Mexican restaurant in Dewey joins a year-round trend

By the time Sirveza, a Dewey Beach restaurant with a penchant for Mexican dishes, opened July 28, owner Maria D'Ambrogi had one last hurrah before the summer season ended.

"It would have been nice if we could have opened a little sooner," D'Ambrogi said of the joint's kickoff, "but we certainly did really well as soon as the doors opened."

No sweat if Sirveza was in Baltimore, a city full of year-round restaurants and residents, and where D'Ambrogi moved from. The former catering business owner knew the resort area slowed with the coming school year and temperature drop, but she hadn't realize by just how much, despite locals coming out of hibernation. 

Shortening hours (Sirveza is now closed on Tuesdays), offering specials — something D'Ambrogi learned was "huge" in the offseason, and busting out fresh, homemade food are a few of Sirveza's tactics to not freeze over this winter. 

The space, a corner lot near Hammerheads and Gary's, is colored in cherry red and turquoise. A donkey-shaped light strand hangs over a couch further down the bar, past a working jukebox.

The place is named after D'Ambrogi's great grandfather, Sir, who she said "never met a stranger."

"Everyone was always welcome in our house," she remembered, sitting at the bar munching on her signature nachos. "That's how we wanted this place to feel."

The viking ship bowl of nachos at Sirveza is not the Yellow 5 liquid sold at movie theaters, or the melted-then-re-hardened abomination of microwaves.

No, these nachos — what one Facebook user called "da bomb" — have fresh cheese in melted, shredded and crumbly queso form. They are covered with meat like brisket or veggie options like cauliflower. Pickled cabbage lends a crunchy, acidic finish.

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Many of the recipes D'Ambrogi uses come either from Mexican chefs back in Baltimore or friends whose grandmothers let her in on some delicious family secrets. 

"We have won over guacamole snobs from around the world who say ours is as good as it gets," D'Ambrogi said. 

On those authentic, homegrown recipes: "We’ve had some people say, 'Oh my gosh, this tastes just like my grandmother’s' and we’ve had other people say, 'This isn’t at all what it should be,' " she said. 

Sirveza is known for its margaritas, from spicy peach and jalapeno to watermelon. Pumpkin pie sangria, snickerdoodle martinis and horchata have also made bar-side appearances.

When D'Ambrogi's brother showed her the space last December, she didn't know MezCali Taqueria, another Mexican restaurant, was in the works. It didn't phase her though.

"We were always going to make it a Mexican place," she said. "There wasn’t any other place in the area (at the time) and all of us love Mexican."

Besides, she joked, there are a bunch of pizza and sub places in town, "and they all seem to be doing well."

D'Ambrogi will play with soups this winter, offering a white bean chicken tortilla soup with zingy tomatillo, an award-winning recipe a friend gave her.

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Tacos and quesadillas are a given for the menu, but D'Ambrogi said she wants to start experimenting with fusion — maybe a pho burrito for a taste of Vietnam. 

More and more restaurants in Dewey are staying open year-round, what locals say is a sign of how much the town has changed. 

"It surprises people that the food's gotten much better," town commissioner Paul Bauer said.

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"It is fact that the rising tide floats all boats," longtime Starboard owner Steve "Monty" Montgomery said, sitting inside his restaurant. "When no businesses are open, nobody's in town." 

A few workers were scrubbing the Starboard down with bleach and prepping for the restaurant's annual Halloween costume party on Oct. 27. Montgomery keeps a third of the place open in the winter from Thursday to Sunday in what he dubbed the Shark Tank. 

He estimates there are now eight to 10 businesses in Dewey that are open year-round. Part of the success is in the food, he said.

"Everyone calls it 'bar town, bar town, bar town.' The reality is there’s only one bar in Dewey Beach, and that’s the Bottle & Cork," he said. "Everybody else is technically a restaurant. And everyone else is serving a lot of food, and a lot more food than we used to."

When Montgomery first started working in Dewey over 25 years ago, he'd rent out more umbrellas for people to put over their kegs than they would to cover themselves. 

"Right now is what Dewey Beach wanted 30 years ago," he said, pointing to the town's still-vibrant party reputation, nightlife, volleyball and dogs on the beach, culinary momentum and family-friendly events. "It’s kind of like freedom down here."