We think these 7 Delaware restaurants could have made USA Today's Best Restaurants List

Dining out in Delaware is better than it's ever been with a host of top-notch places to make a reservation. Harry's Savoy Grill is a deserving pick for the USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year 2024 list, but these Delaware restaurants also could have made the cut:

Bardea Food & Drink

620 N. Market St., Wilmington; (302) 426-2069; bardeawilmington.com

The downtown Wilmington restaurant has twice been recognized by the James Beard Foundation. In 2019, Bardea on Market Street was named one of the country's best new restaurants. In 2022 chef/co-owner Antimo DiMeo, who co-owns the modern Italian restaurant with Scott Stein, was named as a semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic region. The partners also run two stalls — a pizzeria and a taqueria — in Wilmington's DECO Food Hall at 10th and Orange streets in Wilmington, and Bardea Steak, a high-end steakhouse next door to Bardea Food & Drink. It's another city restaurant worth your time. Favorite Bardea Food & Drink dishes include the burrata pop tart, any pasta dish, the heritage chicken, or the fish of the day.

One Coastal

101 Coastal Highway, Fenwick Island; (302) 537-4790; onecoastal.com

Chef/owner Matt Kern's two-year-old Sussex County, farm-forward restaurant has been flying under the radar, but it recently has gained nationwide attention following Kern's 2024 nomination by the James Beard Foundation as one of the best chefs in the Mid-Atlantic region. Delaware food lovers, however, might already be familiar with Kern who racked up two previous Beard nominations for his earlier work as the former executive chef at Heirloom in Lewes. One Coastal, a beach, dinner-only restaurant isn't just for summer diners; it's open year-round. Dishes to try include corn-fried Chesapeake blue catfish, the crispy skin Jersey rockfish, cast iron flank steak, or Kern's take on the Sussex classic chicken and dumplings.

Snuff Mill Restaurant & Wine Bar

Independence Mall shopping center, 1601 Concord Pike, Brandywine Hundred;  (302) 303-7676; snuffmillbutchery.com

Delaware chef Robert Lhulier is a veteran of such establishments as the former Deep Blue Bar & Grill, Domaine Hudson, Union City Grille, and the private University & Whist Club in Wilmington. While he previously operated his own restaurant and a catering company, Lhulier found winning success with customers when he teamed with Bill Irvin to open Snuff Mill in 2021. The snug spot is both sophisticated and charming. (Irvin's brand-new The Brandywine Restaurant also is worth a visit.) Reservations at Snuff Mill are highly suggested, though walk-ins can sometimes find a seat at the bar. Dishes to try include artichokes alla Giudia, the signature burger with "million dollar bacon," the dry-aged New York strip, cacio e pepe, and LaBelle Patrimoine heritage chicken, known by some regulars as 'that chicken."

Lewes Oyster House

108 Second St., Lewes; (302) 644-7258; lewesoyster.com

Tom Little, Sean Corea and Timothy Bartley hit on a winning formula when they opened the widely popular Lewes Oyster House in downtown Lewes in 2022. Some may remember it as the former home of Jerry's Seafood and even early as the Rose & Crown, but the restaurateurs have made it their own. The concept is an oyster house that pays tribute to the “oyster craze" of the 18th and 19th centuries, and there are modern touches as well at this "tavern by the sea." Start with the Mure Margarita which gets its heat from the addition of ghost pepper tincture and then dive into one of the seafood towers. Grilled octopus, coconut shrimp, the Delaware lobster roll, and butter-poached Atlantic halibut have been some of our favorite dishes.

Heirloom

212 Savannah Road, Lewes; (302) 313-4065; heirloomdelaware.com

Owner Meghan Lee's feminine, but not at all frilly, upscale Lewes restaurant has been wowing critics and customers since it opened in December 2015. Lee renovated a Victorian home, an 1899 structure built two years before the assassination of President William McKinley, and added polished, ladylike decor that manages to be contemporary and chic without delving into frumpy, elderly auntie furnishings. The restaurant, which earned James Beard nods in 2019 and 2020, reopened in February after a January break with a new menu, cocktails, craft beers and wine, desserts and updated decor. We'd get the chicken and mushroom pierogi, char-grilled octopus, crispy skin New England Arctic Char or Berkshire pork loin schnitzel.

House of William & Merry

1336 Old Lancaster Pike, Hockessin; (302)-234-2255; williamandmerry.com

Bill Hoffman has owned The House of William & Merry restaurant on Old Lancaster Pike in Hockessin with his wife Merry Catanuto for more than 10 years. In 2022, Hoffman was chosen by the James Beard Foundation as a semifinalist for the Best Chef award in the Mid-Atlantic region along with Antimo DiMeo of Wilmington's Bardea Food & Drink. The Hoffmans, who operate the restaurant out of a historic, 1922 farmhouse, are well-known for putting interesting twists on their menu items. There is seating for 60 including two dining rooms, a front porch and a bar. Hoffman's winter dinner menu includes a trio of deviled eggs, seared Massachusetts sea scallops, grilled Hudson Valley duck breast, and "beef and butter noodles," prime rib with hand-cut farfalle.

La Fia Bistro

421 N. Market St., Wilmington; (302) 543-5574; lafiawilmington.com

Chef Bryan Sikora and his wife, Andrea's critically acclaimed La Fia has been an intimate, downtown Wilmington mainstay for more than 10 years. In 2020, the couple brought aboard Executive Chef Dwain Kalup whose stellar cooking at the former Domaine Hudson earned him a spot on the 2017 semifinalist list for James Beard's Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic region. At Domaine, Kalup was known for turning out some of the finest and most elegant food in Wilmington, if not the state. La Fia loyalists know to turn out for the bargain Wednesday prix fixe dinners which include three courses for $40. Kalup's enticing menu on these nights includes choices like black mission fig toast, roasted maitake mushrooms, Brazilian fish stew, saffron spaghetti alla Chitarra and white chocolate mascarpone mousse.

Contact Patricia Talorico at [email protected] or 302-324-2861 and follow her on X (Twitter) @pattytalorico Sign up for her  Delaware Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 7 Delaware restaurants worthy of USA Today's Best Restaurants List