BERLIN– Anthony Bourdain has eaten his way through Brooklyn, Rome, Copenhagen, Madrid and Tokyo, but maybe the Travel Channel correspondent should consider stopping by America’s coolest small town next.
A veritable restaurant explosion has hit Berlin, and the town of roughly 4,500 people now boasts more than a dozen noteworthy independent restaurants, cafes and bakeries in its historic downtown sector.
At the heart of the town’s resurgence is the upscale American oasis of the Atlantic Hotel on 2 North Main Street. Built in 1895, the hotel was near structural and spiritual collapse before a group of business owners resurrected it, sparking a town-wide revival.
“That’s what really turned Berlin around,” said owner John Fager. “The hotel is the heartbeat of the town.”
As more and more restaurants have opened in Berlin, business, rather than becoming spread thin, has increased virtually everywhere.
“Every time a new restaurant opens in Berlin the Atlantic Hotel does better,” Fager said. “Everyone talks about the pie getting small – it’s not. The pie is getting bigger. More people are like, ‘hey let’s go to Berlin for dinner. We can have a glass of wine here, we can have a nice dinner there, we can walk down the street and get a really good dessert. We can see a bunch of friends and everybody is walking around. I’m very high on Berlin.”
Just around the corner, on 12 Broad Street, The Globe is another case of renovation and resurrection.
“I think (the increase in restaurants) is capitalism in its finest form,” said owner Jennifer Dawicki. “Whether or not Berlin supports all of these restaurants has really yet to be seen, but I’m extremely excited about quality establishments in our little town. I think we’re growing and we’re going to see how this all works out.”
Dawicki, who has run the revamped Globe for the last eight years, is not at all surprised that the increase in restaurants has led to an overall increase in business.
“In my mind and in my model and in my business plan that’s what’s supposed to happen,” she said. “As Berlin becomes more of a destination and more of an eating destination more people come to town. I believe in that and if you didn’t believe in that you shouldn’t be here. The lynchpin of success is everybody is doing the best that they can and putting out a quality product and offering consistent service. If it keeps up more people will come to town and they’ll visit more often.”
Similar to the Atlantic Hotel, The Globe offers contemporary American food with a regional twist. Their atmosphere – including the copper-top bar – is what ultimately sets it apart.
“Our food is well-rounded and it’s something different every day, and we’re in an awesome atmosphere with quality service,” Dawicki said. “I think it’s not just our food – it’s our full experience that we offer in this more than 100-year-old building.”
Opened in March, the Blacksmith on 104 Pitts Street is the town’s newest and possibly boldest restaurant, serving farm-to-table food from an ever-changing menu.
“I think (the growth) has a lot to do with a lot of people paying more attention to what they’re eating,” said Chef Teddie Sullivan. “It’s funny because I grew up here and we had one or two places to eat and now we have so many. I love the town growing and I’ve had nothing but great food here in Berlin.”
Like the downtown businesses, many of the owners, chefs and staff talk openly about the bond between Berlin restaurants.
“Everybody works together and builds off of each other,” Sullivan said. “I think we set ourselves apart because we’re always trying to do something new and different. It can be a lot of fun.”
Robin Tomaselli, owner of Baked Desserts Café on 4 Bay Street Suite, echoed Sullivan’s sentiments.
“I think you can almost totally attribute (the large amount of restaurants) to the fact that we all sell something a little bit different,” she said. “I think that is a really intentional thing on all of our parts.
“I’ll never do a cupcake that looks like a flower,” Tomaselli continued. “We’re not going to get into specialty coffee drinks – that’s what Berlin Coffee House does. It’s a small enough town that if we were all doing the same thing none of us would be successful. But there’s a lot of diversity here. All the restaurants specialize in something just a little bit different so it leaves the possibilities and choices open, which allows us all to be successful. And I think, for the most part, every business owner here is interested in all of us being successful.”
Tomaselli said the “all-natural bakery” makes everything from scratch on the premises.
“I think that’s pretty unique,” Tomaselli said. “A lot of other bakeries use artificial flavors or artificial colors, and we don’t do that. We also try to evolve our product line so it changes, so we’re not pitching holes in the dunes doing just one specific thing.
“When we first came here it was the cupcake craze, and we made a conscious decision not to just do cupcakes because we didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves,” Tomaselli continued. “And then we’ve added savory lunches and we’ve tried to stay just a little bit different than what everybody else offers by adding organic and gluten-free, and we do gluten-free baked goods, which a lot of bakeries do not do.”
“Every restaurant in Berlin is completely different,” said Katie Bates, who supplies homemade desserts for Burley Inn Tavern, located at the corner of Pitts and Williams streets. “I think Berlin is coming into its own. It’s definitely been growing in the last few years.”
Burley Inn, named after the town’s historic namesake hotel, specializes in tavern-style bar food, including slow-roasted prime rib, cheesesteaks and cheeseburgers.
“Besides Blacksmith I think we’re the newest restaurant, and everybody has been super welcoming,” Bates said. “I think Berlin, as a whole, gets together and supports each other. The woman at the coffee house, when someone says, ‘hey where can we go to lunch?’ she always recommends us. When someone asks if we have cappuccino we say, ‘no we don’t, but you’re going to want to go over there.’ All the businesses are very supportive of each other. If we don’t have it, maybe somebody next door does.”
Sara Juarez, chef at Si’culi Rustic Italian Kitchen on 104 North Main Street, agreed that the town is evolving.
“Everybody knows that the businesses have good food – that’s what draws attention to a place,” she said. “If you don’t have good food you’re not going to get anything.”
Si’culi spins the farm-to-table approach into an Italian twist, using local produce and seafood in their signature wood-firing oven.
Assistant Manager Mark Thomas said tradition plays a large part in the success of so many area restaurants.
“It’s one of these towns that has been here so long that the local people support it,” he said. “You buy a car at Barrett’s because your grandfather bought a car from Barrett’s. You eat in Berlin because everybody from the area eats in Berlin. It keeps going. As long as you have good food people keep coming.”
Not everyone in town was convinced the recent success was entirely sustainable.
“This is the first year we’ve added two more restaurants,” said Berlin Coffee House Co-Owner Jason Hagy. “Whether or not they can sustain it through the winter is the question. I think during the summertime we get enough tourism in here to make it work, but will they make it through January, February and March?”
The shop, housed at 17 Jefferson Street, has actually cut back on their food offerings since several new restaurants opened their doors nearby.
“We’re more of the coffee and dessert after the restaurant,” Hagy said. “We actually send people to restaurants when they come in here looking for something to eat.”
That said, the shop still serves the black bean burger and egg salad sandwich that were on the menu when they opened five years ago.
“There are a lot of people who get that all the time and they expect that, but those are the only two that we’ve kept,” said Hagy. “Our food and our ice cream isn’t catered as much to the tourists that come through as much as it does to the regulars who come in here every single day. They don’t change, they don’t want different, they don’t want to try anything different – they just want the same thing for lunch.”
Waystead Inn Chef/Owner Mark Kauffman has an entirely different approach, offering exclusively custom-made menus by reservation only.
“We’re not a restaurant … but we are available for private parties,” he said. “All you have to do is call me. If you have an idea that you’d like to go out to dinner or lunch and you have ‘x’ number of friends, all you have to do is get that party together and I’ll make you a menu at a price that you name.”
The Waystead, tucked away just off Main Street on 15 Harrison Avenue, has a history similar to the Atlantic and The Globe. Kauffman took over in 2011, but the building dates back to 1790.
The chef called the inn, “a home away from home where people can feel as if they are being treated as they’d like to be treated.”
“I know the merchants around here get you talking and everybody knows if somebody is going to the inn,” Kauffman said. “I’ve had so many merchants say the people just gush about the breakfast. And the few people who have had dinners here in addition to breakfast have really had a great time.”
Reopened in April, Tex Mex & Country Cookin’ on 119 North Main Street is unique for its mashup menu of traditional southwestern and Mid-Atlantic fare.
“We know a lot of people want to know what the Eastern Shore cultural food is like,” said bartender Kelly Boyce.
Boyce, a direct example of the town’s penchant for cooperation, also works at Si’culi.  
“You go to Si’culi and the owner from the Burley Inn Tavern is in there getting a drink and having some pizza,” she said. “Everybody supports everybody else in Berlin.”
Ruth Koontz, Owner of Main Street Deli on 10 South Main Street, said great food is the bottom line in Berlin, although the Budget Travel “Coolest Small Town” honor did not hurt.
“Somebody once told me there’s no such thing as too many restaurants,” she said. “Your town becomes a destination because there’s so much of a choice, and I agree with that. It’s all different food – nobody is really doing the same thing as the next person and that’s the key – the fact that they’re all very different restaurants with very different price ranges and very different atmospheres.”
The proximity to a booming resort town may not hurt either.
“All the people that come to Ocean City for their stay want to come somewhere different, so they come to Berlin,” said Amanda Gilliam, who works at Rayne’s Reef Luncheonette. “It’s historic and it has a lot of character to it, so I think that’s why it draws a lot of people in.”
Gilliam’s brother bought the restaurant, located on 10 North Main Street, in 2004. Like much of the historic brick downtown, the building has stood for more than 100 years.
“We’re known for our burgers,” she said. “Every single morning we drive to the store to get fresh burger meat. We don’t freeze any of it – that’s what we’re known for.”
Ample parking, suggested Maryland Wine Bar owner Deborah Dashiell Everett, could also be a contributing factor.
“I think what makes the food work in Berlin is people can park for free – all day – and walk all through town and have a nice lunch and come in here and have a cocktail before they go to dinner,” she said. “I think the advantage that we have is that you park once and you can spend an entire day here. And you can get everything from coffee to a glass of wine to a lunch to dinner to breakfast. That’s really nice that we have the free parking, and it encourages people to come and spend the whole day.”
The bar, on 103 North Main Street, offers small plates like homemade crab dip and pâté, along with local wine and craft beer.
“I have a very, very tiny kitchen so I didn’t want to be a restaurant, but I wanted to have small accompaniments to go with my wine,” Everett said. “I also did not I want to compete with my friend Jen at The Globe or with the hotel.”
Everett called Maryland Wine Bar “Berlin’s version of a wine trail.”
“That was something they didn’t have in town before,” she said. “I know all the people who own the restaurants in town, and I didn’t want to really compete with them by having the same wines that they would have in their bars or restaurants. I wanted to have something a little bit different and give customers one more thing to do.”
Connie Mayers, who runs the truffle-happy Main Street Sweets on 116 North Main Street, has watched the restaurant renaissance with equal parts anticipation and pride.
“I think over time it all just came together,” she said. “People are shocked at how much it’s changed since just a few years ago, but in 2012 the town really started to open up with a lot of new businesses and I think that is a huge attraction that’s bringing more people into the town. I think our town is growing and it’s only going to be more recognized as time goes on.”