Is off-season getting shorter, or is it just me?

Last summer I had the pleasure of being interviewed by WBOC-TV regarding the relatively new trend of resort restaurant grand openings during the off-season. Anyone who has braved Coastal Highway in May, September and even October knows that our precious off-season is getting smaller and smaller.

There are a lot of reasons for that. Proponents of beachy activities up and down the Culinary Coast (thank you, Southern Delaware Tourism Inc. for that description) should be applauded for their efforts to promote coastal fun in the spring and fall. There’s Harry K’s Chocolate Festival; the recent (and very successful) Coastal Delaware Restaurant Week; our nationally recognized jazz festivals that fill shops, restaurants and music venues for five days; the Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting; the chilly but always well-attended Polar Plunge ... just to name a few. And the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Sea Witch extravaganza is a massive undertaking that fills downtown Rehoboth in late October as if it were a sunny July weekend. A couple of years ago on that fateful yet spooky weekend I had the pleasure of judging a downtown food-tasting competition. I had to park at Silver Lake - and I live here, for goodness’ sakes!

Back in the late ‘60s when I was bangin’ out rock ‘n’ roll seven nights a week on the OC boardwalk, lavish Thanksgiving and Christmas buffets (not to mention sold-out dinner reservations) in the off-season were unheard of. In fact, you were lucky if you could find anybody open, with the possible exception of Grotto Pizza, the Robin Hood and maybe Pappy’s at First & The Avenue.

WBOC’s crew set up the interview at Bryan Hecksher’s Auto Gallery lot in Lewes. As passing cars on Savannah Road - including a playful ambulance crew - honked their horns during our recording, the interviewer put me on the spot as to why off-season restaurant debuts are no longer the kiss of death. The most obvious answer is that there are simply a lot more full-timers here at the beach. Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean that we stop eating (though perhaps some of us should).

Another reason is that a significant number of our Cape Region food-related businesses have moved into the local and even national spotlight.

The combined efforts of Cape Gazette (both in print and online), local radio, New York’s James Beard Foundation, the Delaware Restaurant Association, Zagat online, all-inclusive travel apps like Rehoboth in my Pocket, along with features in local and regional magazines have all served to rebrand our tiny towns into recognized culinary destinations.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the entrepreneurial efforts of local restaurateurs who dig deep into their pockets to bring dining variety to the beach. One of the most visible is the total transformation of the original Dogfish Head Brewpub into the sipping and noshing complex it is today: complete with a huge outdoor dining space, a built-in brewery for one-offs and Rehoboth-exclusive sips at the new brewpub/entertainment venue, and the twice James Beard-nominated Chesapeake & Maine.

In the last few months or so, you couldn’t throw a rutabaga around here without hitting a grand opening: The Desch Brothers’ Chaps Pit Beef; the newly reimagined Crust & Craft; the cute Playa Bowls downtown and the equally cute (and colorful) Planet Smoothie on the Highway; the Breakfast Guru and Rise Up Coffee Roasters in RB; Zoca in Bethany; Surfin’ Crab’s downtown installation Steamin’ Blues – not to mention the soon-to-open Raas in Lewes, and the actively under-construction Thompson Island Brewery next door to Bluecoast Rehoboth. In fact, just a few weeks ago Warren Rosenfeld opened up his Jewish Deli number 3 at the Salisbury Regional Airport. North of there, Josh Grapski, Rich Garrahan and the La Vida team are hard at work bringing the Crooked Hammock concept to Middletown. And by the end of next week, Raghu and Suraj Kumar’s delightful Indigo Indian Restaurant in Rehoboth will have a sister spot in Columbia, Md.

I love saying, “So many restaurants, so little time!” And it’s even truer now than it was when I first typed it 15 years ago. Our little secret is out: People love coming here to eat. And there’s a lot more to come. So stay tuned.