at Chez La Mer. We went on Monday, when all wines on the very nice wine list are 1/2 price. I wanted to get the '96 Dom for $110, but the couple with us didn't seem too interested, so I am saving that as an excuse to go back soon. Instead we started with a Domaine Chandon NV Blanc de Noirs, which was pleasant enough after a few minutes in the glass. Then we had a 2002 Vincent Girardin Pommard Les Vignots and a 1988 Gruaud Larose. The Vignots had lots of briary fruit and flowers on the nose and palate. The Gruaud Larose was quite enjoyable. Lots of bricking, very dusty and leathery on the nose. It was a little too tight immediately after the bottle was opened, but opened up very nicely over the 2 hours it was consumed. Both reds were excellent and the young burgundy and the older bordeaux made a great contrast. We finished with an unremarkable bottle of vin santo whose name I do not recall. All four bottles came in at $110

The food was very good. I got the cream of crab soup, house-made pate (a HUGE portion - most of it became today's lunch), tenderloin with red wine and white truffles, and a molten chocolate cake with black cherry ice cream. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly. Other favorites at the table were the steamed whole lobster and the escargot in a red burgundy sauce.

The wine service seemed good. The wine list had about 120 bottles, the sommelier (also the maitre-d) was very knowledgable about the list. The stems were okay. My only gripe is that our waitress (who obviously knew nothing about wine) was given the job of opening the wine and immediately butchered the cork on the 88 Gruaud Larose. After a few subtle hints from me she went and got the sommelier to do it.

Anyway, one of the best dining values I can recall having. 4 people, 4 bottles of wine, 4 courses each, tax and tip ~ $300. This place will definitely become a regular stop for us.

Also worth mentioning is the Cultured Pearl Sushi restuarant. A great early, early supper (before the big meal) was one of each of the day's sashimi specials: bluefin toro, bluefin tuna, live scallop, marinated spanish mackeral, and a cold triple tomato and lump bluecrab soup. The sushi was divine.

Glad to hear Chez La Mer is still in its form. I was thinking it'd been slipping over the last year or two, but perhaps they have engineered a turnaround enough to keep it on its course. And I love 1/2 price Mondays! Also, both you and dinwiddie have now tried the Cultured Pearl. Maybe I will have to give it a whirl then.

I also am glad to hear the Chez La Mer is living up to it's reputation. The last time I went (last summer) we had a much less than enjoyable meal. Did you eat on the porch or deck, and if so, do they still use those stupid plastic chairs?

If you haven't been, try Eden and the Back Porch, both were very enjoyable and at Eden they did not charge any corkage because the wine I brought was not on their list.

We looked at the outside porch upstairs, but thought it didn't look very nice. We got a window seat inside, instead, with real chairs.

Thanks for the Back Porch info. We have Eden and Zafe Zeus on tap for our next visit in a few months. Will add Back Porch to that list, too.

In laws have a place at Bethany and the only place they go in Rehoboth is the Back Porch. I have had about 50/50 very good/so-so meals there. One person at our table ordered a Kaluha and Cream (a ??? in itself) and they brought her a Kaluha and Cranberry (major yuck and ???)

Thanks for the other recs - I look forward to trying some other places!

I go to RB in a few weeks and we'll be heading to Back Porch, Fusion, Chez La Mer for dinners. Will try to hit Eden for lunch the last day. Not enough time for Cultured Pearl, but you never know.

Went Lewes, Delaware ( just North of Rehoboth) over the weekend an had dinner at a new place called “Fish On”. It’s in the Village of Five Points, 17300 North Village Main Blvd. In Lewes. The first thing that struck me was that the wine list was as long as the food menu, a perfect ratio in my book! My meal; Center cut beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, wild mushroom veal stock reduction and roasted asparagus. Everything was cooked to perfection. The wine was a 2000 Coriole Mary Kathleen Cab/Merlot an was reasonably priced @ $48 and paired excellently with the meal.

There are really only a few gems on the wine list (I’m told this will be growing in time for next summer), but everything, wine and food, is very reasonably priced. I’ll be heading back in the fall and will report more at that time.

Ended up going to Back Porch, Eden and Chez La Mer. Will report with more details later. All three were really good.

I'll have to check with Mrs. TJ for more details and mymemory sucks....but--

Back Porch was nice, it was a bit noisy and wasn't even really crowded or at capacity. There was this guy playing the guitar quite well for background music, and I wished I could have only heard it a bit better. The waitress was nice, but took a bit too long to clear our plates between courses IMO. I wished we had the waitress from the next station over as she was quite efficient. The food was quite delicious though.

Eden seems to have moved from their main drag location to a much better two story location one block north of the main drag (Baltimore Ave?) less than a block from the ocean. Very well laid out and nice. We wished one of the booth with gauzy curtains had been free so we could have dined in there instead of at a regular table. AThe regular tables are fine and quite nice, we just would have preferred the even better booths. The waitstaff there is excellent. Very knowledgable about the menu and the wine list and they help each other out on their stations. Great food. This place easily gets the nod over Back Porch, IMO. And Back Porch was very nice.

Chez La Mer has indeed returned to form. The waitress there was relatively new and was getting up to speed on the wine list, but she knew the menu. Made a minor mistake by bringing the wrong dish to Mrs. TJ, but this was forgiveable, IMO. I had the bouillabaise (sp?) here and it is wonderful. Everything was great. Mrs. TJ gives the nod to Chez La Mer, but I think it's a toss up between Eden and Chez La Mer.

More on the foodstuffs and wine later. My only other regret is that we didn't get to dine at Fusion this time. It'd been a regular for us for several years, but we only had so much time. Espuma looks to be on the list next time as well, and even the Cultured Pearl.

I forgot to mention -- corkage fees.

Chez La Mer $15 (did not bring any)
Back Porch -- $5/person/bottle
Eden -- $0 if not on their list!!