Cosmopolitan Grill mixes classic and modern

Rehoboth Beach’s newest restaurant is a place that has a little something for everyone. For proof, look no further than the fact that Sinatra and Beyonce share the sound system.

Cosmopolitan Grill – established by Beal Thomas, who opened Iguana Grill in 1994, and Ken Gerhart – opened earlier this month at 10 Wilmington Ave.

Thomas and Gerhart, who have known each other for 26 years, started the new restaurant after a year of searching for a suitable location. Their search included Baltimore, Philadelphia, Rehoboth and Washington, D.C. After narrowing their search to Rehoboth, the duo made a deal to buy Retro Café in late October.

Finding a concept for Cosmopolitan Grill was an equally demanding task. Gerhart said they spent months eating at restaurants throughout Rehoboth to identify something different to bring to their restaurant.

“A lot of drinking and eating was involved,” Gerhart joked.

Gerhart and Thomas wanted a restaurant that had a sophisticated feel but wasn’t overly stiff.

“We wanted to make it more of the California concept, where it’s casual but elegant. So it’s nicely done, but it’s not intimidating or uncomfortable,” Gerhart said.

They wanted a restaurant that would have music but not be so loud that guests couldn’t hear themselves talk. Food wise, Gerhart and Thomas wanted to provide a menu that would give customers the best bang for the buck, with simply cooked classic recipes.

“We said, ‘OK, we’re going to have more basic food, but we’re going to prepare it very well and true to what it’s supposed to be. And, we’re going to have sophisticated presentations,” Gerhart said.

He added that Cosmopolitan Grill has made sure to keep its menu affordable – nothing costs more than $23 – and has live music four nights a week. Adding to part of the retro charm is the baby grand piano in the main dining room.

The breakfast menu features classic dishes such as eggs Benedict and omelets, while lunch leans towards sandwiches. Cosmopolitan Grill allows guests to mix their pleasures a bit, since breakfast and lunch items are both served in the afternoon.

Dinner options are simple dishes like burgers, steaks and crab cakes, but the menu also has some fancier items like the tasty trifecta of pan-seared chicken breast, potatoes and asparagus topped with shallots and sherry jus.

For night owls, Cosmopolitan Grill has a late night bar menu featuring crab dip, wings and burgers.

Echoing the cosmopolitan theme of the restaurant, the wine list includes Flipflop of California as the house wine and a selection of red and white wines from all over the globe, with France, Germany, Argentina and Chilé represented.

Visitors to the restaurant when it was Retro Café or Dos Locos might not recognize the inside of the building now. Gerhart said the entire interior has been gutted with new carpeting, lighting and HVAC units. Besides the cosy feel of the inside, customers lucky enough to get a window seat can watch the beach traffic going to and fro on Wilmington Avenue.

The name Cosmopolitan Grill comes from the idea that the restaurant is open to all and is also meant to reflect the sophisticated but fun theme of the restaurant.

“We didn’t want to cater to any certain subset of the population,” Gerhart said. “We have a restaurant, and we want every guest who comes here to feel that they’ve been catered to, they’ve had good food, they’ve enjoyed the environment and they’ve had fun.”

Cosmopolitan Grill is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., seven days a week. For more information, call 227-9752