UD's Cake Boss vending machine, Celebrity Chefs' brunch, Chef Dan Butler's new eats

Good morning, Delaware food lovers.

Dan Butler is considered one of the city's (and the state's) most respected restaurateurs. He has been operating Toscana Italian restaurant in Trolley Square since 1991. So, I was all ears when he told me he wanted to share news about the new restaurant he and partner Brian Walsh are opening soon in downtown Wilmington. Dan hasn't opened a new restaurant since his Brandywine Prime steakhouse in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in 2007. (OK, he did have a pizza/panini stall for about a year at Chancery Market, but that wasn't a full-fledged restaurant.) Here are all the details about Butler and Walsh's breakfast and lunch restaurant The BlueBird scheduled to open on April 22.

What I'm cooking

My mom is a great cook and so was her grandmother. She was recently reminiscing about meals her grandmother used to cook for her and mentioned chicken with creamed cauliflower . I mostly eat roasted cauliflower these days and seldom anything creamed, but I wanted to make her a dish that reminded her of her grandmother. I had roasted a head of cauliflower earlier in the day and then started looking for recipes to use it in. I came across this more modern version of creamy chicken and roasted cauliflower that also includes baby spinach from the Damn Delicious website. It was perfect on a rainy evening. You use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, which I baked instead of pan-fried, but you can also follow the recipe.

What else is happening

🍰 Cake Boss Buddy Valastro came to Newark on Tuesday, April 9 for a formal ribbon cutting of his cake vending machine at the University of Delaware's Trabant University Center. The machine has been there since at least October 2023 . It is the first one on the university's campus. Valastro has visited UD before. His daughter Sofia is a hospitality business management major at UD's Lerner College. She expects to graduate in 2025.

🎭 Actor Jim Belushi dined at the Chesapeake Inn & Marina in Chesapeake City, Maryland, on Wednesday, April 3. He ate sushi. The restaurant is owned by the Martuscelli family who also runs the Delaware restaurants Klondike Kate's and La Casa Pasta. The Maryland restaurant, near the Delaware state line, occasionally gets celebrity guests. The late Jimmy Buffett docked his boat there in October 2020 and ordered food from the restaurant.

🥓 The annual Celebrity Chefs' Brunch is Sunday at the DuPont Country Club. VIP entry is at 11 a.m., others at 11:30 a.m. The Meals on Wheels Delaware fundraiser features brunch dishes made by local and international chefs, such as Delaware James Beard Award nominee Matthew Kern and the return of popular chef Don Drake from Magnolias in Charleston, South Carolina. Tickets range from $75 to $175. Visit mealsonwheelsde.org for more information and to purchase tickets.

📺 Valerie Bertinelli (a former Delawarean) got canned from the Food Network. And while maybe she is a tad bit disgruntled, s he also says what I've been feeling for a long time: the Food Network is now more about culinary game show competitions than home cooking.

🥯 Last week, we told you Surf Bagel was celebrating 20 years in business on Sunday, April 14. A Delaware Eats reader asked if a Fenwick Island location was coming soon. We contacted Marketing Manager Katie Frederick and she said: "We're stoked to bring the best bagels around to Fenwick as soon as possible, but we do not have an exact date yet." Stay tuned. We'll let you know when we know.

🍷 Winterthur Museum is hosting a wine event set in its gardens this Saturday, April 20, from noon to 3 p.m.. Tables of wine varietals, courtesy of Moët Hennessy, will be set throughout the garden that is now blooming with cheerful masses of Narcissus. The event includes live music and local plein-air artists. Daffodils are one of the few plants Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont would write about and one in which he maintained a lifelong interest. The cost is $55 for non-members; $30 for designated drivers, and includes four wines and a Winterthur stemless wineglass. It's outdoors, so dress for the weather and wear shoes suitable for walking on uneven terrain. The rain date is Sunday, April 21. Register at winterthur.org/calendar/wine-through-winterthur-sip-among-the-blooms-2/

🚚 9 food trucks are on a roll in Delaware and offer campfire pizza, lobster, tacos & more. Read all about 'em.

🐥 Popeyes added a new signature chicken sandwich to its menu. Here's what it tastes like

🍽️ City Restaurant Week continues this week in Wilmington. See more here.

📝 Have you scanned the Delaware Online restaurant inspection database ? It's updated every 24 hours and lists recent inspections and current violations as they are reported. Delaware has more than 3,500 food establishments — not just restaurants but anywhere from bakeries to church kitchens to school cafeterias that prepare food — inspected twice a year.

If you want to read more stories from Patricia Talorico, click here. You can find her on Instagram , X and Facebook . Email ptalorico@delawareonline.com or leave a message at 302-324-2861. Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: UD's Cake Boss vending machine, Celebrity Chefs' brunch, Chef Dan Butler's new eats