October 12, 2024 Brunch - Lax and cream cheese, red onion, and avocado bagels. Lunch - Trolley Square Oyster House. Dinner - The Garden at Bardea, Wilmington, Del.
We woke up at 3:30 to shower and dress for the flight to Philadelphia.
I toasted three slices of bagels and spread cream cheese on them and then layered slices of avocado, red onion, and Gravad lax and wrapped them. We ate them on our flight to Chicago, where we changed planes to finish the trip to Philadelphia.
When we arrived in Philadelphia we picked up our rental car and drove to the Trolley Square oyster House. We ordered six oysters on the half-shell, two each of which and a small plate of deep fried oysters and two Sam Adams’ Oktoberfest Ale.
All the raw oysters were fresh and had unique flavors served with three ramikens, a cocktail sauce, a Mignonette, and one filled with horseradish. Each oyster tasted a little different and we loved the fried oysters with tartare sauce.
After oysters and beer we drove to the BNB but without a breakfast and we obtained. Its last room, being the low ceilinged servant’s bedrooms on the third floor.
At 6:45 we drove to Bardea at 620 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE in downtown Wilmington and were shown to our table in the Garden section at 7:30. There are three sections to the restaurant the original corner bistro section that tends to produce haute cuisine, the newer garden section between the two restaurants in buildings and the southern building, described by our waiter as having a more steakhouse menu.
We ordered two dishes that were served in all three venues, a whole baked Branzino that had been brined, rubbed with Mediterranean herbs and baked. It was tender white meat but a bit boney. The other dish we ordered was the house salad, which was an expanded Caesar salad with roasted almond spears and a gourmet blend of lettuces added to the tradional chopped romaine hearts. We loved both dishes and they were more than we could eat. Our wine was also wonderful. We selected a Vouvray Chenin Blanc for $64.00, which was among the cheapest wines on the menu, and it was wonderfully fruit forward with a touch more acidity and a touch less citrus than most other Vouvrays, but as it opened up the flavors shifted back toward less acidity and it became more mellow.
I must comment on the strategy of Bardea. It has grown in size and expanded its menu to include lots of lower end dishes, such as pizzas, fresh fries, a hamburger, and a BBQ appetizer that offers a less than haute cuisine diner lots of less expensive options, but in a fine dining atmosphere. Younger diners mostly all around us were eating pizza and French fries.
It reminded me of the wonderful old 1864 restaurant we ate in Zaragoza, Spain, many years ago where we ate one of the best suckling pigs I have ever eaten where there was a table of ladies near our table who ordered a baked potato for 2 Euros each while we were spending 70 or 80 Euros on our meal.
After we all the fish and most of the salad our waiter said, “You did well.”
We finished the wine and drove back to the ABNB in New Castle around 10:00 and went to bed.
Bon Appetit
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