Perfect Partners: Snuff Mill Restaurant
Route 202 in Wilmington, Delaware is a traffic-congested thoroughfare between the Pennsylvania border and a nearby Highway 95 on-ramp. You’d be excused to not realize just how close by some of the Mid-Atlantic’s most gorgeous farmlands are, as North Wilmington’s dining scene has rarely lived up to the agricultural bounty so close at hand. Enter Snuff Mill, a farm-to-table steakhouse, butchery and wine bar in the Independence Mall. This is a restaurant actively resisting the gray-toned status quo and instead channeling these vivid, local farms into an energetic dining destination that feels like an instant classic.
The Brandywine River Valley and its miles of adjacent, rolling farmland are just as gorgeous as they are under-rated. A network of family-owned farms dots the hills, producing a kaleidoscope of seasonal ingredients: sweet corn, wineberries, squash, heirloom apples and peaches, wild chamomile, black walnuts, figs pumpkins, tomatoes, wild mushrooms, onions, garlic and herbs, and even grapes for making wine! Cattle, sheep and goats graze lazily; hogs and poultry nuzzle up to ancient stone walls and feed in classic crimson barns — all bearing witness to their quality of life. If you are a Chef, this is where you want to be. If you love artisanally-made wine, these are the ingredients you want to pair your bottles with.
What makes Snuff Mill remarkable is its 360-degree vision for excellence on all fronts: food, wine and cocktails, and service. Each of the local trailblazing owners have their realm of the restaurant: the Chef is Robert Lhulier; Beverage Program is run by Dave Govatos of the sensational, naturally-focused wine shop Swigg; Front of House is run by Bill Irvin formerly of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse; and administration is run by Joanne Govatos.
Chef Lhulier came into the culinary world as he put himself through art school, working in both front and back of house along the way at Domaine Hudson, Harry’s Savoy, and his own restaurant Chef's Table at the David Finney Inn. He gained considerable local acclaim for menus and cooking that were as farm-focused as they were perhaps ahead of their time. For several years, Lhulier has focused on pop-up dinners in guests’ homes where he was able to curate all aspects of the dining experience including music and wine. He and the Govatoses began to collaborate on pairing wines for private, pop-up dinner parties and take-out/wine-pairing services during the height of the pandemic.
Dave and Joanne Govatos run Swigg, Snuff Mill’s older sibling located just across the parking lot, as a team. The shop, which has been a touchstone for pushing the culinary envelope forward in the area, carries a wide collection of wines with a mission to open up new worlds to its customers by guiding them to exciting new wine regions, styles and winemakers. They do so with genuine warmth and dedication to helping customers learn, making Swigg a critical destination for any natural wine-lover within driving distance (especially since Delaware is sales-tax free).
The shop also has a real feel to it: a record player spins classic indie rock in the corner where a tasting station is set up, oriental rugs lay out providing warmth, often reruns of Anthony Bourdain’s shows are screened on a recessed film screen, and weekly alfresco tastings are often sold out. Built into the DNA of Swigg is a committed focus on family-owned farms that make wines that reflect their place of origin and are not weighed down by manipulation. The reputation of the shop has developed beyond being a neighborhood shop, drawing wine lovers from all over the region who have discovered the shop as wine buying destination, standing toe-to-toe with any number of great shops in New York, Philadelphia and D.C.
The restaurant’s name Snuff Mill does not refer to an actual place, but is a name dreamed up to conjure a pastoral country dining room on the Brandywine. A series of striking paintings of country landscapes by folk artist William H. Clarke adorn the walls, serving almost like windows out onto the grounds of this imaginary country farmhouse.
The 28-seat jewel box restaurant has a palpable sense of place, lit with candles rather than television glow. The dining room is consciously laid out in a gentle bowl-shape so that guests are able to view one another--a reminder that we are all still here together. Booked nightly to capacity, there is a pre-pandemic warmth and sense of intimacy that still is able to maintain safe social distance, a tightrope walk not easy to accomplish.
A small granite bar is stocked to the tin ceiling with artisanal spirits, amaros and aperitifs labeled with gorgeous Old World labels. Central to the bar, a wine station brims with selections from iconic natural producers such as Elisabetta Foradori, Eric Texier and Envinate. Nearby, a deli-case of locally raised, freshly butchered meats from local livestock farms — ribeye, lamb chops and NY Strips — are prominently displayed for purchase. The room hums with a soundtrack casually curated by what seems like your favorite music nerd friend from college — deep cuts from the Rolling Stones and Velvet Underground to Bill Withers and Lou Donaldson. It of course makes sense that all the owners take a hand in the musical curation.
Chef Lhulier’s menu is printed on oversized cardstock with accompanying woodcut-lithograph illustrations of dishes described with a playful wink and whimsical culinary language. The section of gorgeously seared steaks and chops is called “Off the Knife”, and appetizers are referred to as “Opportunities”. Though a sense of humor bubbles up at the edges, one trip through the menu reveals a serious kitchen that is firing on all cylinders. Snuff Mill has been flooded with interest since opening, and began a “Civilized Lunch” service in late summer, featuring most of the dinner menu and an additions of a sandwich & salad course.
The restaurant has already deftly transitioned into seasonal ingredients and flavors in its second menu iteration after opening in July. It’s rare to make this transition so quickly in a brand new restaurant as often the menu will stay static for much of the first year. Lhulier believes the secret to this dexterity is in how he trains and teaches his staff. Rather than compartmentalizing the kitchen stations, cooks are cross-trained on multiple kitchen stations, so they are able to stay engaged and support one another seamlessly. Lhulier also believes in creating a positive work environment with a diverse staff, and an emphasis on mutual respect and teamwork in order to realize the goal of excellence. Staff are paid very competitive wages, are offered benefits, and are invested in by ownership in the form of ongoing teaching and training.
Govatos’ beverage program is casual yet ambitious. Cocktails are driven by classic ingredients and recipes but have delightful twists, such as the Caribbean Negroni — a tropical take on the original, where rum and banana take the lead. Thirty wines are poured by the glass, ranging in price from $10 to $24 and covering a wild range of regions from the Canary Islands to Sardinia to the volcanic soils of Baden, Germany. Govatos has curated a wine list with a “sense of place” that is such a focus for the restaurant, highlighting further-flung regions and fascinating grape varietals made by the people who grow and live among their vineyards, all the while fitting the flavor profiles so necessary in a serious steakhouse wine list.
Snuff Mill has all the makings of a community-adored classic restaurant in a town with plenty of room to grow in its dining scene. Wilmington will be better-served as restaurants such as this help shift the dynamic toward local farmers and artisans and menus that reflect purposeful cooking and service.
Snuff Mill Restaurant, Butchery & Wine Bar
1601 Concord Pike, Wilmington, Delaware; 302-691-7149
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