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May 17, 2005
A Return to Simpler Pleasures
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE -- May 17
In contrast to previous days' adventures, the highlights of today's excursion tended to happen more off the bike than on it. There was still some good scenery, most notably the trip through Maryland's Ocean City and the jaunt across (and over and through) Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. But today was mostly about great food and drink discoveries at the right times.
The agenda of the morning was to push for Chesapeake, Virginia, in pursuit of BBQ and Ribs Co., which the third and latest location of a widely-regarded institution of Eastern-NC style barbecue. That it would be right on Battlefield Blvd, which is the main N/S arterial into the tri-city area from the tips of North Carolina just made it all the more convenient. After a fairly serene and cloudless morning of finishing off the Outer Banks and crossing over the bridge back onto the mainland, I arrived just before noon to a completely full BBQ and Ribs parking lot.
Clearly this was a place that did brisk business. Once I snatched a spot from a departing car, I jumped right into the bustling fray inside. This is the kind of joint where you line up to order your meal at the counter, pay, get a number, and 10 minutes later someone will be walking around the main dining area bearing a tray with your feast while shouting out your number.
Although I've known Eastern NC BBQ is all about the pork, sheer greed for carnage variety ultimately tempted me into ordering a rib-chicken combo platter instead of a more purist rib-pulled-pork pairing. As with much barbecue chicken at shacks that serve as much and as rapidly as this place, the white meat was the taddest bit too dry. But everything else -- from the ribs to the housemade potato salad to the thin and crispy hushpuppies to the myriad of authentic sauces (and red sludge for those who can't deal with the minimalism of vinegar-based Eastern Carolina heaven) -- was great.
After leaving with a revitalized belly, I set out for what was sure to be the scenic highlight of the day. The only previous experience I had with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was riding through it on my way to college, in the pouring muddy rain. Needless to say, this trip was much more rewarding. I pulled off at the public-access pier right before the first tunnel, and almost got Diana stuck in the steeply downgrading parking spots against the stone wall and fence that leads to the water.
Through 20 miles of open water on either side of me, I made it onto the tiny finger of Virginia known as the Eastern Shore. I recalled from my previous trip up this peninsula 10 years back that this isn't the most exciting part of the country by any stretch unless you happen to own a nice beach house on Chincoteague island. But the weather was beautiful, the road not too crowded, and Diana was purring along happily getting excellent gas mileage.
Virginia soon became Maryland, and another 30 miles inland there came the fork in the road where US 113 splits off towards Ocean City. I took this route in order to enjoy some more beachfront vacation towns, and there is a nice highway that connects this with the Delaware Beaches where I planned to stay tonight. Ocean City was very beautiful, and I thought quite seriously about staying here instead had there been any extremely enticing place advertising free internet. I did stop and walk the boardwalk briefly to get some nice pictures.
A few miles after Ocean City faded away behind me, I crossed the Delaware border and soon found myself in Dewey Beach. From the road I spotted a bookstore that proclaimed "internet! books! coffee!" I promptly made a hard left into the parking lot and entered a lovely little independent bookstore run by a charming pair of elderly lesbians. I had arrived just in time for a fresh batch of coffee, and I soon booked a Holiday Inn Express that would put me about a mile from the business district of Rehoboth Beach. Waiting there for me was a place I had really hoped to make a pilgrimage to, but wasn't sure if the timing of my trip home would put me in this area for a night's stay.
I've been an enthusiastic drinker of Dogfish Head beers ever since I discovered their Chicory Stout years and years ago when I first became a beer afficionado, and have since made a point to try every seasonal variety they put out including the legendary World Wide Stout (a whopping 23% abv, it sips like a nice port) and the many extreme IPAs they've done over the years. Whlie planning this trip, I realized that they run a brewpub and restaurant right in Rehoboth Beach in addition to the main bottling and fermenting facility further inland in Delaware.
It took a few haphazard U-turns on the busy Route 1 expanse before I found the Holiday Inn express, but soon I was parked for the night, checked in, and happily walking across the 8 lanes of traffic to the spur street that would take me to the restaraunt. I must say Rehoboth Beach (and the whole greater Dewey Beach / Ocean City area) is a charming little swatch of beach towns, that almost comes off like a less crazy Jersey shore. A nice 15 minute walk past a traffic circle with a cute miniature lighthouse put me right in front of the brewpub.
Once inside, I met Josh the bar manager. As soon as he realized I was a fan from out of town, he began to chat at length about the crazy brewmaster who now ran Dogfish Head's operations. Apparently the guy's career spanned many stints at major distributors which left him the infamy of being behind atrocities like Coors Aspen Edge and Zima before landing with regional breweries that made real beer.
Before long, I was getting free samples of their in-house distillery offerings including very interesting flavor-distilled (not infused) vodkas that sipped well off the shot and a fiery young rum that was drinkable despite its early aging. Over a plate of mussels and a rockfish entree broiled with sundried tomatoes and bacon, I embarked on a long session of the current tap offerings that culiminated in the amazing Forte. This fruit beer is almost the lambic answer to World Wide Stout, pouring at a 20% abv and hitting with a deep golden bite that is never too fruity and has a nice sourness. It took the better part of an hour to finish this final glass, but it marked the perfect end to an evening.
Or was it? As I prepared to get the check and leave, Josh insisted I check out the upstairs distillery and small-batch brewing lab once he was done with a few other customers. A few minutes later, and I got a nice tour of the upstairs operations. It really was a shame the brewmaster wasn't around, but Tuesday is apparently one of his few nights off. After snapping many pictures and saying my goodbyes, it was time to stagger home and collapse with enough sleep to catch tomorrow's ferry ride to New Jersey.
Here's the gallery for today:
No playlist, iTunes ate it.
Posted by Todd at May 17, 2005 11:24 PM