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Mark Nardone
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As dining critic Suzanne Loudermilk points out in the introduction to this month’s dining guide, we are a nation of meat eaters. So why didn’t we think of dedicating a whole story to our favorite food until now? “The Meat Lover’s Dining Guide” reveals much about the raising of food animals, butchering and buying, but the real fun is perusing the 25 restaurant dishes you must try now. They range from the exotic—the lengua nogada, or beef tongue, at Pochi—to simple favorites like the great burgers at Restaurant 55 in Dover. Suzanne ranged far and wide to find dishes that would intrigue and please diners of all kinds, and food writer extraordinaire Pam George chipped in to tell you about local butchers you should know. (Butchers and meat cutters are not the same.) We trust you’ll find that the story will make your mouth water.
In the most important month for the National Football League, we revisit Super Bowl XII, when our own Randy White helped his Dallas Cowboys triumph over the Denver Broncos. I still recall the way Delawareans everywhere spoke about White with enthusiasm and awe before and after he was named the game’s most valuable player. It seemed then that everyone knew White. If they didn’t, they spoke as if they did. He made us all proud. Read Jeff Mordock’s story, “When Delaware Went to the Super Bowl.”
February is also Black History Month, so we saw no better time to preview the Center for African-American Heritage that will open soon in Wilmington, not so much through a tour of the space, but through some of the incidents and developments of our state’s history. As you’ll read in Michael Bradley’s story, an African man, known as “Black Anthony,” was a vital part of Delaware’s settlement by the first Europeans in Wilmington. The fact not only justifies the double entendre of the headline (the center itself makes history as the first of its kind here), but puts Delaware at the fore of African-American history for the country. As with so many things, that distinction is something to take pride in, but also something to examine critically. Although Delawareans can claim Peter Spencer, a towering figure in the religious history of African-Americans, we are stained as the last state to free its slaves. The center examines all this and more, and as a center—no mere museum—it aspires to become a place where history is regarded as a work in progress, a place where stories like Anthony’s, like Spencer’s and like those of today live and grow. You can learn more when the center opens next month.
Elsewhere in the magazine, you can read about Bessie Speers, the new head of Tower Hill School. Any educator who attended her college commencement on skis is likely to bring something unique to her work. We look forward to watching her tenure. Also this month, our favorite political observer and documentarian, Celia Cohen, asks the question: Is this the year women make a comeback in statewide offices? Celia’s “Where Have All the Women Gone?” puts in perspective how far backward we’ve slid. In a month when we celebrate romance, writer Melissa Jacobs reminds us about the conversations we should have with our partners. And we wish the legendary Bob Marley a happy birthday.
—Mark Nardone
