Dean Neff said he was as excited as a kid in a candy shop when his new restaurant PinPoint opened last week.

“I was in heaven to be cooking in this new space,” Neff said.

Neff and business partner Jeff Duckworth had talked about collaborating on a restaurant in the Wilmington area for a while. When 114 Market St. became available, they knew that the time had come to turn those dreams into reality.
 
“I knew if we could get this space I would drop everything and make this work,” Neff said. “This building really spoke to me and I knew I could operate the kind of restaurant I dreamed of in this space.”

PinPoint’s menu focuses on seasonal, local produce as well as locally sourced proteins. Neff says he likes to take traditional southern dishes and refine them, putting a fresh spin on some of the more classic preparations.

Take his blue crab cakes, which are served with crispy spring onions and okra, sunflowers and sauce gribiche. The menu also features cornmeal-crusted catfish with creamed grits, seared spring onions, bok choy, chicken-braised maitake mushrooms, green tomatoes and a preserved lemon brown butter. Neff’s braised Berkshire pork shoulder is served with dirty rice, pickled watermelon rind, arugula, roasted shallots and a maple-boiled peanut jus.

Duckworth and Neff have nearly 30 years of restaurant experience between them. Duckworth was previously an operating partner in a number of Bojangles franchises in the metro-Atlanta area and Neff was a protégé of James Beard Award-winning chef and cookbook author Hugh Acheson. Duckworth will focus on daily operations while Neff will serve as executive chef.

A highlight of the menu is the family-style vegetable plates that showcase the best seasonal vegetables at any given time, Neff said.

“So often I feel like vegetables are really just an after-thought,” Neff said. “And I really want to show people how amazing they can be. I want to serve food that makes people feel good when they leave.”

Neff says he is thrilled to be working with local farmers to provide the best possible seasonal produce to his diners. “By investing in better products everyone wins, the farmers and the diners,” he said.

As for dessert, pastry chef Lydia Clopton also works with seasonal produce. Her strawberry layer cake recently took first place at the Wilmington Wine and Food Festival.

Neff says he hopes to open for brunch and lunch in the coming months. For now PinPoint is closed on Tuesday, but open Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10:30 p.m.

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