping Center off Wilmington's Lancaster Avenue, holds occasional multiple-course tasting dinners after he closes his shop at 7 p.m.
In December, Maiale offered a Wild Game Night. The $60, five-course meal featured wild boar, venison and duck. For more information on upcoming dinners, call (302) 691-5269 or visit thesausagekingofdelaware.com/
For the Jan. 10 "Eating Clean in 2018" Movable Feast dinner, Scolaro is showcasing a healthy, almost entirely vegan dinner, although salmon is the main course.
"This is really a vegan menu, but I added a protein to it to make it more user-friendly," she says.
"By January, everyone isover all the excesses of the [holiday] season. This new menu is really about healthy fats, immunity boosting and taking out inflammation."
The dinner features various ancient grains such as spelt, farro, quinoa and barley, immunity-boosting foods like pomegranate, and bright, funky and new-to-many flavors like furikake and aquafaba.
Furikake, a dry Japanese seasoning which might be unfamiliar to some Americans, is usually sprinkled on fish, cooked rice and vegetables to give dishes a wallop of umami.
Aquafaba is the thick, viscous liquid from canned beans, usually chickpeas. It's often whipped up and used by vegan cooks as a replacement for eggs and eggs whites in everything from desserts to meringues to mayonnaise.
"I'm trying to stay away from anything mainstream," Scolaro says. "I try to stay a little ahead of what's trending. I'm a New Yorker, I research a lot of stuff. I look at what's hot and what's coming through."
At Movable Feast, the $60 per person meal – seats are still available – starts with a reception featuring a gingered beet dip, sweet potato crisps and a heart-healthy avocado whip. The eatery does not have a liquor license.
Next, Scolaro and her staff will be serving an immunity-encouraging mushroom-miso elixir and walnut-spinach chop-chop.
The main dish is Omega-3 fatty acid friendly wild salmon (known for helping to lower elevated triglyceride levels and fighting inflammation) that will be sprinkled with furikake, the Japanese spice. The fish also will be drizzled with a Vitamin C enriched citrus "powersauce" made with blood oranges and limes.
The plate also will have memory-boosting saffron blended into an ancient grain and French lentil pilaf, and a side of kale, pomegranate and jicama slaw dressed with a simple sweet-and-sour Sicilian agrodolce vinaigrette of raisins and maple syrup.
"The secret to working with kale is to let the vinaigrette wilt it down," Scolaro says. "I'm trying to keep it natural and refined.'
Dessert includes golden coconut chia parfait, cocoa nib clouds thickened with the aquafaba, and date and nut “clean bars" that have no other ingredients.
"At the end of the night, I like it when people say 'I've never had this with this.' I want to twist it enough that people are excited about what they are eating. My heart is into this so much."
Coming in February is a Valentine's themed "lovers dinner." But don't expect the usual surf-and-turf offering.
"I take it another step up," says Scolaro who will likely offer a deconstructed version of steak and lobster.
"I'm like someone who plays music. I don't want to play the same thing twice," the chef says. "I want to have a wow factor."
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Movable Feast offers multi-course, prix-fixe dinners created by Chef Lisa Scolaro the second Wednesday of every month. Tickets, $60 per person, remain for the 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10 "Eating Clean in 2018" meal.
WHERE: 2510 W. Fifth St., Wilmington
INFORMATION: Call (302) 656-8892 or visit http://movablefeastde.com
MORE "AFTER-HOURS" DINNERS: De La Coeur, a French-inspired cafe at 1836 Lovering Ave, Wilmington, holds monthly prix-fixe dinners. Tickets, $80, remain for the 7 p.m. Jan. 19-20 meals. Call (302) 660-7178 or visit http://www.delacoeurcafe.com/
Maiale Deli & Salumeria, 3301 Lancaster Pike, Wilmington, also hosts occasional chef-inspired dinners in the shop. Call (302) 691-5269 or visit http://thesausagekingofdelaware.com/