Delaware eats.

My column today is about players I missed on, starting with Paul Goldschmidt. I was solo on today’s Behind the Dish podcast and talked about the column, Todd Helton’s Hall of Fame chances, and what Andrew Cashner’s ceiling is.

We’ve lived in northern Delaware for three months now, enough time to explore the local food scene, and been pleasantly surprised at what’s nearby, without requiring a trip into Philadelphia. We’re in “north Wilmington,” which means outside the city limits and north of I-95, so not technically in Wilmington at all – but if you say “north Wilmington” people at least have an idea of what you mean. Here are our top local spots, plus notes on a few others that might be worth checking out if you’re passing through Delaware or, although I can’t imagine why, are actually stopping here.

La Fia Market and Bistro is easily the best restaurant we’ve come across in the state, and if there’s a better place that doesn’t require crossing a border or a bridge I’ll be shocked. Opened by Chef Brian Sikora, formerly of Talula’s Table in Kennett Square, La Fia is three entities in one: a sit-down restaurant, a market serving salads and sandwiches to go, and a bakery with fresh breads, pastries, and charcuterie. I’ve been for lunch twice, once there and once via takeout, and was blown away both times by the quality of the ingredients and the precise execution. When you eat at the bistro, the bread before the meal isn’t just any bread, but gougères, choux pastries with gruyère cheese baked into them, light, airy, just faintly sweet, and absolutely perfect. At the bistro, I tried the tuna confit sandwich – tuna salad with olive oil rather than mayo, served on a fresh English muffin-style bread, along with a small mixed greens salad and a small order of house-cut French fries. My wife ordered the meatball hoagie, with homemade meatballs in tomato sauce with one slice of sharp Provolone melted on top. On the day we got takeout, I ordered the lump crab salad, which comes with large lumps of crab meat in a warm potato salad with whole-grain mustard and small sliced pickles, along with some mixed greens and two slices of a toasted baguette. I can’t say a single negative word about any of the food – everything was outstanding from ingredients to flavors to execution. Even the giant chocolate chip cookie with mixed nuts was excellent, and they serve and sell coffee from Philly roaster La Colombe. La Fia is so new it doesn’t show up on many online maps, but it’s at 421 N. Market Street in downtown Wilmington, at the corner of N. Market and 5th Street. I’ll report back when we try it for dinner.

The only other place we’ve tried in or near downtown is the Iron Hill Brewery, a brewpub on the Riverfront that is just across Justison Street (plus a parking lot) from the Wilmington Blue Rocks’ stadium. I like the food at Iron Hill (one of their ten locations) but the beer is the clear attraction here, with a handful of standard offerings and a rotating mix of other styles. The pulled smoked pork sandwich is solid, and the crab cake is probably the best option I’ve had there; my wife is partial to the Jaegerschnitzel, pan-fried pork scallopine served with mushrooms, egg noodles, and haricots verts, a very generous serving of everything for $18.50.

Back in North Wilmington, the best restaurant we’ve found, second only to La Fia in the state, is Two Stones, a gastropub with two locations, one on Foulk Rd close to the state line and another in Newark (that’s NEW-ark) near the University of Delaware. Serving easily 30-plus microbrews from the region and from across the country, Two Stones is heaven for fans of small breweries and of less common beer styles, almost all of which are available in 9-ounce and 16-ounce portions if you want to try several different beers in one sitting without getting hammered. Two Stones has the best crab cake in the area, with so little breading that it nearly falls apart, although at $25 for two cakes it’s a little pricey for dinner (although fair value for what you’re getting – crab meat shouldn’t be cheap). They grind their own meat for their burgers, including a foie gras burger that comes with a few strips of seared duck foie from nearby Hudson Valley Farms, all very good although it’s a little hard to get everything into one bite, and I wasn’t sure the beef really needed all the extra flavor and fat from the liver anyway. The menu always includes three taco plates, but on Tuesdays they offer a whole menu of additional options built around a single theme – the last time we went it was based on The Big Lebowski, and the chefs were pretty damn creative – with the fried fish option my favorite and the pulled pork (smoked in-house) my wife’s. There’s a heavy emphasis here on local purveyors, and the menu isn’t actually that extensive, fitting on one page with a lot of repeated ingredients used in different ways. If you just want a good burger and fries with your beer(s), it’s a great spot, and if you want more upscale or even more healthful food, you can do that too, and still have beer.

Our favorite spot for a family meal is Lucky’s, an updated diner on Concord Pike’s northbound side. Like La Fia and Two Stones, Lucky’s uses a lot of local ingredients, including coffee from Pike Creek roasters, and the quality across the board is strong, along with one of the sassiest menus I’ve ever come across. They’re strongest at breakfast, which a diner should be, including a very strong biscuit topped with a little cinnamon sugar. On the lunch/dinner side, the meatloaf sandwich on ciabatta is kind of a once-in-a-while meal, but it’s flavorful and has just the right texture, neither too soft nor too tough. It’s worth asking for the specials if you’re there for dinner – one night they did a shrimp taco dish that, while a little sloppy to eat, was a winner.

For coffee hounds, the best option we’ve found is Brew HaHa!, a local chain that uses estate-grown coffees from a roaster in Oregon, as well as serving pastries from a Philadelphia baker and sandwiches made to order at breakfast or lunch. The roasts are medium-dark, not the third-wave style of Stumptown or Intelligentsia, and in addition to offering the normal Charbucks-inspired list of coffee-flavored beverages, they’ll do a macchiatto or a true cappuccino (two shots with foamed milk only). The pastries are all solid, but I’m particularly partial to the chocolate chip cookies, which they bake on site after receiving the dough from their supplier.

In Dover, we found fantastic southern Italian food in an almost-hidden strip mall restaurant called Franco’s, the kind of Italian restaurant I grew up going to as a kid on Long Island. Their pasta all’amatriciana – a red sauce with pancetta and black pepper – was the best I’ve had in ages, maybe the best outside of Italy, and it’s not an easy dish to find in the U.S. Franco is Italian-born as are a number of the servers.

And finally, one from just across the state line: Harvest Seasonal Grill, which has a menu based entirely around local and seasonal fare, with most entrees clocking in at under 500 calories. Harvest has three locations, including one in Philly and one in Glen Mills. I visited the latter location and ordered the cornmeal-dusted grouper with Maryland crab and corn salsa, coconut jasmine rice, and seasonal vegetables. The fish was fresh and was perfectly cooked, with a crisp crust on the outside, and it paired well with the savory, almost sweet salsa on top; the rice was kind of a waste because the portion was tiny and it couldn’t stand up to all the flavors in the fish. Their desserts all come in giant shot glasses and are also under 500 calories apiece, with options like a peanut butter cup parfait and a chocolate mocha cake. It’s pricier than any of the places I’ve mentioned here except La Fia’s dinner menu, but you very much get what you pay for here.

Other quick hits in the area:

* Fresh Thymes is a corner cafe on Lovering near the Delaware Art Museum and Brandywine Park, offering breakfast and lunch, very simple items done well with a lot of fresh and/or organic ingredients. It’s cash only and a good option for vegetarians and folks who avoid gluten, although they do offer meatatarian options and regular bread. We’d go more often given how good the food was, but it’s just not convenient to where we live.

* Kid Shelleen’s is solid, better for dinner than their brunch, with very good burgers and seafood, although service has been spotty both times I’ve eaten there.

* Soffritto in Newark won some strange award as the best Italian restaurant in the United States, which … well, I’m sure a few places in New York and LA would have something to say about that. The décor is a little dated but the food is above-average, including a large and authentic antipasto plate and a similarly authentic tomato/vodka sauce. They also offer a lot of non-authentic things, like an option to add chicken or shrimp to pasta with Alfredo sauce, which would get you the death penalty in Italy.

* Also in Newark, Mad Mac’s right by the University has a fun and wide selection of mac-and-cheese plates, as well as some pub food under the Matilda’s banner, including a kangaroo burger that was too lean for me, even starting to dry out when cooked barely to medium.

* A few readers suggested Pizza by Elizabeth, and it does rate highly if you look online, but this is very ordinary pizza in perhaps the ugliest “nice” restaurant I’ve ever been in, a horrific mashup of country kitsch, art deco, and Victorian receiving room.