If you are on your way to the beach on Route 404 (off Route 50) in Maryland and looking for a restaurant with an appealing selection of “I want more of that” food and a staff that will welcome you as if you are one of the family, you should visit the Emerson House Restaurant in Denton, Md., where you will find not only outstanding food but also a unique experience.

Located in the home of former sea captain R. R. Emerson, the Emerson House offers dining in two downstairs rooms and on a porch that allows diners to catch a glimpse of the Choptank River and commune with nature while enjoying the restaurant’s ambiance. Occupying its current location since 2002, when it moved from the Denton firehouse, the restaurant seats 64 diners inside and another 30 outdoors.

You might wonder why a restaurant would settle in such unusual locations. The answer reveals part of the restaurant’s unique quality, because the Emerson House is also the Chesapeake Culinary Center, a school giving direction to at-risk young people in the Denton area by introducing them to the culinary arts. Through the center, students build skills along with confidence and hope for a future. Building confidence and hope takes more space than merely feeding hungry diners, so the Emerson House is expanding. There are plans to move the restaurant into an unused high school building down the street in the fall of 2009.

As owner of the Emerson House and Director of Chesapeake Culinary Center, Beth Brewster cites numerous success stories resulting from the training offered to young people at the Center while they work and wait tables at the restaurant. Chesapeake Culinary Center graduates have gone on to college and have also entered the hospitality industry, something they would never have dreamed possible before Brewster came along. 

Because the art of preparing, cooking and serving is taught here, the diners benefit almost as much as the students and staff. Many of the dishes have been created by the highly experienced head chef, Lucille Coen. Some are the result of collaboration on the part of the students and staff.  Tempting desserts have been created as well — with names like Chocolate Haze, a smooth blend of ricotta cheese and dark rich chocolate with a hint of hazelnut and covered with sour cream chocolate frosting; Citrus Scream Cake, a six-layer citrus-vanilla cake with sweet coconut cream frosting; and Popping Peachade Cupcakes, peach-poppy seed cupcakes with lemonade cream cheese frosting, served with lemon sherbet.

As you enter the Emerson House, the first thing you notice is the tempting display of cakes, cookies and chocolates in the glass case of the front room. Then you become aware of the warm atmosphere created by a staff that welcomes you. As a friendly staff member leads you to your table, original artwork bids you to stop and admire.

When the menu is placed in your hands, you know you are in for a treat. Lunch features soups, salads, hot entrees, hot or cold sandwiches and a selection of teas, coffee, soft drinks and milk. You can select your favorite tea from a wooden tea box brought to your table. The dinner menu features a tempting array of seafood, chicken, lamb and beef dishes with accompanying starch and vegetable, along with soup, salad and appetizers. You can also order sandwiches from the dinner menu. On Sunday, you can take advantage of the brunch from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

On a recent lunch visit to the Emerson House, I chose the Asian salad, featuring greens topped with Panko-encrusted chicken tenders, mandarin orange slices, toasted almonds and Chinese noodles. The dressing was a delicious herbed orange sesame vinaigrette. The greens were exceedingly fresh (no wilting leaves on this salad), and the chicken was so tender, warm and moist that it melted in my mouth. I not only enjoyed outstanding food but also impeccable service. My waiter, Felix Bethel, a former student, could not have been more attentive. He checked back regularly to ensure I had everything I needed, and refilled water and coffee without prompting.

Crops are bountiful in Caroline County, and Brewster has partnered with local farmers to use locally grown ingredients that ensure freshness. At the end of June, her restaurant will begin carrying local food products from the Shore Gourmet, a local enterprise of more than 25 businesses producing more than 35 gourmet products. These products include Smith Island Cake, Chesapeake Cheesecake, jelly, crab, sausage, cheese, honey, buffalo burgers and gourmet cookies.

When the Culinary Center and restaurant move in 2009, Brewster will share her commercial kitchen with local farmers, enabling them to meet the health requirement that their goods be produced in a commercial kitchen. She will also work with local farmers to create products from their natural food products, such as salsa from a crop of tomatoes or jelly from a crop of fruit. These products will then be sold, serving as a treat for visitors and locals alike.

Emerson House Restaurant is located at 4 South First Street, Denton, Md. From the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, follow Route 50 east, turn left on Route 404, take Business 404, cross Route 328 and go over the bridge. Stay straight toward town center, heading up Market Street (Business 404 goes to the right). The Emerson House Restaurant is on the immediate right at the corner of Market and First Streets. For more information or to make reservations, call 410-479-0015.