Cape grad to appear on ‘Man v. Food’ episode

One of Cape Henlopen High School’s own is about to take her talents to the Travel Channel.
Deena “Mary” Eskew of the Cape class of 1984 will have her restaurant, Tradewinds Café in Arundel, Maine, featured on the popular show “Man v. Food” at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 8, on the Travel Channel.

The show’s concept is simple: Host Adam Richman travels across the country and challenges himself to eat the biggest and best foods available.

Eskew said she was contacted by representatives from the show’s producer, Sharp Entertainment, which was scouting the Portland, Maine area.

“It just so happened an article about road food had been written about us that week prior and mentioned our food challenge,” Eskew said. “They called us and asked us questions about our food challenge, scouted other restaurants and then chose ours as the food challenge for this area.”

The challenge Richman will be undertaking – the Manimal Challenge – is eating more than 4.5 pounds of food in 20 minutes. Eskew said he would attempt to eat two coleslaw or sauerkraut hot dogs, an order of fries, a soft drink and the ochoburger – an eight-patty cheeseburger topped with grilled onions and cheese on each patty.

For the pièce de résistance, Richman will have to polish off a pound’s worth of the Mother Futcher milk shake – a butter pecan milk shake with a piece of coffee cake inside. Eskew said the shake’s name was taken after her grandmother.

After graduating from Cape High, Eskew moved to Key West, Fla., where she met her future business partner, Brian “Hoss” Coddens.

The couple dreamed of traveling across country and opening a roadside food stand.

After 13 years in Florida, they packed up and traveled across the United States, sampling various roadside food stands along the way.

They soon settled in southern coastal Maine, where Coddens was originally from. Arundel is close to Kennebunkport, Maine, which is well known as the home of the Bush family.

For the past three years, Eskew and Coddens have run Tradewinds, a seasonal restaurant open from Memorial Day through Columbus Day. During the off season, the couple comes back to Delaware, where they use the winter time to work on new menu items and recharge after the hectic summers.

“It’s definitely cooler in New England in the summertime than it is at home,” she joked.

Eskew was one of the early employees at The Buttery in Lewes when it started 15 years ago. She said while Tradewinds is much smaller than The Buttery, the same pride in cooking high-quality food is there.

“It’s quite an honor to be chosen for a national show three years into it,” Eskew said. “We were absolutely fans of the show.”

While she couldn’t reveal whether Richman is successful in the food challenge, Eskew said,
“I believe anybody can do anything that they put their mind to. We’re definitely rooting for him. You’ll have to tune in and check it out.”

For more information on Tradewinds Café, call 207-985-3701.