After more thaneight years of consideration, beach-based SoDel Concepts restaurant group has opened its first brewery: Thompson Island Brewing Co.
And it came with the help ofTröegs Independent Brewing co-founderJohn Trogner.
It's been a month since the sparkling brewpub opened on Del. 1 next to SoDel's Bluecoast Seafood Grill & Raw Bar, already pumping out a full array of beers, including a pair of collaborations withTröegs.
While being ata SoDel brewery and having fresh craft beer to drink is new, so is the food side of the brewpub, which mostly shies away from seafood-heavy menus at their other 11 restaurants.
Bestseller by far: fried chicken
Instead of food from under the sea, you'll find more brewpub-centric offerings such as warm Bavarian pretzels ($9), Sloppy Joe egg rolls ($11), crab rangoon ($12) and double cheeseburgers ($14). New York strip steaks, pork chops and meatloaf are also on the menu.
Thompson Islandalso offers "counter snacks" that go well with beers, including their own "Cracker Jack" ($5) made with popped corn, beer nuts and Thaispices, along with deviled eggs topped with candied bacon ($9).
"Since we're right next to Bluecoast, we wanted to differentiate right off the bat, so our chefs are having a lot of fun," says Matt Patton, SoDel's director of operations and beer director.
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So far, hesays, Thompson Island's biggest seller has been its $22 fried chicken platter, which consists ofhalf a pressure-fried, all-organic free-range naturalchicken served with cheddar biscuits,macaroni and cheese and hot honey.
With the beach's best-known restaurant fried chicken option closed for the winter in Jimmy's Grille, Thompson Island hasquickly become a go-to spot for crunchy chicken parts. Assuming you don't count the ever-popular Royal Farms, of course.
(A couple ofother fried chicken favorites at the beach can both be found in Lewes: the Kick n' Chicken shop and The Blue Hen restaurant, which serves a $26 Green Circle fried chicken entree.)
While seafood is not the focal point of the Thompson Island menu, it does still offer entrees such as campfire-style trout ($22), blackened Chesapeake blue catfish ($19) andclams withlinguine ($23). And on a recent visit, the daily features menu also offered a $22 lobster Reuben, as well.
HowTröegs got involved
On the brewery side,Trogner was brought in as an adviser due to an existing relationship, dating back towhen SoDel Concepts consulted for the brewery when it moved from Harrisburg to Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2011.
SoDel helped Tröegs design their tasting room and kitchen, as well as craft a menu and even hire staff.
The two brands first came together partly because Trogner has a vacation beach house in the area and ate at SoDel establishments, according to Patton.
"So when we decided to pull the trigger on a brewery, we were like, 'Hey, what do you got?' It's time to re-pay the favor a little bit,'" says Patton. Thompson Island also has its own in-house canning line, a rare find at Delaware breweries.
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When you first walk into the airy5,000-square-foot, 300-seat brewpub, which is painted almost entirely in white, you get the feel of being in a grand beach house. Itsrelaxing atmosphere seems like an oasis juxtaposed against the always-bustling Del. 1 just outside.
Under its beamed ceiling, you'll find communal farmhouse-style tables andtufted leather booths, including four in the rear of the restaurant next to the kitchen. Patrons in those seats are only two feet away from a large kitchen island used by kitchen staff for bread service and other food preparation.
Thompson Island— a rare from-the-ground-up restaurant from SoDel— has a 100-person outdoor beer gardenthat's the focal point of brewpub's attempt to offer an escape from the highway. It offers a fire pit, pingpong, bocce andcornhole.
Heat lamps will be available in cold weather and it's outfitted with anoutdoor service bar with its own taps, expected to get a workout beginningthis spring.
"We designed it so you don't feel like you're in a parking lot at all," Patton says, adding that there are 647 parking spots in the lot surrounding the brewpub."We've done a lot of work with the plants, gates, lights and music. I guarantee that when you go out there, you're going to forget about traffic, the horns and Route 1."
Breweries convergingon Del. 1
Del. 1, whichhas grown into a corridor favoringhomegrown, beach-based restaurants over chains,is beginning to turn into the same for First State breweries.
In addition to Thompson Island, the new kid on the block, you'll find breweries such as Crooked Hammock Brewery,Big Oyster Brewery, Iron Hill Brewery andDewey Beer Co., 38°-75° Brewingat Gary’s Dewey Beach Grillhave all populatedthe highway at Delaware's beaches in recent years.
The biggest piece of advice SoDeltook from Trogner was on the equipment, purchasinga10-hectoliter German-madeBrauKon brewing system— the same brand they use atTröegs. It's housed in a glass space allowing the shimmering stainless steel from the highway.
"He insisted that if we want to make world-class beerfrom the very first day we open, thesystem needs to be able to do that and it needs to be faultless,"says Patton. Acertified cicerone, heworks alongside Thompson Island's brewmaster Jimmy Valm, who previously worked atCape May Brewing Co.andBrooklyn Brewery.
"I don't know if I want to say how much it cost," Patton adds, "butthis is thelargestinvestment that we've ever made opening a restaurant and it's mostly due to the brewing system."
Got a tip? Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).
