New restaurants offer food ranging from burgers and brats to pitas and pupusas

Nation's Restaurant News predicts that in 2024 diners will be gripping their wallets more tightly than ever. Yet, more restaurants have opened recently or are coming soon in Delaware.

Here's a look at what you can look forward to:

Birdie’s Links and Drinks

320 Auto Park Dr., Middletown, 302-520-4653, birdieslinks.com

Certainly the physically largest opening of the year so far, Birdie's Links and Drinks is a new 30,000-square-foot golf-centric entertainment complex in Middletown with mini-golf, multiple golf simulators and a hundred-seat restaurant and bar with comfort food favorites from burgers to brats to flatbread pizza.

Co-owner Dylan Hannum said he spent months perfecting the barbecue sauce for the restaurant's pulled pork sandwich — a sauce that also adorns the restaurant's BBQ burger, one of four burgers on the menu. Also keeping with the Southern theme are hushpuppies, smoked pimento cheese and multiple variations on mac and cheese.

Items unique to Birdie's include a fusion "Rubano" combining corned beef and Swiss with pickles and mustard on Cuban bread, as well as a "guac-elote" appetizer melding street corn and guacamole. The restaurant and bar space is filled with TVs, and bar activities from giant Jenga to "Putterball" golf games.

Birdie's celebrated its grand opening on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

More: Sneak preview of Birdie's Links, Delaware's big new home to golf, BBQ and... boar hunting?

Kaisy's Delights

303 Main St., Millsboro

After more than eight years in downtown Rehoboth Beach, Kaisy's Delights closed its flagship breakfast and lunch spot on Rehoboth Avenue in late November and is moving to a new location in Millsboro.

The restaurant will operate in the former Delaware Trust Bank building at 303 Main St. According to a recent Facebook post, the opening was set for Thursday, Jan. 18.

Owner Thierry Langer's menu is based on his grandma‘s cookbook, and he offers staples from Austria, Hungary, Poland and France. The location at 1548 Savanna Road in Lewes resembles an Austrian chalet.

AK's Halal Bites

Ferry Cut Off St., New Castle, 302-327-0560, akhalalbites.com.

The halal hot chicken trend keeps, uh, heating up. AK's Halal Bites, from co-owner Muhammed Khan and his brother, offers a menu with fried chicken sandwiches both spicy and not, as well as halal takes on cheesesteak and chopped cheese. The restaurant's specialty, however, is beef or chicken shawarma shaved off a spit, available in both bowl and pita form.

The bright-walled take-out spot opened on Saturday, Jan. 6, and is the Khans' first restaurant in Delaware.

Salina’s Mexican Restaurant

714 Greenbank Road, Prices Corner

The first Salina's restaurant at 1847 Pulaski Highway in Bear, which gets its name from Salinas de Hidalgo in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, opened during the pandemic.

Now, a second restaurant has opened at 714 Greenbank Road near Prices Corner in the building that once housed the former Charcoal Pit Sports Bar and Restaurant. The Pit closed in the summer of 2022. Capano Management still owns the building. The flagship Charcoal Pit on Concord Pike is still operating.

Salina's had its grand opening in early December. The menu is inspired by the cuisine found in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi. It includes ceviche, flautas, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, sopes and soups like menudo.

House of Biryanis and Kebabs

1126 Capitol Trail, Ogletown, 302-725-3910, hbk-usa.com.

The Ogletown franchise of the fast-growing Indian chain House of Biryanis and Kebabs opened softly at the end of November. HBK, co-founded by entrepreneurs Syam Namballa and Mahi Reddy, has opened more than a dozen locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Its founders own an upscale ayurvedic restaurant, Ancient Spirits and Grille, that they bill as "the first herbal cocktail lounge in America."

House of Biryanis is a more casual and accessible affair. As the name implies, the restaurant offers myriad variations on its namesake biryani rice dish, as well as several other specialties from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. This ranges from a long-cooked goat and lentil stew called haleem, to a creamy chicken curry called dum ka murgh. The menu also features whole fish, countless takes on spicy goat or chicken, and a broad vegetarian menu, alongside a snacky array of sweet-spicy Indo-Chinese dishes like Gobi Manchurian, India's vegetarian answer to General Tso's.

Pupusas Niña Mary

157 S. Dupont Highway, New Castle, 302-647-2763.

The Salvadoran specialty of pupusas — flavorful corn-masa patties stuffed with cheese and often other delicious things — is becoming an increasingly familiar sight in these parts. But Pupusas Niña Mary still stands mostly alone in its heartening devotion to pupusas and nothing but pupusas.

The food truck, stationed most days outside South Dupont Liquors, serves eight kinds of pupusa, each laden with the traditional pickled cabbage and sauce. Bean-stuffed pupusas. Pork and chicken-stuffed pupusas. Cheesy pupusas with cactus flowers or spinach or jalapenos.

And that's it, that's what it serves. Maybe some coffee, or a hearty Latin American drink called atole. Maybe a little dessert. But if you're here, you're here for pupusas. And here they are.

Bubbakoo's Burritos

1915 Lake Seymour Drive, Middletown, 302-613-2250, bubbakoos.com.

A unique Jersey Shore burrito franchise has just made its way to Middletown in January.

Bubbakoo's Burritos offers a variety of made-to-order Mexican-fusion items such as hibachi steak and shrimp, Nashville hot chicken, and General Tso's chicken served as customized burritos, tacos, nachos, tostada salads, or quesadillas.Founder and co-owner Paul Altero and business partner Bill Hart started Bubbakoo's in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, in 2008 after moving together through the corporate ladder at burger chain Johnny Rockets. The chain has now franchised to more than 100 locations in 16 states. Its name, Bubbakoo's, is a made-up word that Altero describes as a "lifestyle" or "utopia."

If you're looking for this fictional burrito utopia in Delaware, it's now located in Middletown behind the HomeGoods and Ashley Furniture Store, next to Tommy's Express Car Wash.

Buffalo Wild Wings

104 Silicato Parkway, Milford

On Dec. 18, High 5 Hospitality opened the doors of its newest Buffalo Wild Wings sports bar in Milford. The restaurant offers a variety of dining options, including dine-in, pickup, and delivery as well as a sports bar.

This is the ninth Buffalo Wild Wings establishment for High 5 Hospitality since its inception in 2004. The restaurant group celebrate its 20th year in business in 2024.

The company also operates several Jersey Mike's locations and the independent concept Limestone BBQ and Bourbon. High 5 closed its reboot of Newark's iconic Stone Balloon at the end of last year.

Applebee's

 4301 Kirkwood Highway, Milltown

A grand reopening of the newly remodeled Applebee's restaurant was set for Thursday, Jan. 18.

The restaurant plans to offer a $10 burger bundle, that includes the option of a bacon cheeseburger, cheeseburger or hamburger, along with fries and a soft drink. The dine-in-only deal is available through Sunday, Jan. 28.

The remodeled Applebee's now has bright dining areas with multiple seating options, including private booths; a fresh, modern contemporary design; and new exterior signage and artwork.

Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2861 and follow her on X (Twitter) @pattytalorico Sign up for her  Delaware Eats newsletter. Matthew Korfhage is a business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all the things that touch land and money. This may include tacos, oysters or beer. Send tips and insults to mkorfhage@gannett.com.

Coming soon: These Mexican and Italian-American restaurants are opening near Delaware in 2024

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 9 new Delaware restaurants to try from pupusas to halal hot chicken