At the Wedge, Easton’s new wine bar/restaurant, three smooth decorative stones rest in a dish on our table. “Namaste,” a Hindu salutation, reads one stone. “Ecstatic” is inscribed on another. So is “ngon,” a Vietnamese word loosely translated as “rich in taste.” The stones, with their quirky messages chosen by staff members, are just one example of the restaurant’s unofficial mantra, “Keep it small, keep it real, keep it funky.”
Opened by restaurateurs Patty Brown and Monika Takala (Brown owned the Queen Bean in both Claymont, Del., and Rehoboth Beach; Takala and her mother had Sunflowers in Stevensville) in December 2008, The Wedge is a celebration of eclecticism. This is evident in the menu, which lists everything from tiny nibbles of olives to an ahi tuna martini to meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Her servers also wear their own clothes in lieu of a uniform and are encouraged to show off tattoos while maintaining a respectful professionalism.
If this sounds a little disparate, it is, but The Wedge manages to hold it all together by providing pleasant service and a variety of dining options in a Zen-like setting. And while small plates have probably outlived their 15 minutes of fame, there’s something to be said for a place that allows you to linger over a cheese plate and a bottle of wine or dig into something more substantial, like a crab cake and a microbrew. At least The Wedge’s customers think so. Takala already reports patrons taken to calling themselves “wedgies.”
We got the most pleasure from the fresher-than-fresh seared tuna special, served mock-sushi style over wasabi mashed potatoes with a pickled ginger garnish (though the sriracha-spiked cream cheese sauce on the side was an anomaly) and the “Van Gogh” pasta, a sweet mix of ear-shaped orecchiette pasta, green peas, and cream sauce, which managed to remind us why we thought sundried tomatoes were fab the first time we tasted them so long ago. Small potatoes with gorgonzola, walnuts, and bacon nestled in their hollowed-out middles made us wish there were a few more on the small plate. But both the crab cakes studded with roasted corn and the “amazing crab dip” failed to wow.
Unlike some restaurants that offer several cheese selections on one plate, The Wedge features only one 31/2-ounce portion of usually raw milk cheese, so choose carefully. Our plate boasted a generous (dare we say) wedge of Cabra Romero, a firm, tangy goat cheese from Spain, as well as a small tower of crusty homemade bread, an array of fresh fruit, and even a few sea salt-covered chocolates, something I’d skip if
I planned to order anything beyond the plate.
Desserts at The Wedge are more sweet than substantial, like the kitchen sink concoction of pound cake, ice cream, whipped cream and caramelized pecans or the burn-your-tongue hot rice pudding with more sweet nuts. French press coffee in full and half pots, however, is eminently civilized.
The Wedge offers a small storefront stage where local performers can literally sing for their supper.
This happens mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, but Takala is open to musicians showing up any time. “C’mon, bring it on,” she says with a wry laugh. “[Spontaneity is] part of the spirit of the place.”
Mary K. Zajac writes from Baltimore.
Masthead Photo by