Ambrosia opens on Wilmington Avenue

Italian-style food for the gods is on the menu at a new Wilmington Avenue restaurant.

Ambrosia Restaurant and Wine Bar is owned by Christos and Susan Sfetsas, and partner Mike Meibaum.

“We’re a homemade, family environment,” Christos said. “We’re not a chain, we do everything from scratch.”

Ambrosia officially took over the former Tuscan Grill at 19 Wilmington Ave., opening April 3. The restaurant features casual Italian-American cuisine cooked up by chefs Christos and Nelson Caringo.

“We settled on the name Ambrosia because it means ‘food of the gods’ and it also means delightful,” Susan Sfetsas said. “It kind of represents what we are offering to our customers.”

Some of chef Christos’ signature dishes carry the Ambrosia name, such as the Ambrosia Trio appetizer, which includes New Zealand mussels, clams and oysters stuffed with crab imperial, crab cakes and the fileto l’Ambrosia, an 8-ounce filet mignon topped with shrimp and crab cake in a demiglaze. Conventional Italian dishes include chicken and veal parmigiana and fettuccini pasta.

“It’s a culmination of his years of experience working in a lot of restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay area,” Susan added.

The Sfetsases said ingredients, particularly the vegetables, are sourced from local farmers.

The management team at Ambrosia all worked at Tuscan Grill before they bought out the former owners, renovated the building and launched their own eatery.

Christos said the plan is for Ambrosia to be open year-round, and Meibaum said the restaurant also intends to be active in the Rehoboth community, supporting local 5K runs and other events.

Ambrosia is open Tuesday-Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 3 to 9 p.m. with Happy Hour everyday from 4 to 7 p.m. Ambrosia will also serve Sunday brunch buffets kicking off with its Easter brunch, Sunday, April 20, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A grand opening will be held from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday, April 25.

For more information on Ambrosia, call 302-227-1600 or go to ambrosiaofrehoboth.com.