Ryan Cormier

The News Journal

Don’t look now, but Trolley Square is starting to face a little competition as Wilmington’s biggest bar district.

The city’s Little Italy has been adding trendy taverns and restaurants in recent years, giving the neighborhood more bar tops in a five-block stretch of North Union Street than even downtown’s Market Street.

In November, NorthQuarter Creole (837 N. Union St.) opened, giving bar-hoppers yet another stop among the cluster of Little Italy restaurants and bars that include newer spots 8th and Union Kitchen (805 N. Union St.), Rocco Italian Grill & Sports Bar (701 N. Union St.), Bella Luna Ristorante (729 N. Union St.) and The Wicked Vine (1934 W. 6th St.).

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The longtime neighborhood watering hole Dead Presidents (618 N. Union St.) and veteran LGBT-friendly Crimson Moon Tavern (1909 W. Sixth St.) are also located in the same tightly packed area.

And while the youth-driven Trolley Square isn’t about to give up its title as the city’s busiest bar area, Little Italy’s restaurant row across five city blocks is emerging as a playground for a slightly older crowd generally ranging from late-20s to 40s.

Could Little Italy be in the midst of a reawakening? It sure looks like it. Book-ended by major redevelopment efforts on each end of North Union Street, the neighborhood seems poised for a revival.

“Little Italy holds its own now, but it can be real serious in a couple of years,” says Mike Goodwin, co-owner and chef at the new NorthQuarter Creole, the latest restaurateur drawn to the neighborhood.

While you can grab a meal at any of the bars in the concentrated area on Union Street between Fifth and Ninth streets, the same swath boasts venerable restaurants like Mrs. Robino’s Italian Restaurant (520 N. Union St.) and Walters Steakhouse (802 N. Union St.), along with takeout joints like El Toro (624 N. Union St.), China King (608 N. Union St.), Yatz Subs & Steaks (626 N. Union St.) and the legendary first-ever Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop location (510 N Union St.).

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And if you cast your culinary net just a little wider, the immediate area also boasts more sophisticated dining rooms like Eclipse Bistro (1020 N. Union St.) and Bistro Jacques (607 N. Lincoln St.).

Throw in the long-term $100 million rebuilding of The Flats nearby by Woodlawn Trustees and the just-announced $40 million plan to demolish and replace the Galleria Shoppes at North Union Street and Pennsylvania Avenue with luxury apartments and shops, there’s a reason why it seems that the way is up for Little Italy.

Paul Calistro, executive director of the West End Neighborhood House, has been based in the neighborhood for 25 years and also works with West Side Grows Together, the area’s non-profit neighborhood group.

When he looks around the area these days, he can’t help to be buoyed by promise.

“In what other neighborhood do you see $140 million worth of investment going on? And I think it will keep growing because it’s a high traffic area, an area with mixed incomes and it’s contiguous with several other neighborhoods,” Calistro says before giving a jocular poke to the city’s biggest bar district. “Trolley Square is for the kids who just got out of college. It’s for rutting season. This is where adults come."

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In the seven years since he bought Dead Presidents, owner Brian Raughley has seen plenty of change as several struggling restaurants in the area were sold and now house new dining rooms with both buzz and returning customers.

In recent years, Raughley and others have pushed for “big picture” beautification along the wide, three-lane North Union Street. Making the area safer and more pedestrian-friendly by slowing down traffic along with ornamental changes would make the neighborhood more inviting, he says.

Dead Presidents has teamed up with the University of Delaware and West Side Grow’s “Build a Better Block” project in recent summers to show the effect small changes can make. Building off a nationwide program, the three-day summer projects included closing a lane on North Union Street for a block in front of Dead Presidents, allowing for sidewalk and in-the-street dining and a temporary bike lane.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that Union Street is going in the right direction,” Raughley says. “There’s a lot of crossover business now, like when people who have dinner down at 8th and Union and then stop over here for a drink. The area is a destination. Not just one or two spots."

Three blocks down the road, NorthQuarter Creole opened this fall at the former home of Pan Thai and more recently, Latin Fusion Restaurant & Lounge. With the closure of the New Orleans-themed Blue Parrot Bar & Grille (now The Wicked Vine), NorthQuarter is bringing New Orleans creole back to Little Italy.

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At Little Italy's newest restaurant, there’s a proper dining room downstairs serving everything from small plates of seafood gumbo ($7) and barbecue brisket quesadilla ($9) to sandwiches like muffulettas and shrimp po boys, both $11. Entrees range from macaroni and cheese skillets with your choice of crab, jambalaya or crawfish ($12) to a crawfish étouffée ($17).

Live music is also sometimes on the menu downstairs, which seats 60. The restaurant is now occasionally hosting shows, including Wilmington “cowpunkabilly” band Bourbon and Steel, which played there last month.

NorthQuarter Creole is having its official grand opening party on Saturday night with Kris V. and Richie D. performing acoustic from 9 p.m. until close. The show will be preceded by a free buffet from 7 p.m. until the music starts.

The 45-seat upstairs is where you will find the bar, complete with high top tables and a booth with four 50-inch TVs for sports.

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Goodwin and co-owner Brady Harris were looking closely at the location and say the redevelopment of The Flats put them over the edge, deciding to open on Union Street with the belief that it’s on an upswing.

“That’s when we really became intrigued,” Goodwin says before Harris adds, “There’s just a lot of money coming back to this area of the city.”

Brian Ashby, owner of 8th and Union Kitchen, a gastropub with Southeast Asian flair that opened in April, has seen his business only grow in its first nine months.

Inside, it’s hard to believe 8th and Union Kitchen is the former home of the more traditional Union City Grille. The expanded bar has been moved across to the other side of the restaurant and is surrounded with reclaimed wood giving it a barnwood style. The decor is accented with black and white subway tiles and a communal table made of a 10-foot hunk of hickory.

The bottom line is this: if you blindfolded a longtime Little Italy visitor and threw them at 8th and Union's bar, they would most likely think they are in a big city contemporary restaurant in Philadelphia or Los Angeles.

In short, he built it and they are starting to come not only to his restaurant, but all the others.

“It’s not in the front of everyone’s mind to think about Little Italy for good food and drink,” Ashby says. “Trying to get somebody out of Trolley Square where they can just walk if they live in the area is a bit of a battle, but we're doing well.”

IF YOU GO

What: NorthQuarter Creole grand opening

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Details: A free buffet will offered from 7 to 9 p.m. with acoustic music by Kris V. and Richie D. from 9 p.m. to close.

Where: NorthQuarter Creole, 837 N. Union St., Wilmington

Information: northquartercreole.com

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).