Chef Dwain Kalup isn’t sure he’s responsible for Zagat’s recent “extraordinary” rating of the food at Domaine Hudson, but he won’t let it slip. Since he took over the kitchen in September, he has revamped the menu to include house-made charcuterie, homemade pasta and meats from lamb to duck cut by hand. “Everything is done here, now,” Kalup says. A 2004 graduate of the culinary program at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, he earned the Best Youth Culinarian Award and the Rising Star Chef Award before starting his career with Harry’s Hospitality Group. After stints in New York City and Chicago, he made his way back to Wilmington via Domaine, where he is wowing diners—and ratings groups like Zagat—with “more-or-less classic French-American dishes with a twist,” such as seared foie gras with pickled pears and toasted almond butter with smoked sea salt crackers. As summer nears and local farms start popping with produce, look for a new menu soon. (655-9463, domainehudson.com)
