Hospitality veteran Tony Bomba says don’t bother asking him the origin of his restaurant’s name. He wants guests to figure it out. Photo Butch Comegys
BANKING ON MIDTOWN BRANDYWINE Despite opening during a pandemic, Dorcea is finding its footing with local diners By Pam George
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f you think meatloaf is a pedestrian dish unworthy of a hip, new restaurant, think again. It’s one of the star attractions at Dorcea, the Midtown Brandywine restaurant that opened on April 9. Of course, this is not your mom’s meatloaf. Chef Michael Bomba char-grills thick slices until they sport a pretty diamond pattern then paints them with a spicy tomato glaze. He fans them over a pillow of garlicky mashed potatoes with a side of fresh vegetables.
“My kids love it,” says John Ratliff, who owns the restaurant with Tony Bomba, Michael’s brother. So does frequent diner Janice Westman, who also likes the jumbo lump crab cake. Dorcea is located at 1314 Washington St. in Wilmington. Sound familiar? That’s because it is Domaine Hudson’s old digs. But Dorcea has its own identity, and it has managed to build a loyal following despite debuting during a pandemic.
A Culinary Combination
The Bombas are the hospitality veterans of the operation. Tony Bomba was 16 when he got a job as a busboy at Pier 13 in Pennsville, N.J. While studying accounting at the University of Delaware, he became a server and then a bartender. He moved to Wilmington after graduation.
Michael was 8 when he began making omelets. “He knew right away that he wanted to be a cook,” his brother says. “He went to culinary school, and he’s been a chef ever since.” Ratliff, who also attended the University of Delaware, is the strategist. In 1996, he founded Appletree Answers, an answering service and call center, in his two-bedroom apartment. Ratliff sold Appletree in 2012 and founded align5, a management consulting company. He is also managing partner of align5 advisors, an independent investment bank. Tony Bomba and Ratliff met more than three decades ago on a golf excursion organized by mutual friends. On the trip to Ocean City, Md., they discovered that that at one point they’d lived just a block from each other. ► SEPTEMBER 2020 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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