Hoda Kotb helps cut ribbon at Go Brit!

Lewes’ newest fish and chip shop kicked off the season in style with NBC Today morning show host Hoda Kotb cutting the ribbon April 7.

Kotb is a loyal customer of Go fish! - the sister restaurant also owned by Alison Blyth. She offered her best wishes for another successful restaurant operation.

“Alison runs the finest restaurant in the area, and we love talking about it,” Kotb said, while in coastal Delaware with her family for the Easter weekend.

The Go Brit! fish + chip shop is Blyth’s first step toward her long-held dream of creating a franchise that promotes Britain’s most popular dishes. Her first British eatery, Go Fish! in Rehoboth Beach, has experienced success since opening in 2002. With her passion for authenticity and consistency, Blyth has won over locals, visitors and even the toughest restaurant critics.

Kotb frequents the Rehoboth Beach shop and even featured the restaurant’s famous sticky toffee pudding on the Today Show. After the ceremony, she shared her thoughts on Twitter:  “Congrats to Alison!!! We loved eating @gobrit….Delish!”

The restaurant officially opened March 8 with a fundraiser to benefit The Jefferson School, an organization Blyth has supported for years.

Blyth has operated several other restaurants in coastal Delaware and said she’s grateful to the community and the media for showing such support for her newest venture. She has promoted the franchise concept with the theme line of “Spread the word, more British are coming.”

“For me as a Londoner, the idea of taking these first steps towards launching a franchise that focuses on quintessentially British favorite food is a dream come true,” she said.

Blyth said she is very proud her dishes are truly British. “Our chips start out as real potatoes at the beginning of the day, and on a busy day Go Brit! will peel and chip 400 to 600 pounds of potatoes,” she said.

The Euro-style eatery features an interior that mixes old, new and traditional British décor and pays tribute to iconic London buildings in a vibrant and bold red-and-grey-toned mural that covers a large wall. Customers order from a modern electronic menu board, which displays menu photos and shows the process of making the delicious chips.

Located at 18388 Coastal Highway in Lewes (next to the Atlantic Cellular Verizon store), Go Brit! is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. To learn more, go to www.gobrit.com.