Hotel du Pont hires Philadelphia chef, unveils new look for Green Room

Patricia Talorico | Delaware News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Hotel du Pont new lobby look The Hotel du Pont lobby and Green Room Bar has just received a makeover from acclaimed New York interior designer Campion Platt.

The heavy persimmon-colored draperies will go away and so will the plush chairs.

Tufted leather and velvet banquettes, a 14-seat bar and potted plants seem to be a big part of the new look coming this spring for the Hotel du Pont's storied Green Room restaurant, which, most likely after Jan. 1, will no longer be called the Green Room.

The Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc., owners of the 1913 hotel at the corner of 11th and Market streets, have unveiled their plans for the restaurant, widely considered the most lavish in the state.

The concept will change from fine-dining to a French brasserie, according to the PM Hotel Group, a branch of Buccini-Pollin, which runs the site.

The new name of the restaurant has not yet been announced.

Wilmington native Tyler Akin, a Philadelphia chef, will run the kitchen and be a partner in the restaurant.

Akin was a sous chef at the Philly landmark Israeli restaurant Zahav. He and his wife Nicole Reigle, a server at Zahav, later opened Stock, a southeast Asian soup and noodle shop, with locations in Fishtown and Rittenhouse. Akin also opened Res Ipsa Cafe.

The as-yet-unnamed Hotel du Pont restaurant, designed by Stokes Architecture & Design, will have 125 seats, a private dining room and that 14-seat bar. Work will begin after Jan. 1. Dining at the hotel will move to the Brandywine and Christina rooms while the renovations are taking place.

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Seasonal outdoor patio seating soon will be available on Rodney Square, a first for the hotel.

Director of Design Lance Saunders is keeping the room's fumed oak paneling, ornate plaster ceiling, gilded chandeliers from Spain and wall sconces.

He is adding oak-framed stained glass window screens, mosaic tile and new banquette seating.

Dave Pollin, co-founder and president of The Buccini/Pollin Group and chairman of PM Hotel Group, said decisions about the Green Room changes were made after conversations with frequent Green Room diners and even members of the du Pont family who built the historic hotel more than 100 years ago.

“Our job is to allow the Green Room to continue evolving, as it always has, into something reflective of the community’s sophistication and today’s dining preferences," Pollin said.

"Everything we do starts with showing reverence to the celebrated history of the Green Room.”

Everything but the name.

When Hotel du Pont's glamorous dining room opened to guests on Jan. 15, 1913, it was then known as "the main restaurant." The Green Room name has been in place since at least the 1920s, according to News Journal archives, and most likely earlier.

Former Hotel du Pont General Manager Harry V. Ayers, who worked for the DuPont Co. for 32 years, once told The News Journal the name came from the restaurant's green ceiling and rug.

Yet, later in his 1981 book "Hotel du Pont Story," Ayers wrote that the room was named for Helena Springer Green, the wife of John J. Raskob, the builder of the Empire State Building.

Raskob, whose former estate in Claymont is now the home of Archmere Academy, had been the right-hand man of Pierre S. du Pont. He and du Pont, head of the DuPont Co. and founder of Longwood Gardens, were the hotel's visionaries.

The name change was "a tough decision," Pollin told The News Journal/Delaware Online.

Akin said he understands the importance of the Hotel du Pont to Delaware residents. It has long been called Wilmington's "front door."

“We want to deliver a lively French restaurant to the community that will maintain the integrity of this institution," he said.

The restaurant will be open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also on weekends for brunch.

The cuisine will have influences from Provençe and North Africa. Dishes will include steak frites with bone marrow salsa verde and bouillabaisse with scallops, octopus, monkfish and head-on shrimp with handmade Moroccan couscous.

BIG CHANGES: Green Room at Hotel du Pont likely losing its century-old name amid other big changes

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Akin plans to feature entrées such as swordfish à la Grecque, roasted heritage chickens, gnocchi Parisienne with jumbo lump crab, and rougette de veau, a red wine-braised cut of veal shoulder glazed and served with roasted maitake mushrooms.

Green Room staples including the famed almond macaroons, high tea service three days a week, and holiday and special occasion menus will remain.

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico