This Monday, Meg Hudson, former partner in Wilmington's Domaine Hudson, will debut Lula Brazil, a brand new concept for Rehoboth Beach — Brazilian dining and a Latin-flavored dance club. This will not be the churrascaria “meat on a sword” concept that people think of when they think Brazilian food (that concept sadly failed for Sirlae's last year in Ocean View/Millville), but will be coastal Brazilian, with an emphasis on seafood. It's been difficult upgrading and updating that old Cloud 9 building on Rehoboth Avenue, but she's making it happen.
What's up with the name, you might ask. Well, I did a bit of research and discovered that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the 35th president of Brazil. He was known popularly as Lula. However, I was just informed by none other than Ms. Hudson herself that the Brazilian president had nothing to do with her choice of the name. Apparently the Portugese word “Lula” means squid , or in more polite restaurant-speak, calamari. And I thought I was being so clever….
Chef Abde Dahrouch is the Executive Chef at Lula Brazil. He was the former executive chef of Taquet in Wayne, Pa. and was chef-owner of The Pond in Radnor, where he received a coveted three bell review from Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. Before Taquet, Dahrouch was executive chef and part-owner of La Terazza in Miami. He has also been a sous chef at Brasserie La Coze, also in Miami, and was sous chef at such D.C. restaurants as Jean Pierre, La Brasserie, and the Jean Louie at the Watergate complex.
African and Mediterranean influences will be apparent in his dishes served family-style.
