The Green Room at the Hotel DuPont was a special place. It was old school; it was beautiful; it had an air of ceremony and pomp. It was the perfect place to celebrate truly important events like graduations, divorces, and birthdays. Their Sunday brunch was the best around.
A few years ago, I heard that the Hotel had decided to close the Green Room and revamp the space. Oh no! Change is hard enough; I was afraid this was going to be a step too far.
Still on the search for the elusive cocktail that no one seems to be making, I got dressed up and took myself out to dinner on a Saturday night. Funnily enough, I sat in this very chair at the end of the bar.
What struck me as I walked in was that the space still feels special. The designers wisely left the dark paneling and beautiful ceiling alone. The big change is the bar at the end of the room, but I must admit that it is gorgeous and fits into the ambience beautifully. It is cleverly sectioned off from the dining room, so those who want the more informal bar are not interfering with those who want the more formal dining experience. Clever.
The noise level is perfect. The diners are not competing with any music, so I was able to speak in a normal tone and not shout. As I sat down, I was very happy that I had brought a sweater. The air conditioning was running at arctic levels. To be fair, after the bar filled up a bit more the temperature became more manageable, but it was a chilly start to the evening.
One of the better things the restaurant has done is bring in a young man who is a talented mixologist. I spent a lot of the evening watching him make a wide variety of cocktails, each of which was more complicated and more beautiful to look at than the one before. I settled for my usual martini that was perfectly made.
Deciding what to eat was a challenge. The menu is a bit limited and the choices are a bit on the pedestrian side. Nothing jumped off the page as a "must have." I decided I would choose my meal based around the wine list. This is where things got interesting.
The restaurant has chosen a Natural Wine list. To quote from the menu, "we embrace 'natural' as a specific philosophy of viticulture... organic practices... grapes that are representative of the particular terrior from wherever they grow." Sounds great, doesn't it. Not so much.
I tried a taste of a red made from Listan Negro grapes grown on the Canary Islands. I couldn't get it past my nose. I decided to have a glass of the Sancerre (I mean, how far wrong can that go?) with the caesar salad. The salad was interesting. Way too much cheese and not enough dressing, but there was a bit of avocado hidden under the leaves that gave it some really nice flavor. The Sancerre? Terrible.
I went back to the wine list to discover something listed under orange wines. This was new to me. The grapes are an interesting blend of Welschriesling, Pinot Gris, and Traminer that is bottled in Austria. On its own, the wine tastes like a very strong rosé which was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what to pair it with so I asked the bartenders. Without skipping a beat, they both said the branzino.
This was the dish of the night. Excellent, fresh fish that was prepared to perfection. A touch of chili gave it the slightest heat that worked perfectly with the wine. The greens on the side were a touch bitter for me, but they were easily ignored. The bartender told me later that this dish is the restaurant's most popular and they sell out of it almost every night. I can understand why.
The restaurant offers two choices for dessert, a cheesecake or a chocolate rye cake. I was surprised that a restaurant so dedicated to French cuisine would not offer a cheese plate or something else savory, but there it is. The chocolate cake came with hazelnuts and raspberries and was very good. I was very pleased that the restaurant serves decaf espresso. The coffee went perfectly with the cake.
The service throughout the evening was flawless. The bartenders were charming, polite, and helpful while working without a break making all those complicated cocktails. The bar was full throughout my visit; the dining room nearly so.
I left with mixed feelings. I will miss the formality of the Green Room, but Le Cavalier is a nice addition to the Wilmington dining scene if you order your wine carefully. And, as a final farewell, the photo below was the last time I ate in the Green Room.
Le Cavalier
42 West 11th Street, Wilmington, DE
(Inside the Hotel DuPont)
302-594-3154
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