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Café Azafran wins Gumbo Crawl in Rehoboth Beach

Annual event draws 1,000 participants and record number of restaurants
Rehoboth Beach Main Street and the Purple Parrot hosted the annual Gumbo Crawl April 30. There were a lot of beads worn by the participants, but not many had hats like this crew. Pictured are (l-r) Tim Cox, Barb Cox, Linda Walter, Rich Walter, Toni Ann Hawk, Michael Sevast, Sue Stringfield and Bill Hawk. CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOS
Chris Flood
May 6, 2022

Story Location:
Rehoboth Beach Main Street
509 Rehoboth Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
United States

For the first time since before COVID, the annual Gumbo Crawl returned April 30 to Rehoboth Beach. Hosted by Rehoboth Beach Main Street and the Purple Parrot Grill, participants could be seen walking all over the city’s commercial district with ballots in their hands and beads around their necks.

Rehoboth Beach Main Street Executive Director Dan Slagle announced May 2 that Café Azafran won first place, Mariachi won second place and Above the Dunes took third place.

During the day of the crawl, in between serving up hot bowls of gumbo, Purple Parrot owner Hugh Fuller said the 2022 crawl was as popular as ever. There were 1,000 tickets sold and 16 restaurants participated, he said. Usually, there are 700 to 800 people and fewer than than 10 restaurants.

 

Many of the participating restaurants had lines – including Mariachi and Rehoboth Ale House on Wilmington Avenue.
Tracy Worley was handing out a fried gumbo fritter from Federal Fritter. The fritter contained the substance of the gumbo and was then placed into the broth.
The line at Freddy’s went out the door, almost to Wilmington Avenue.
Showing off his blue crab-based gumbo is Aqua chef Craig Jones with sous chef Kolby Rust.
Many of the restaurants, like Café Azafran on Baltimore Avenue, had designated areas for participants.
Dalmata owner Megan Kee chats up a gumbo crawl participant while Greg Andrews lines up another tray.
Port 251 co-owner Joe Maggio, left, and Richard Byrne take a break from handing out samples.
Jill Mummau ladles a sampling from Sunny Bay Café on Rehoboth Avenue.
Dressed in maybe the most sparkly apron ever, Julia Sugarbaker II checks off a participant’s card at the Purple Parrot.

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Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.

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