Heirloom: The House That Lee Built
Owner Meghan Lee and chef Matt Kern have turned a Victorian home into a culinary landmark in Lewes, Delaware
When Meghan Lee was 22 years old, she decided that she wanted to own a restaurant. “Put your head down and work, and when you’re ready you’ll know,” she told herself. So, Lee did just that. Over the next decade, she took jobs in celebrated restaurants, from Philadelphia to Lewes. By 2014, she had a binder packed with ideas and a polished business plan.
She opened Heirloom in 2015 in a Victorian house in downtown Lewes, Delaware. Her location raised some eyebrows. Lewes’ nightlife lacks the bustle of nearby Rehoboth. There is no boardwalk or arcade. Streets are quiet after 9 p.m., even during the season. In the historic district, there would be no flashy sign to catch the eye of passing drivers.
That was fine by Lee. “She does it her way,” says friend Brenton Wallace, a chef and owner of Crust & Craft in Rehoboth. “That’s commendable in this day and age. She sticks to her guns.”
Her confidence paid off. “Heirloom…is one of the loveliest seaside restaurants I’ve visited in a long while—and one that thrives all year, not just during the summer rush,” wrote Craig LaBan, the respected restaurant reviewer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In many respects, the white house with the cheerful red shutters represents the sum of Lee’s past and her hopes for the future.
BUILDING A RESUME
Lee grew up near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, a scenic area in the Brandywine Valley made famous by painter Andrew Wyeth. It is sprinkled with stone Colonial-era farmhouses, wineries and antiques shops.
At age 15, she started working at an Italian restaurant with a busy takeout counter. “I fell in love with the fast pace,” says Lee, who was already skilled at juggling tasks. She balanced her job with several varsity sports and three hours of homework a night from teachers at the competitive Archmere Academy.
The summer after her freshman year at the University of Lynchburg, she began working at Sovana Bistro, a Kennett Square restaurant surrounded by horse country. “That is where I fell in love with food and wine,” Lee recalls. “Sovana put that whole farm-to-table concept on the map in that area. My palate went from zero to 100.”
Lee worked at Sovana in summers, and after graduating college, she became the full-time manager. She and owner Nick Farrell often took road trips to cutting-edge restaurants. “It was just mind-blowing—the attention to detail,” she says of places like Per Se in New York and Fork in Philadelphia.
Farrell was exacting. No task was below the rank of any employee, and everyone had to earn their place. “He knew what I was capable of,” says Lee, who upped her game at every opportunity to meet and exceed his expectations.
Seeking a break from the high-pressure restaurant environment, she moved to Nantucket, where she’d frequently vacationed, and ran The Boarding House, a sister restaurant to The Pearl. “I wanted to go to a place where I didn’t really know anyone,” she explains.
She stayed in Nantucket for nearly a year before moving to Lewes, where her family owned a second home. In 2006, she helped open Half Full, an artisan pizza restaurant, which she managed for three years while commuting to Philadelphia to attend the Wine School of Philadelphia.
Lee had purchased a home in Lewes when she got an offer she couldn’t refuse. Aimee Olexy, whom she’d met at Olexy’s acclaimed Kennett Square eatery, Talula’s Table, and mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr were turning Starr’s Washington Square in Philadelphia into Talula’s Garden. Did Lee want to join their team? She agreed.
After extensive renovations, Talula’s Garden opened in 2011 with Lee as manager. “The well-trained and personable service is what you would expect from a place with entrees priced in the high 20s,” reviewer LaBan wrote.
THE TIME IS RIGHT
During her more than two years at Talula’s Table, Lee put the finishing touches on her business plan. She even had a name: Heirloom. She began looking at available locations in Lewes. Why not Rehoboth? “Never an option,” she says. Lewes, which has a history dating back to the 17th century and a groundbreaking farmers market, was the right place for Heirloom.
Finding the perfect location proved more challenging. When Lee and her father toured a Victorian house for sale on Savannah Road, she told him, “This is it.” He was dubious. The circa-1899 house—built for dentist J.B. Robinson from a catalog design—was in poor repair. The wallpaper was dated, the carpet was 1970s-era lime green, and the kitchen couldn’t handle a restaurant.
Lee’s experience helping Olexy renovate Talula’s Garden came in handy. After she settled on the property in December 2014, workers began adding a kitchen and expanding the front to accommodate restrooms. They left the Victorian woodwork intact.
Lee underscored the restaurant’s name with the decor. But it’s far from fussy. There are botanical prints on the pale walls and potted plants on shelves. Vintage serving pieces accent the mantle of the original fireplace. The hardwood floors are bare, as are the wood tables made by youths in Wilmington’s Challenge Program, a vocational training program. During the day, sunlight streams through the bay window. At night, candles flicker beside the flowers on the tables.
Her hunt for an executive chef ended with Jordan Miller, who grew up along the New Jersey coast and had worked in Philadelphia. “We clicked,” she says. “He was young, ambitious with fresh ideas.” He also clicked with diners and restaurant critics, who praised dishes like the crispy chicken roulade, a half-chicken deboned, rolled and wrapped in its skin, cooked sous-vide and then fried. “The result is probably the most succulent poultry you’ve ever had,” wrote critic Suzanne Loudermilk.
Shortly before Heirloom’s first anniversary, Miller gave his notice to move west. Enter Matthew Kern.
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THE NEXT CHAPTER
Kern, who was raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, started working in restaurants at age 14. Like Lee, he worked his way up without cutting corners, which was the expected path in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Kern spent three years at The Edge, where French and Asian influences collide. He then moved to Bolete, which turned his love for food into an obsession. Located in a former stagecoach inn, Bolete is co-owned by Chef Lee Chizmar, a James Beard award semifinalist. “He is so humble but such a badass,” Kern says of his mentor. “Everything was made from scratch.” Butchering a pig, he says, was an orchestrated event.
Kern moved to the Delaware beaches when a Bethlehem-based restaurant group opened a location in downtown Rehoboth. The business didn’t make it through the summer—but during that time, Kern fell in love with his bride-to-be and there was no leaving Delmarva. He found a job at The Blue Moon, where he and co-owner/chef Lion Gardner became friends. “He makes food from his heart,” Kern says.
Kern became the executive chef at the busy Salt Air. The hours were long and unfair to his wife and family, he says. After three years, he told Gardner he wanted to leave. Gardner, who knew Lee was quietly looking for a new chef, played matchmaker.
Working at Heirloom challenges him, Kern says. “I’m not competitive with anyone else,” he explains. “I want to be better for myself.”
Owner and chef have a mutual admiration society. Kern, Lee says, has made Heirloom exactly what she imagined. “We’re both on the same page.” An avid fisherman, Kern is all about local ingredients. Totem Farms in Milton grows produce just for Heirloom, and during the season Kern heads to the Historic Lewes Farmers Market each week. Every dish, plated on vintage china, is a work of art.
Heirloom has found its groove, but Lee won’t rest on her home-grown laurels. Seeking to create an alfresco experience, she added a patio. She fell in love with mason Jerry Meiklejohn. Lee can’t say she wasn’t warned. Local psychic Mandie Stadler predicted that Lee would date with someone with the initials JM and have a baby girl, which is precisely what happened.
Lee routinely burns sage to cleanse Heirloom of any negative energy. In today’s Yelp-focused world—where anyone can be an unqualified critic—that’s not surprising. But judging by the crowded dining room and glowing reviews, diners leave the Victorian building satisfied. “People say: ‘I feel like I’m in your house, and you’re entertaining me,’” Lee says. “For me, that’s the biggest compliment.”
Heirloom, 212 Savannah Road, Lewes, Delaware, 302.313.4065 - Facebook and Instagram
