DGA Dining: Stone Balloon Winehouse, Newark Delaware

Posted by Benson

The Stone Balloon Winehouse is an upscale restaurant with a fantastic wine selection nestled on Newark's historic Main Street.  The restaurant offers a menu that is eclectic without being overly complex.  The menu features a nice selection of cheeses and charcuterie, a tapas-esque selection of small plate offerings, and a variety of more substantial entrees. 

I was surprised to learn that executive chef Andy Matulaitis is self trained, although his 30+ years of experience were clearly evident in the creative and well-balanced dishes we were served at the Stone Balloon.  Like a good New Orleans chef, Andy has a passion for locally-sourced ingredients, which seem to guide the menu rather than dictating it.

This is from an interesting video of Andy

The menu offered plenty of local seafood from raw oysters to lobster and crab cake, which is what I had expected, but it nevertheless remained diverse with game birds, short rib, pork, and even several vegetarian dishes, such as a spunky aloo gobbi that I thoroughly enjoyed.

On the whole, the dishes we had were lively, creative, and very enjoyable, but the chef's tendency to reconstruct familiar dishes did not land on its feet every time.  In addition to the aloo gobbi, I had pulled short rib with cheddar pierogies, cippolini onions, and parsnip.  The pierogies were an interesting twist on an otherwise familiar accompaniment of mashed potatoes that did not work terribly well.  The short rib itself was excellent, but the pierogies overwhelmed the dish with their size and texture, and did not offer much in terms of flavor to compensate.  

The dis would likely have been well served by smaller, thinner pierogies with less starch and more parsnip.  Even so, the shortcomings of a single dish did not hamper my experience at Stone Balloon Winehouse, which was overall very enjoyable.

In addition to excellent entrees, the chef also prepared a range of first rate desserts, which has the same risky flair.  Matt, for example, had Captain Crunch ice cream, and I had Red Bull sorbet, both of which sound horrendous, but which were the polar opposite.  Matt was disappointed by the lack of actual Captain Crunch pieces in his ice cream, but I would call that a plus.  It had all of the flavor of the cereal without soggy pieces stuck through it like some painful to eat Benn and Jerry's concoction.  Similarly, the Red Bull sorbet was identifiable as having been based on the absurd energy drink, but somehow captured the essence of Red Bull with none of the...well...gross flavors.  

I might not have ventured to try Red Bull sorbet were it not for Alex, our excellent waiter, who recommended it.  And speaking of the service, Stone Balloon was on its game with prompt, skilled, and friendly service from Alex, and a wonderful job by Joseph, the head bartender and sommelier, who not only demonstrated a vast knowledge, but also discussed our orders with the chef to make an informed recommendation.

All in all, Stone Balloon was very enjoyable, and if you are in the vicinity of Newark, it is well worth a visit.