Dorcea Finds Its Footing

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

If 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. ►

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“I used to walk my dogs and see his wife with a baby stroller walking their dog. We said hello, but we never met,” says Bomba, whose voice still bears the distinctive cadence of his native South Jersey. “John and I hit it off, and we’ve been friends ever since.”

The Bomba brothers and Ratliff often chatted at the Washington Street Ale House, where Tony had worked since the late 1990s. Michael oversaw the kitchen; Tony was the well-known face behind the bar.

Ratliff appreciated both Michael’s food and his friend’s rapport with his customers. “He said: ‘We should all open a restaurant,’” Bomba recalls.

The brothers, who had dreamed of owning a restaurant since they were young, were on board.

The Perfect Space

The friends bandied about ideas for about three years before they began looking for a location. They wanted an existing restaurant. “The restaurant structure is incredibly expensive to build from scratch,” Ratliff notes.

They identified four sites, but the ideal location—Domaine Hudson— was ironically just steps away from the Ale House.

Over the years, the slender building has been home to several restaurants, including a Mexican eatery. However, Domaine Hudson was an enduring occupant. The wine bar and fine-dining destination opened in 2005 and survived a change in ownership in 2011 when Beth and Mike Ross purchased it from founders Tom and Meg Hudson.

By 2019, the Rosses were looking to sell. The partners took possession in December of that year and continued as Domaine Hudson during the busy holiday season. On New Year’s Day, they closed for renovations.

The footprint remains mostly the same. However, the owners took down the walls that cordoned off a dining room from the bar. TVs effectively banish any lingering specter of the old fine-dining resident.

After two months of work, the restaurant was ready to go in March. But on March 16, Gov. John Carney limited restaurants to takeout in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “We saw COVID come in, and we pumped the brakes,” Bomba said. “By mid-April, we decided to open for takeout.”

The char-grilled meatloaf has quickly become a crowd pleaser at Dorcea.

When Delaware allowed dine-service in June, Dorcea was up and running at reduced capacity per state regulations.

Welcome to Wilmington, Dorcea

Don’t bother asking the owners about the name’s origin. “There is a backstory,” Bomba acknowledges. “If you come to the restaurant—and look around at the artwork—there are hints. There are also hints on the drink menu. We want people to figure it out on their own.” (It’s not hard. Plug some of the house cocktails into Google, and you’ll find what they have in common.)

Bomba is equally cautious about categorizing the food. “We do a very broad menu: seafood, pasta, chicken, appetizers.” However, he agrees to call the cuisine “upscale casual.”

Fans have their favorites. Gayle Dillman loves the jumbo lump crab cakes. Christopher Baittinger says the wings are “amazing.” And he should know—he’s a chef.

Michael Bomba isn’t shy with the spice. The Korean salmon is prepared with gochujang sauce, the chicken in the alfredo is blackened and firecracker shrimp come with sriracha aioli. Take the heat off with a draft beer, including a custom brew made by Stitch House Brewery.

Or, you can sip a glass of fine wine: Dorcea received the remainder of Domaine Hudson’s wine collection with the sale.

Cooking through obstacles

The pandemic and state restrictions on restaurants have not presented the only challenges for Dorcea. The restaurant had counted on business from the surrounding offices, but many people are now working from home. What’s more, there are few business travelers in the nearby hotels. “We need everybody to come back to work,” Bomba says.

Hospital staff have been supportive, as have the surrounding residents. (ChristianaCare allows Dorcea diners to park in the lot at 13th and Washington streets after 5 p.m.)

In the future, Bomba would like to see the area become a nightlife destination like Trolley Square. “I want people to go to the Ale House for a drink, then come to Dorcea for an appetizer and then go dance at Tonic,” he says.

The ever-practical Ratcliff would like to open other eateries to create economies of scale. “The plan was to have multiple locations, and I still think that’s the plan,” he says. “Obviously, it’s on hold.”

For now, the partners are happy to have found the right space in the right location to call their own.

“To be able to have quality and consistency with all that’s happened in the last few months tells a great story,” Ratliff says.

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THE CITY

PAN AFRICAN FLAG RAISED IN SPENCER PLAZA

Dozens of people attended a ceremony in Wilmington’s Spencer Plaza on Aug. 13 to raise the RGB Pan African Flag in its permanent location downtown while marking the 100th anniversary of its adoption by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1920. The event, organized by the City along with local community activists/artists Richard Raw and Vanity Constance, was the first of a series of community-created and supported events and visual art initiatives that Mayor Purzycki said sends an important message about Wilmington’s support for equality and fairness.

The ceremony featured African drummers and speeches by government officials and community representatives. Aug. 13, 2020, also marked 100 years since the signing of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro People of the World by the UNIA, chaired by Marcus Garvey. This document is one of the earliest and most comprehensive human rights declarations in U. S. history.

“Today we gather to offer a sincere gesture of respect as well as one of hope and reconciliation,” said Mayor Purzycki in welcoming attendees to the burial place of Peter Spencer (1782-1843), founder of the Mother AUMP Church—the first independent Black denomination in the country. “One small but significant step on a long journey we must take together—not because it is just, but because we must. There is no social or racial justice that can ever be achieved alone, one of us without the other.”

Other speakers included Council Pres. Hanifa Shabazz, Richard Raw, Rev. Lawrence Livingston of the Mother African Union Church, and Iya Olakunle Oludina of Wilmington’s Ile Igoke Yoruba Temple. Local performer Nadjah Nicole sang the Black National Anthem accompanied by Jea Street II as the Pan African flag was raised above the plaza, and performances from by the Twin Poets—State Poet Laureates Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Al Mills—and Richard Raw followed.

The RGB Flag/Saquan Stimpson, WITN

Mayor Purzycki addresses the crowd in Spencer Plaza

The Twin Poets and Richard Raw entertain the crowd

‘DINING ON DELAWARE’ TAKES OVER TROLLEY SQUARE/40 ACRES

Mayor Purzycki encourages you to support local restaurants in Trolley Square and 40 Acres as eateries now offer expanded outdoor dining along Delaware Ave. on weekends. The new “Dining on Delaware” initiative kicked off August 14 and will run through the fall, weather permitting.

“Dining on Delaware” is an expansion of “Curbside Wilmington,” launched in June to help local businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage patrons to return to the Downtown District this summer. Like their counterparts downtown, participating Trolley and 40 Acres restaurants can offer more seating at safely spaced distances in line with Gov. Carney’s guidelines.

“When we began ‘Curbside Wilmington,’ I said then that I hoped to see this new business re-opening model applied to other districts in the City,” said the Mayor. “I’m very excited we are now able, with the support of Councilmember Charles “Bud” Freel, to expand this effort to Trolley Square, another exciting and vibrant part of our City that’s also been hit hard by the coronavirus. As we all struggle to adapt to a new environment, I hope you’ll join me along Delaware Avenue one upcoming weekend as we show our support to area businesses and the many workers they employ.”

From 4 p.m. on Fridays till 10 p.m. on Sundays, Delaware Ave. will be closed at Clayton, DuPont, and Scott streets, though cross traffic will continue to flow across the avenue from each.

THE SOLD FIRM ART GALLERY CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING

Mayor Mike Purzycki and City Cultural Affairs Dir. Tina Betz congratulate Nataki Oliver, owner and operator of The Sold Firm, on the modern art gallery’s official grand opening in August. The gallery, located at 800-B North Tatnall St. in the City’s Creative District, was founded by Oliver in 2019 to exhibit emerging modern and contemporary artists who tackle diverse subjects like beauty, sexuality, emotions, and current culture.

“We are very happy to officially welcome Nataki Oliver and The Sold Firm to the Creative District,” said the Mayor. “This intimate space is an important addition to Wilmington’s cultural life, and we are a better, richer City for the incredible talent assembled here. With Art Loop on hold for now, Oliver’s gallery provides a welcome refuge for art lovers from all over the City and the surrounding region.”

The Sold Firm’s current group exhibit, “Pendulum Swing,” brings together 15 black artists to allow their voices about the current climate to be heard through visual art. It continues through October 30, 2020, and tickets are available on the gallery’s website: www.thesoldfirm.com.