Valentine's Day dinner deals from Ocean City to Rehoboth to Lewes
Taylor Goebel
Can't cook a five-course dinner — let alone a single meal — but still want to participate in this month's romanticized holiday? Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to get glamorous and wine and dine with that special someone (or with friends, or alone).
Here are some restaurants up and down the coast offering Valentine's Day specials and fixed menus. Disclaimer: Lots of butter-poached, sauce-laden and chocolate-covered goodies to follow.
Ocean City
Longboard Cafe
Where: 6701 Coastal Highway
What to expect: A seafood-packed menu featuring salmon carpaccio, scallop creme brulee and blackened barramundi. For those not so aquatically inclined, Longboard also offers 1/2 duck with garlic mash and petite filet mignon with a red wine and balsamic mushroom saute. For dessert: triple chocolate brownie mousse stack (five words sure to tug at any chocolate lover's heartstrings). A white chocolate truffle tart with lemon curd and cinnamon toast bread pudding is also offered. Choose three dishes from the four-course menu.
Pricing and reservations: Guests can choose three out of four courses offered for $35. The fixed menu will run Feb. 9-11 and on Valentine's Day. Call 443-664-5639 to make a reservation.
The Shark on the Harbor
Where: 12924 Sunset Ave.
What to expect: A complimentary glass of champagne for any Valentine's Day guests and a gift for all couples who make a reservation.
Pricing and reservations: No fixed menu, but call 410-213-0924 to make a reservation for Valentine's Day. Reservations made by Monday, Feb. 5, guarantee a gift.
Ristorante Antipasti
Where: 3101 Philadelphia Ave.
What to expect: The classic Italian restaurant is reopening for the season on Thursday, Feb. 8, and will have fresh-made pasta, including heart-shaped ravioli for Valentine's Day.
Pricing and reservations: No fixed menu, but call 410-289-4588 to make a reservation for Valentine's Day.
Fager's Island
Where: 201 60th St.
What to expect: A four-course dinner paired with a jazzed-up performance by Bryan Clark.
Pricing and reservations: $40 fixed menu offered on Valentine's Day. Call 410-524-5500 to make a reservation.
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Rehoboth Beach/Millsboro
The Clubhouse at Baywood
Where at: 32267 Clubhouse Way, Millsboro
What to expect: Four special courses prepared just for Valentine's Day, including a pan-seared, 12-ounce Wagyu strip steak (intensely marbled, from a highly sought-after breed of Japanese beef cattle) and butter-poached lobster tails with crab-and-brie twice-baked potatoes. Guests can get their sweet-and-salty fix from a dark chocolate terrine with salted peanut toffee and peanut butter-raspberry-swirl ice cream.
Pricing and reservations: No fixed menu, but call 302-947-9225 or email events@baywoodclubhouse.com to make a reservation. Special courses are offered on Valentine's Day. Wooers don't need to dine in to order roses — $15 for a single rose, $40 for half a dozen and $75 for a dozen.
Chesapeake & Maine
Where: 316 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach
What to expect: Think classic spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp but with a loaded seafood tower instead. It's perfect for sharing and steeped with chilled lobster, pomegranate scallop ceviche, chilled marinated mussels and oysters.
Pricing and reservations: The tower is $40 and offered on Valentine's Day. Call 302-226-3600 to make a reservation.
Blackwall Hitch
Where: 52 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach
What to expect: A four-course dinner, including dessert, with options to choose from each course offering. It's a diverse menu: Mango and beet salad, oysters topped with cucumber salsa and caviar, heritage bred chicken with butternut squash risotto and crispy ham, and veal chop topped with merlot butter are some of Blackwall Hitch's takes on classic dishes.
Pricing and reservations: $65 per person. Menu offered exclusively on Valentine's Day for dinner and along with a full menu on Feb. 15-17. Call 302-226-0550 to make a reservation.
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Lewes
The Buttery
Where: 102 2nd St.
What to expect: Voted most romantic restaurant in Delaware by Delish, the Buttery will offer a four-course meal plus dessert. To start, oysters from around the world are prepared in a trio of variations. Included in the main courses are pesto-encrusted salmon, mint and rosemary infused New Zealand lamb, and a classic filet mignon. Perhaps most intriguing is the world of chocolate dessert: "hard, soft and creamy, chocolate done every way."
Pricing and reservations: $69 per person plus gratuity for Valentine's Day. Reservations are requested, so call 302-645-7755.
Big Oyster Brewery
Where: 1007 Kings Highway
What to expect: A simple three-course menu with kicked-up savor: The spinach avocado salad is finished with smoked almonds and a cilantro Parmesan dressing. The pork ribeye obtains liquid assets with a bacon cherry wine vinaigrette and pork au jus. The brewery keeps it classic with dessert, which includes homemade chocolate lava cake and chocolate-covered strawberries. Perfect for a hopped-up date night.
Pricing and reservations: $40 per person for the fixed menu on Valentine's Day. No reservations.
Fish On
Where at: 17300 N Village Main Blvd.
What to expect: A fixed, five-course dinner, each dish (including dessert) expertly paired with wines from Spain and South America. A sommelier will be on hand to educate guests on each wine and its pairing. Expect stuffed crab claws, five-spiced roasted beets with hibiscus and lavender and grilled flank steak with chorizo papas bravas.
Pricing and Reservations: $59 per person for the fixed menu on Valentine's Day. Call 302-645-9790 or email billy@sodelconcepts.com to make a reservation.