Addictive Tacos now open on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth
Addictive Tacos owner and chef Andrea Neal is keeping the menu for her new Rehoboth Beach eatery simple on purpose. There are fish and shrimp tacos. There’s a taco bowl, which is basically all the taco fillings on a bed of cabbage instead of in a tortilla. There are sides and there are drinks.
“I’m bringing Baja-style tacos from the West Coast to the East Coast,” said Neal. “It’s gourmet-style food in a fast, casual setting. I want to be known as the place for fish tacos.”
Located in The Shops at Baltimore Commons, in the space closest to Blue Moon, Addictive Tacos opened July 15. Neal has worked a variety of kitchen-related jobs over her career. She’s been a line cook at Outback Steakhouse. She’s been a chef at one- and three-star Michelin-rated restaurants. She’s been a personal chef for professional athletes and entertainers. She has a level one sommelier license.
Working in those high-end restaurants is a way of life that’s very stressful, said Neal, in response to why she went from Michelin-rated restaurants to opening a fish taco place. She said she never wants to forget where she came from or what she went through, but she also decided she needed to have a place that’s more her style.
“After being around it for years, I don’t want to be one of those chefs that yells all the time,” she said.
Neal ended up in Delaware to be close to her mom after living in California for more than a decade.
“I lived through three wildfires and it was time to go,” said Neal, emphatically. “I wanted to be in a place where I wasn’t constantly thinking about all my stuff being burned up.”
Neal said she locally sources as much of her produce as possible. Nothing comes from more than 200 miles away, she said.
Neal, who went to high school in Silver Spring, Md., ran an avocado toast company in San Francisco for a number of years. When moving back to the East Coast, she thought seriously about doing the same thing in Washington, D.C. Then, she said, the pandemic hit and everything changed.
Ultimately, Neal ended up in Dover, but her desire to open her own place never waned. She said she began looking up and down the beaches of Delaware and Maryland for a good location. There was a place in Ocean City, but it wasn’t really feasible. There were other locations in the Cape Region, but they would have required too much renovation.
Then, she said, the spot on Baltimore Avenue opened up. It’s basically a blank slate, but there’s the infrastructure of a kitchen, she said.
“It’s perfect for what I want to do,” said Neal. “I want this place to be somewhere a person can come off the beach, get a few tacos and bring it back to the beach for an easy meal.”
Addictive Tacos is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday; and noon to 8 p.m., Saturday. There are party packs available that come with eight, 16 or 24 tacos, and chips and salsa. For now, the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays, but Neal is still trying to figure out the best schedule that also allows for at least one day off a week.
“I know, I know. Taco Tuesday,” she said.
For more information on Addictive Tacos, 33A Baltimore Ave., go to addictivetacos.com, email info@addictivetacos.com or call 302-278-7768. Online ordering is available.
