By Greg Ellison

(May 13, 2021) Opened last week just six months after it was conceived of, the Sterling Tavern at 119 N. Main Street in Berlin carries forward a family tradition for owners Matt and Brooke Borrelli.

Selbyville native Matt Borrelli said the new venture got underway after he began to weigh a career change last year.

“I’ve been selling point-of-sale computers for almost 20 years,” he said.

The Borrelli family was considering opening a dining establishment, and after initially scouting locations in Selbyville, eventually settled on the former site of Fins Ale House on Main Street.

With the spot selected, the couple looked for branding inspiration.

“We ended up naming it the Sterling Tavern, which was my grandparents’ place from Delaware City,” he said.

George and Peg Sterling operated Sterling’s Tavern and the Central Hotel, even living on site to operate the long-established business.

Photo by Greg Ellison
Matt and Brooke Borrelli, pictured with their daughter, Maggie, opened the Sterling Tavern on Main Street in Berlin last week.

“The building they were in dated back to the civil war,” he said. “They had an inn upstairs and a restaurant and bar downstairs.”

Borrelli said the Delaware City location served a multitude of purposes before his grandparents’ era.

“At one point and time, it was a fur trading place,” he said. “Then it was an oyster house and the basement was full of oyster shells.”

Besides sourcing family history to tag the new dining establishment, the Borrellis borrowed culinary guidance.

“I got my grandmother’s recipe for the claw chowder they used to serve,” he said.

Starting with that staple, the Borrellis fleshed out the menu with an array of upscale tavern fare.

“We wanted to do some entrees, small plates and appetizers,” he said. “Different stuff not everybody is doing in town.”

Beyond hand-patted burgers and fresh-cut fries, the Sterling Tavern also has distinct offerings such as crab salad on a fried avocado and pretzels with a house-made beer cheese.

“We’re selling a ton of beer cheese and pretzels,” he said. “We’re making the beer cheese here with a local Delaware beer.”

Other top sellers during opening week included the grilled Mahi BLT and the oysters Rockefeller burger.

“We’ve got 12 beers on tap and good happy-hour prices,” he said. “We’ve got some craft beer but we also carry Natural Light and Miller Light.”

After opening the restaurant to the public last Tuesday, Borrelli said the operation hit full tilt over the weekend, despite having only a few days to warm up.

“We were slammed Friday through Sunday,” he said. “I ordered food on Saturday that we still ran out of on Sunday afternoon.”

Despite the early challenges, Borrelli said initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It was our first week to learn and work through it,” he said. “We’ve already got some really good reviews online about our food.”

Speaking on Monday, Borrelli credited general manager Chad Rogers for helping the couple with planning and opening the Sterling Tavern.

“The three of us put the whole thing together,” he said.

Because of ongoing pandemic restrictions all health-safety guidelines are being followed.

“I put up dividers in the downstairs dining room so we could seat booths back-to-back,” he said.

Borrelli also said heaters are being situated near outdoor dining areas this week.

“I didn’t think we’d need them but it’s still cool outside,” he said. “We had people sitting outside in jackets yesterday.”

Borrelli said the early success enjoyed last week wouldn’t have been feasible without a strong supporting cast.

“Thanks to the great staff we had a good opening and a good week,” he said.