We were in Wilmington for a basketball game at Cape Fear Community College - which is located right downtown. Thanks to Hilton Honors credit card points, we were able to stay within walking distance of the college and the downtown area at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and headed to a spot that we had discovered, via a friend's recommendation earlier in the winter - the Front Street Brewery http://frontstreetbrewery.com/. We had been to this spot on an earlier visit and we were eager to return. We really enjoyed the microbrews that we had sampled on our first trip. The first time we were there, we sampled five beers as part of a sampling flight. A mutual favorite was a winter brew called "Tiny Tim." If my memory is correct, it is a Vanilla Java Porter. It had an awesome flavor. It is obviously a dark beer with a coffee like taste but, it has some surprising undertone that make this a definite favorite. We were happy to see that is was still available, even this late in the south's "winter" season. I also enjoyed the Riptide Raspberry Wheat brew too. The waitress let me know that I could combine the two but, I kept them separate. We also ordered an appetizer of homemade chips and french onion dip - another favorite from our first visit. It was just as good as we remembered. I then ordered the Gorgonzola Walnut salad - a monstrous offering that is almost perfect - the only changes I would make - ask for a different lettuce - it has a lot of iceberg in it - and hold the tomatoes. The Gorgonzola, apples, candied walnuts and homemade raspberry dressing are superb. I ordered my dressing on the side.
After the game, I was ready to eat again. I was excited to try some seafood. As a Top Chef aficionado, I had hoped to get into season 9 contestant, Keith Rhodes, restaurant Catch. We thought we didn't have enough time to get in though - we will save that for our next trip. We took a friend's recommendation and ventured seven blocks along the beautiful riverwalk from the Hilton Riverside to Elijah's http://elijahs.com/index.php. The atmosphere was awesome, the food was decent. My favorite part of the meal was the Oysters that we ordered as an appetizer. We asked for the Oysters Combo - which included 3 Elijah's style oysters and 3 Rockefeller style oysters. I have not eaten very many oysters in my life and I was a bit nervous - this may only be my third order of oysters ever. These were great. The Elijah's style was right up my alley - they were covered in housemade crab dip. Yum! The Rockefeller oysters were very tasty too - this sampler platter is tops in my oyster book. Entree wise, we ordered Shrimp and Grits and Shrimp and Scallops Elijah. Robbie loved both dishes but was particularly fond of the Shrimp and Grits. Perhaps I had overeaten for the day - I found both dishes to be a bit too heavy for me. Our bartender in the Oyster bar section was great. We enjoyed the experience and I know that Robbie wants to return.
Robbie wanted to hit at least one bar on our walk back to the hotel. We were given a superb recommendation by our waitress to check out the Blue Post. I can't find a website for them but, awesome! This was perhaps the best find of the trip - even though we enjoyed every single stop. This bar had it all - ambiance, a great microbrew selection (key for us), lots of entertainment (pool tables, an large arcade area and darts). The decor was perfect for us. We picked up two microbrews - Allagash White on draft and Well's Banana Bread Beer (bottled). We placed them on an antique radio stand while we played darts on a weathered brick wall barside. Overlooking our darts game, was a table peeking in from the inside "alleyway" part of the bar that splits the bar/billiards/dart area and the upper arcade area. This place was definitely awesome. We highly recommend it. Although I don't get HBO, we were told that scenes from the show Eastbound and Down are shot in this bar.
Our last spot for the trip was The Dixie Grill. Again, I don't have a link for this but, it is right on Market Street and not far, again, from our hotel. A Hilton employee made this recommendation. We were in line for about 20 minutes before getting two seats at the bar. It was well worth the wait. Speaking of the wait, the waitstaff was calm, cool and collected, despite having hungry people on their hands. They all smiled and seemed to really enjoy working there. As we waited, we watched plates of pancakes and belgian waffles go by. The waffles looked extremely good garnished with fresh strawberries, blackberries and whipped cream. Despite the amount of waffles flying by, we both chose more savory options. We decided to split Huevos Rancheros and one of the daily specials, the Cornbeef Hash Omelet. They were both superb choices. The tortilla chips with the Huevos and the hashbrowns with the omelet were both seasoned with the same spices. The hashbrowns were flavorful enough to make me skip out on ketchup. The Cornbeef Hash was homemade and tasty. The Huevos had steaktips throughout. The omelet also came with a tasty biscuit. We thoroughly enjoyed this brunch.
Okay - that is one heck of a post for my inaugural run. We hope you check out these spots on your next trip to downtown Wilmington. After eating all of this, I wish the weather would have been better. I could have used a few more walks or runs along the beautiful riverfront/riverwalk.
