Cultured Pearl set to expand outdoor dining patio
Rehoboth Beach commissioners have approved an amended permit of compliance and a supplemental permit of compliance for The Cultured Pearl that pave the way for a new look inside the restaurant and an expansion of its outdoor dining.
Located at 301 Rehoboth Ave., on the former site of Quillen’s Hardware, the Cultured Pearl is entering its 33rd season. Owner Susan Wood spoke briefly at the meeting. She said she likes to change things around at the restaurant every few years because it keeps customers and staff interested.
“Nobody wants to look at the same thing,” said Wood.
Wood said she first approached the city in September about moving her bar 10 feet to address issues related to leaking. She then decided to add more work to the project because the city told her she was going to have to go through the whole permit-of-compliance process again anyway, she said.
Wood said she changed the seating on the patio because code was changed to allow 1,000 square feet of outdoor dining, up from 750, a few years ago.
According to a report from Corey Shinko, the city’s interim director of building and licensing, the seating for the outdoor dining will increase from 60 seats to 102.
Wood said she expected all the work to be done by Thursday, May 1.
As part of the approval, a condition was set that the restaurant has to keep the door to its air-conditioned trash room, which faces Sussex Street, closed except for when the trash is being taken away.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
