Longtime entrepreneurs’ legacy of unique dining by the ocean

One of the itineraries on the Eating Rehoboth restaurant tours takes us down Wilmington Avenue toward the beach. When I am the guide, I love to stop at the vacant lot that used to play host to La La Land restaurant and bar. Surprisingly, many of the 17 or so tour guests remember this iconic spot. La La Land holds so many memories for so many people. And that glittering spot surrounded by bubbles on a warm summer evening isn’t the only restaurant that people associate with good times past.

To the average vacationer, Rehoboth Beach is an exuberant Oz, where ribbons of umbrellas flutter in the sand, taffy-chewin’ tourists stroll the Boardwalk, and restaurants somehow appear (and disappear) with no apparent consequence. What they don’t see are the talented businesspeople behind the scenes, many of whom gambled their livelihoods to bring excitement to this tiny town long before it was what it is today.

So who are these Rehoboth wizards working so hard to bring quality food and drink to the beach? Any list would certainly include Dominick Pulieri (Grotto Pizza); Joyce Felton, Victor Pisapia, Keith Fitzgerald, Leo Medisch and Marilyn Spitz (Blue Moon and Back Porch); Chip Hearn (Country Squire, Starboard, Peppers); Gus Svolis (Gus & Gus’ Place); Louie, Tim and Tony Gouvas (Louie’s Pizza); Kevin Reading (Espuma, Nage); the late Matt Haley (his legacy is currently 12 busy SoDel Concepts eateries); Joan and Nick Caggiano (Nicola Pizza); Susan Wood (Cultured Pearl); Yolanda Pineda (Mariachi); the late Rob Stitt (the original Eden and Shorebreak Lodge); Joe Zuber and Darryl Ciarlante (Dos Locos) … there are so many more, but paper is paper, and I’m allowed only so much of it.

This gastronomic hall of fame also includes London-born Alison Blyth. Armed with her degree from the London College of Fashion, the last thing on that 19-year-old’s mind was dropping cod filets into a fryer. For three years she managed a hair salon in Bermuda, dreaming of a career in theatrical makeup. Around 1980, she moved to Washington, D.C., to cut hair at a salon on Capitol Hill that was adjacent to the quirky (and long gone) Two Quail restaurant. It was there that she met Houston Vaughan.

One of the partners at Two Quail owned Astral Plane, a tiny eatery in a tiny town called Rehoboth Beach. Who wouldn’t want to work near the ocean? And Alison did just that, until Sydney Arzt moved Side Street Café out of 22 Wilmington Ave. and morphed Astral Plane into her Cajun-flavored blues club.

The potential of 22 Wilmington was not lost on Houston, Alison and her roommate Vinci Panzella. A pair of windowed buildings encircled a cozy courtyard and garden, bounded to the south by a free-standing kitchen. Blyth imported Robert Carney from his garde manger position at Washington, D.C.’s posh Shoreham Hotel, and they were off and running. The kitchen was relocated to the west building, and the courtyard structure became the La La Land bar (where leopard-spotted mixologist David Engel held court nightly). It was barely 10 weeks before they were voted Best Restaurant in Delaware.

The partners sold La La Land in ’94. Connections were made, ideas were hatched, dollars were spent, and Alison eventually partnered up with Steve Webster (Coffee Mill) to turn Savannah’s at 39 Wilmington into a pan-Asian bistro called Yum Yum.

In the winter of 2002, accompanied by her very young son (now in college!), Alison and a former co-worker at Astral Plane purchased 24 Rehoboth Ave. converting Joe’s Italian Ice into the British-accented fish ‘n’ chips carryout, Go Fish! Late 2002 saw the demise of Yum Yum, and on July 4, 2003, Go Fish! became a full-service restaurant. Alison was finally home.

Business increased so rapidly that she created a franchise-friendly version of her fish ‘n’ chips shop out on Coastal Highway. Go Brit!’s menu mirrors that of the downtown mothership, but with casual counter service. You can’t miss it – it’s the place with the bright red British phone booth doors right across the street from Bethany Blues Lewes.

When she opened Go Brit!, Alison’s flyer proclaimed, “More British are coming!” but the truth of the matter is that this particular Brit had been working tirelessly right here in Rehoboth for many years. And she certainly earned her success in this business of eating at the beach.