Wilmington food hall brings sushi, pho, chicken and waffles to city
Chicken and waffles, Indian chaat, Vietnamese pho and sushi from a local restaurant veteran are among dishes that will be offered at the new Wilmington food hall opening April 18 in the DuPont Building.
Other chef-tenants include a pastry shop from the Hotel du Pont, a pizzeria from a James Beard Award nominee, a smoothie stall and a pop-up eatery serving barbecue made by a city brewery owner.
DECO is the newly renovated, 13,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the historic DuPont Building at 10th and Orange streets.
The project is a joint operation from The Buccini/Pollin Group and Seawall Development Corp., which operates the Baltimore food hall, R. House. The site, under construction for more than a year, cost about $4 million.
The name DECO is an abbreviated version of “Delaware Collective." Guests will be able to visit chef-led kitchens and order directly from each one. Costs for food will range from about $8 to $12.
The space, featuring a modern-deco design, will have a variety of tables and an atrium bar serving cocktails, wine and beer. It will be open daily.
Peter DiPrinzio, DECO project manager from Seawall Development Corp., said while there were early rumors about celebrity chefs running some of the stalls – Philadelphia restaurateur Jose Garces and Boston chef Todd English were names that were tossed around early in the project – "that was never the plan."
"We set out to find chefs that wanted to expand or do their first brick-and-mortar," he said. "We got tons and tons of responses."
DiPrinzio said the chosen chefs, who have signed 2- and 5-year leases, represent both culinary and geographical diversity. He said developers selected a mix of operators from Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wilmington.
Some chefs chosen had already been involved in previous pop-up, or short-term, operations at the R. House in Baltimore, DiPrinzio said.
Who are the chefs?
• Al Chu’s Sushi marks the return of the longtime Wilmington sushi chef who made his mark at Mikimotos on nearby Washington Street.
In recent years, Chef Chu has been working at The Wellwood in Charlestown, Maryland. Al Chu’s Sushi will feature a nine-seat sushi bar. Selections will include sushi rolls, sashimi and Chu's take on Hawaiian poke bowls.
• Spark’d, a pastry shop from the Hotel du Pont will be led by Executive Pastry Chef Leah Steinberger. It will specialize in baked goods, coffee and special-occasion cakes and serve La Colombe coffees.
• Connie’s Chicken & Waffles. This Baltimore favorite was founded by brothers Khari and Shawn Parker, who named the business after their mother. It started as a pop-up at R. House.
They will offer a signature chicken sandwich, shrimp and waffles and The Baltimore Chicken Box, fried chicken and seasoned fries. Waffle flavors range from classic buttermilk to red velvet to Oreo cookie to Crunchberry.
• Pizzeria Bardea is a spin-off of the Bardea Food & Drink restaurant at the corner of Seventh and Market streets. The restaurant, owned by Scott Stein and Antimo DiMeo, was a semifinalist this year for a James Beard Award for the country's Best New Restaurant.
The pizzeria will offer a variety of salads and Neapolitan-inspired pies, including the salsiccia pizza made with fresh mozzarella, Berkshire sausage, English peas, red onion and gouda.
• Phubs will specialize in Southeastern Asian delights such as made-to-order Vietnamese pho and banh-mi. Owners Paul and Chuong Nguyen also are planning to serve rice bowls, spring rolls and bubble tea. Phubs started as a popular pop-up site at the Baltimore food hall.
• The Verandah, run by Amit and Radhika Sule, is an Indian street food outpost for samosas, kabab wraps, chaats, parathas and tikka masala Amit Sule started a food stand in a Baltimore farmers market 10 years ago with his wife, Radhika, who wanted to recreate the foods and flavors that she grew up eating in India.
• Stripp’d, from Philadelphia, will offer smoothies, cold-pressed juices, acai bowls, salads, sandwiches and oatmeal.
• The Pop-Up, or Test Kitchen, will serve as a home to a rotating roster of chef-tenants. The chefs will change biweekly to monthly throughout the year. The first tenant will be Wilmington chef/restaurateur Dan Sheridan who runs Locale BBQ Post on Lincoln Street and Stitch House Brewery on Market Street. Sheridan plans to focus on barbecue sandwiches and sides.
"It's something we launched in Baltimore, it's certainly a lot of work", said DiPrinzio, who added, "it's also a really great way to get chefs that don't have $1 million to open their own restaurant."
He said developers have already lined up more chefs to run the pop-up at DECO. "The first couple months of the pop-up are already full," DiPrinzio said.
DECO Bar
When you first enter DECO, the first thing you see is the bar facing Orange Street.
At 25 feet, the impressive structure certainly catches the eye.
The second floor of the 96-year-old DuPont Building surrounding the bar was removed, creating a soaring atrium.
The wow factor came with a hefty price tag.
DiPrinzio of Seawall Development Corp. estimates the cost alone of removing the second floor was about $500,000.
The bar's top is made with white marble re-purposed from hallways in the upper floors of the building, DiPrinzio said.
Above the bar is an expansive decorative wooden structure made by Chester, Pennsylvania-based American Wood Design that stretches from the bar to the second-floor ceiling.
If you're a regular at Wilmington Riverfront’s Constitution Yards Beer Garden, expect to see many of the same bartenders at DECO Bar, since DECO is managed by the same company: Connecticut-based Imian Partners.
There will be 10 beers on tap with an assortment of liquor and wine also available, DiPrinzio said.
"Since we're called DECO for Delaware Collective, it's collaborative, so we want the bar to collaborate with the [restaurants] to create drinks built to be paired with their food," he said.
Live music, too
Since DECO will be open day and night, expect to see live music, especially in the evening.
In its first week, musical acts booked by Wilmington's Gable Music Ventures will fill the hall with the sounds of local Delaware acts.
Don't expect to see rock bands rattling the ground floor, especially during the dinner hour. Instead, there will be acoustic and smaller, stripped-down acts such as trios with the volume perhaps increasing in the late-night hours.
According to DiPrinzio, it has not been determined who will book music at DECO permanently.
"We will have an entire calendar of events," he said, hinting that more interactive entertainment options such as trivia or video game nights.
Those sounds should waft out several large mechanical windows that were being installed along 10th Street earlier this week.
(Think mini versions of the garage doors that open onto Delaware Avenue at Trolley Tap House in Wilmington's Trolley Square.)
There will be outdoor seating along 10th street just below the windows and the right lane of 10th Street, which has been closed to traffic for the past year due to construction. It will remain closed, expanding the sidewalk in the space and allowing for more diners, DiPrinzio adds.
There will be free validated parking after 5 p.m. at the Colonial parking garage at 12th and Orange streets.
When will it open?
The food hall, bar and event space will open at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 18, with celebratory events and "surprises" until midnight April 19.
The grand opening party will feature live music, giveaways, entertainment for kids and families, a photo booth and food and drink available for purchase from all eight DECO vendors.
Regular hours
DECO will be open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and bar service, weekdays starting at 7 a.m. and closing at 11 p.m., with extended hours on weekends.
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico.
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).