Caviar and the High End of the Menu

At the very top of the menu, past the entrees and the wine pairings, a handful of Delaware restaurants have begun offering the ultimate luxury: caviar, served with all the ceremony the delicacy demands. It is a bet that even a mid-sized state has a clientele with an appetite — and a budget — for the finest things.

The wager is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Delaware's concentration of corporate wealth supplies exactly the customers who might order such a thing, and a restaurant that can serve them keeps their business from decamping to Philadelphia or New York.

The appeal is theater as much as taste. Caviar arrives with its own rituals — the mother-of-pearl spoon, the blini, the flute of champagne — and the experience is part of what diners are paying for, an indulgence that announces itself.

Whether the high end can sustain itself in a market Delaware's size is an open question, and luxury is always the first thing cut when times tighten. But for now, the state's most ambitious restaurants are reaching for the top shelf, wagering that Delaware's appetite for luxury runs deeper than its modest reputation suggests.