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Culture / Delaware / Food and drink / Media

Think Wilmington’s restaurant scene is lacking? ‘Good Taste’ blogger Matt Sullivan begs to differ

A new blog from the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau is taking a stand against the h8ers.

Matt Sullivan. (Photo courtesy of Courtesy Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau)

If you think you have to leave Greater Wilmington to have an awesome dining experience, Good Taste blogger Matt Sullivan is here to set you straight. The blog, which is part of the Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau website, is geared toward out-of-towners looking for good dining in and around Wilmington, but it’s a good resource for locals, too, especially when it comes to new or less well-known places.
With an unpretentious style that makes you want to explore our local foodie culture (which is richer than you might think, really!), Sullivan and food blogging are a good fit, even though — or, let’s be real, because — as he says in the blog’s About page, he’s not a gourmet, a snob, or a food critic.
We wanted to know more, so we asked him five questions (mostly about the media game):
Technical.ly Delaware: How long have you been blogging?
Matt Sullivan: I’ve contributed sporadically to blog-like entities since we called them “weblogs,” but the Good Taste Blog started in March 2014. That very first entry was just a listing of my credentials as someone who eats a lot and will drive a great distance for a good bagel, but the second entry offered ideas for where visitors should eat if they were in town for the Downton Abbey exhibit at Winterthur and wanted to keep the tea-and-crumpet vibe going.
TD: How did you become the food ambassador of the Wilmington Visitors Bureau?
MS: For years, I’d been particularly annoyed at business travelers (and, sadly, some locals) who bad-mouthed Wilmington’s restaurant scene out of ignorance. I’m sure I was ranting about it somewhere in front of Sarah Willoughby at the Visitors Bureau, and she suggested the idea that became the blog.
TD: What do you do for a living when you’re not blogging?
MS: My entire professional life, I’ve been creating content. I’m a former journalist (proudly, the first editor of Spark) and now I run my own communications consultancy business, including editing the visitor’s guide for Wilmington and the Brandywine Valley and — for something completely different — serving as managing director of Delaware Shakespeare. This is the only gig where I get paid to eat, though.
TD: What do you like to do in your free time?
MS: I like to cook. So I get in some mild physical exertion before I start eating again.
TD: I want to go out for pizza tonight, maybe some drinks, and breakfast tomorrow. What are the best places in Wilmington to hit?
You want me to wade directly into the pizza wars? That’s a gotcha question if I ever saw one.
OK, I’m going to assume you want a relaxed experience with friends and not just a quick slice outside the bar, so I’d suggest Pizza by Elizabeths for some upscale pizza, and even better if it’s a Wednesday night and you can take advantage of their crazy-good Wednesday Wine Flights deal. If you still want a drink after that, you’re right across the street from Copperhead Saloon, where you should order a craft cocktail and the bacon wrapped dates even if you’re not hungry anymore. Breakfast the next morning? If you liked PbE, you’ll like De La Coeur Café et Pâtisserie for a breakfast sandwich or croissant or crepe — you really can’t go wrong. But there are a million ways to answer that question. When someone asks me for a restaurant recommendation, I usually have five or six follow-up questions to get through before I give them an answer.
 

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