Starboard Raw coming to Dewey Beach

Starboard owner Steve Montgomery said he and his business partners had always talked about adding a raw bar to the popular Dewey establishment, but space was already limited.

That’s why, he said, when he was approached by the former owners of Scully’s Ocean Side Cafe across the street about purchasing the space, he jumped at the chance.

“We’re looking at this as an expansion of the Starboard,” he said of the town’s newest restaurant called Starboard Raw.

Montgomery said Starboard Raw will offer all the traditional raw bar offerings and a good selection of high-quality foods – seafood and pastas. He said there will also be 20 craft beers on draft, both local and national brands.

“This is going to be a food-first kind of place,” he said. “We’ll have to sell good food to get butts in this place.”

That said, Montgomery said it will also be a fun place to hang out. There will be a full menu of oyster shooters available, he said smiling.

The new place will have an industrial raw bar feel. Montgomery said the old floor tiles have been ripped up and the concrete below had a clear finish applied after years of dirt, grime and glue were sanded off. The caged lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling will incorporate aluminum oyster pans. Bar tops will granite and 3-inch-by-9-inch subway tiles on the walls.

“We want everything to look and feel like a Baltimore oyster bar,” he said.

Montgomery said 99 percent of the space will be renovated; only thing remaining from Scully’s is the kitchen’s hood system because it was, according to the fire marshal, he said, a bear to put in.

“We went to the board of health as a new restaurant,” he said.

The restaurant will open in April, but no a specific date has been set yet, said Montgomery. It’s tough to know exactly when it will open, he said, because every time they start on something, they find a new problem to solve.

Montgomery is positive Starboard Raw will be open year-round.

“We want this to be an everyday venue,” he said.