Dalmata Italiano
Helmed by a higher-end local restaurant group that also owns La Fable and Bramble & Brine, Dalmata Italiano is a not inexpensive pizza place offering a sparse menu of salads, pastas, and calzones, along with a popular local bar short on an assortment of popular liquid spirits but high on emotional spirits from popular bartenders. The pizza combinations include interesting ingredients, and the pies are good, but not special, which is not being too critical because Delmarva is starved of innovative good pizza restaurants. Families are welcome at Dalmata, and the service is quick and sprite, including takeout, perhaps Dalmata’s largest business. Personal pies start at $20, and Caesar salad with anchovies sets you back $17 – you get the pricing picture, which may push you to other local – and better – options.
In Italian, ‘dalmata’ refers to either a Dalmatian (dog breed) or a person from Dalmatia, a historical region now part of Croatia and Montenegro, where locals with Italian heritage have historically been in the minority. It may be that the owner is keen to Dalmatians (the corporate parent website introduces ‘Woof Woof Bagel,’ soon to open in Lewes). Perhaps the name refers to the Italo-Dalmatian romance language spoken in Italy, Corsica, and Dalmatia. Or, maybe, there is no larger meaning behind the restaurant’s name. We submit that there is no larger meaning behind the cooking either, because while the concept has great promise, the delivery is merely meh, and at these prices, better to sample other restaurants specializing in cuisine of other parts of Italy, who identities you can find in these pages. Ciao.
