The Riverfront area is evolving daily, but some places remain constant. Venture down there for lunch, walk to the side of the shops that face the river and you'll find Molly's. For the last nine years, Molly's has resided in the space next to Timothy's, and has a nice little lunch menu with sandwiches, salads and soups.
Antique metal signs hang all over the walls, advertising everything from Coke to Aunt Jemima. There are a few tables, and a counter running along the wall for those who want to eat in. The space is dominated by a large ice cream case and another big candy case, filled with Asher candy that you can buy by the pound for $12.95. There are also Jelly Bellys separated into their own containers by flavor, so you can mix your own bag of jellybeans. Perfect for any of us with a sweet tooth.
Molly's is most known as an ice cream store, and we figured out what dessert we wanted as soon as we walked through the door (the drowning turtle, of course, but we'll get to that later).
While we'll never say no to an ice-cream lunch, this day was chilly and rainy so we decided we needed a little warm sustenance before we dove into the ice cream.
We started with a cup of their soup ($3.50 each), Maryland style crab, chili and chicken pot pie stew. The chili was filled with ground beef and kidney beans, and had a definite tomato, chili flavor, though it could have used some tortillia chips to give it crunch. Chunks of crab floated with a good number of vegetables in a thin broth that was a little spicy and a little sweet, making for a pretty good Maryland crab soup.
The chicken pot pie stew, however, was the clear winner. Giant chunks of chicken shared space in the bowl with flat noodles ("slippery dumplings," if you will), and chunks of potato, in a mixture so thick you could eat it with a fork. It was a bowl of real, stick-to-your-ribs comfort food.
The sandwich choices were basic -- tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, ham, turkey, roast beef and various club sandwiches, along with hot dogs.
Our resident vegetarian went with a cheese club ($6.95). Swiss, provolone and american cheeses joined the regular club members of tomato, lettuce and that third piece of bread to make a satisfying sandwich. (For a vegetarian at a deli, that is no small feat.)
It was specified on the menu that the corned beef special ($6.95), a sandwich with corned beef, cole slaw and russian dressing was not grilled, but once we got it, we missed the grilled-ness. While the corned beef was tasty we could have used a little more, and would have liked a crunchier, less sweet coleslaw.
We had no such complaints, however, about the turkey bacon club ($6.95). There was plenty of turkey and bacon, and as an added bonus, we got it on toasted pumpernickel bread -- a rare find at sandwich shops.
Dessert, which was decided as soon as I saw their sundae list, was the drowning turtle ($4). The sundae is based on the turtle candy, that delicious concoction of caramel, pecans and chocolate. They start with a base of butter pecan ice cream, they then pile chopped up pecan cluster candies on top (the Asher version of the turtle), then top it with chocolate sauce, caramel, whipped cream and a cherry. A delicious caramel candy on top of ice cream with various sauces? Sold.
MOLLY'S
928 Justison Street
Wilmington
984-2773
