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Cape Cod Chillingsworth For years, this rambling 1689 Cape Cod house has been known for the finest dining on the Cape. For two years in a row it outranked all 500 Boston restaurants in the Zagat survey and chef-owner Robert (Nitzi) Rabin recently won Gourmet magazine’s Great American Chef award. In an era of shortcuts and cost-shaving, he is one of the last of a breed maintaining a tradition of fine dining. The quaint and unassuming exterior gives little clue to the treasures inside – room after room full of priceless furnishings, antiques and museum pieces leading to the large rear Terrace Room in which we dined. The contemporary French dinner consists of seven courses at a fixed price of $54 to $67, depending upon choice of entrée. Ours began most auspiciously with a grilled duck and pepper quesadilla with coriander and tomatillo salsa and a feuilleté of oysters with spinach and lemon-butter sauce with roe. The cream of mussel soup that followed was superb, as was the consommé of mushrooms. A second helping of the night's squash bread was followed by a salad of four baby leaf lettuces, arugula, radicchio and sorrel, enriched with a crouton of warm chèvre and dressed with a zesty vinaigrette. All that was literally prelude to superior entrées, beautifully presented. The breast of duck was garnished with citrus rind and fanned in slices around the plate, interspersed with kiwi and papaya slices. The lamb with veal kidneys was grilled with herbs from Chillingsworth’s garden. Chillingsworth teamed grilled rare tuna loin with wasabi butter sauce long before it became the rage. Now it offers rare seared tuna tournedos with foie gras and loin of elk with a fig and sundried cranberry sauce. Desserts, which follow a plate of cookies called “amusements,” are ambrosial. We enjoyed the raspberry tuile and hazelnut dacquoise with coffee butter cream. Intense chocolate truffles accompany the bill and ease the moment of reckoning. Nitzi and his wife Pat also offer
creative lunches and casual dinners in their contemporary bistro and
greenhouse lounge area with plants, skylights and walls of glass.
Upstairs, the Rabins have three elegant guest rooms and suites for
overnight stays (two-night minimum, $110 to $150, B&B). (508) 896-3640 or (800) 430-3640. Prix-fixe,
$62.50
to $70. Lunch in summer, Tuesday-Sunday 11:30 to 2:30. Dinner by
reservation, Tuesday-Sunday, seatings at 6 and 9; weekends only in
spring and fall. Closed after Thanksgiving to mid-May.
This elegant restaurant in a handsome 1790 Federal-style house has been lovingly run since 1987 by Wendy and Brantz Bryan, whose landmark Regatta in Falmouth was the highlight of our Cape Cod summer adventures for more than three decades until it closed to our disappointment in 2001. While the Falmouth restaurant was summery, New Yorkish and on the waterfront, the Cotuit venture serves up terrific seafood, regional dishes and New England Americana year-round. Eight dining rooms, one with only two tables, are beautifully appointed in shades of pink and green, with authentic print wallpapers, needlepoint rugs and furnishings of the period. Tables are set with pink and white Limoges china, crystal glassware and fine silver. Executive chef Heather Allen has helped the Regatta earn a reputation for fine dining every bit as stellar as that of Chillingsworth, which is more widely known. Appetizers are oriented toward the sea: from housemade ravioli with lobster and scallops to sautéed crab cakes with lemon-cilantro vinaigrette. The seafood trilogy is a winner: one spring night produced shrimp tempura, blackened tuna sashimi and grilled scallops. We gobbled up a rich chilled lobster and sole terrine, served with a saffron sauce garnished with truffles, and loved the broiled Wellfleet oysters with black American caviar. A complimentary sorbet follows the appetizer course. Our dinner could have ended happily there, but on came the entrées. The seafood fettuccine contained more shrimp, scallops, lobster and artichoke hearts than it did spinach pasta, and the pan-seared fillet of halibut came with a key lime beurre blanc, lobster mashed potatoes, haricots verts and sea bean salad. At a recent visit we enjoyed the palette of fresh fish, each with its own sauce (yellowfin tuna with pinot noir sauce and roasted shallots, and swordfish with caramelized-lemon and white-butter sauce), and the grilled breast of pheasant. Next time we must sample the signature buffalo tenderloin, the presentation varying each evening. Brantz says the Regatta sells more tenderloin of buffalo and elk than any restaurant on the East Coast. Desserts are high points. The chocolate seduction on a lovely patterned raspberry sauce and the grand marnier crème brûlée garnished with red and gold raspberries and blackberries are among the best we’ve tasted. Best bet is a tasting trilogy of three favorites ($14.50 for two). Ours brought a chocolate truffle cake, almond torte with framboise sauce and hand-dipped chocolate strawberries. With dessert comes coffee in delicate cups. The wine list, which emphasizes good reds, is priced from the high teens. The Regatta’s decor is a wonderful sight, matched by the colorful trousers of Brantz Bryan, who explains that he wears them in summer “to make people laugh and feel at ease.” He and Wendy were the first high-end restaurateurs on our travels to anticipate the change in eating habits in the early 1990s and offer alternatives. They added three-course early dinners, as well as a bar menu offering many of the evening's appetizers. Perhaps such flexibility is why the Bryans have been so successful with their Regattas for more than 30 years. (508) 428-5715. Entrées, $23 to $35. Dinner
nightly, 5 to 10; closed Monday in winter.
The exterior is strictly old The food is on the cutting edge, with inspired
touches of regional Bill, elected to the Master Chefs of For starters, we were impressed with a caesar salad as good as we can make at home and the fried goat-cheese raviolis on a lovely tomato coulis, with asparagus spears and frizzles of leek radiating out. Recent choices included light spinach gnocchi with shaved manchego cheese and roasted tomato sauce, lobster salad on a bed of baby arugula and toasted brioche, house-cured duck prosciutto salad and a trio of house-cured seafood (monkfish pâté, salmon gravlax and scallop seviche). Main courses range from porcini-crusted salmon with
sauce duglère to grilled veal sirloin with madeira sauce. The pan-roast
organic chicken breast might be accented with preserved lemon and fresh
thyme. The native bouillabaisse, in a tomato-saffron broth, is served in
custom-designed bowls from the nearby Scargo Pottery. Our choices
could not have been better: roast boneless Open to the dining porch, the new lounge holds a handful of tables and a stunning bar, all made of the South American hardwood angelique used in ships, an appropriate choice for the one-time ship’s chandlery. A bistro menu is offered here for $15 to $17. The distinguished wine list, 300 choices strong, has been cited by Wine Spectator. (508) 385-2133 or (800) 480-2133.
www.redpheasantinn.com. Entrées, $19 to $32. Dinner nightly,
Veteran restaurateur Marietta Hickey was among the
first to bring northern Italian cooking to The kitchen executes an ambitious menu created by Entrées range from breast and confit of poussin
roasted with prosciutto and rosemary to grilled beef tenderloin with
cabernet demi-glace. Typical options include almond-crusted wild Desserts are to die for, especially the raspberry-peach mousse torte, the vanilla bean panna cotta with mixed berry compote and the banana fritters with vanilla ice cream and rum-caramel sauce. Finish with the seductive Abbicci cappuccino, a heavily liqueured concoction that might just finish you off. The extensive wine list is mostly Italian, well chosen in a broad price range. We returned lately for a lunch that got off to a shaky start with too-loud jazz playing in the background and niggardly glasses of white wine. Things improved with crumbly, piping-hot rolls and our main choices: a kicky steak sandwich with arugula and gorgonzola, served on grilled country bread, and an assertive linguini and shellfish, with all kinds of vegetables from squash and peppers to tomatoes and asparagus. Warm raisin gingerbread with lemon mousse and applejack brandy sauce was a memorable dessert. The decor is crisp and contemporary in white and
black. Bottles of San Pellegrino water and olive oil act as centerpieces
on the white-clothed tables. The subdued maps of ancient (508) 362-3501. www.abbicci.com. Entrées, $26
to $34. Lunch, Monday-Saturday The Bramble Inn &
Restaurant White linens, pretty floral china in the Ruth and Cliff Manchester, who got their start at his parents’ Old Manse Inn nearby, have continued the tradition here – lately augmented by their daughters and sons-in-law, all talented chefs in their own right. Star chef Ruth, an inventive cook, is still the
inspiration and guiding light for the family-run endeavor. Joining her
in the kitchen are her sons-in-law, David Plum, formerly of the famed
Ryland Inn in The four-course, prix-fixe dinners ($44 to $68,
depending on choice of entrée) draw rave press reviews and a devoted
following. The soups are triumphs: perhaps Ruth has fun with the appetizers, among them a
roasted Tuscan vegetable “caviar” bruschetta, clam and black bean
hush puppies with chipotle pepper-tartar sauce or an “SLT,” a
Scottish smoked salmon rillette in a tomato flute. We were mighty
impressed with the A salad or sorbet precedes the main course, the choices ranging from flat fish ka’anapali (boneless stacked fillets of local catch with banana stuffing, pickled ginger-melon salsa and citrus beurre blanc) to pinenut-crusted rack of lamb with a gingered carrot and crème fraîche puree. Ruth’s version of surf and turf is parchment-roasted chicken with lazy lobster in a champagne sauce. We loved her signature dish – assorted seafood curry – combining lobster, cod, scallops and shrimp in a light curry sauce accompanied by banana, coconut, almonds and chutney. Desserts are inventive: white-chocolate coeur à la crème (a recipe requested by Bon Appétit magazine), a strawberry mousse and angel cake tower layered with vanilla crème fraîche, and a treat called lemon jewel tarte, a toasted pistachio butter pastry lined with blueberries and topped with a baked lemon filling, brandied whipped cream and blueberry-maple nectar. The small, paneled Hunt Room houses a service bar. The limited but serviceable wine list offers good values. (508) 896-7644. www.brambleinn.com. Prix-fixe, $44 to $68. Dinner by reservation, nightly except Monday in summer, 6 to 9; Thursday-Sunday in spring and fall. Closed January to early May.
Mediterranean-Thai cuisine is the unusual pairing at
this chic charmer that began as a takeout shop. French-trained
chef-owner Erez Pinhas and his wife Christina Bratberg, a New Yorker
whose family had summered on the From their basement kitchen, Erez and sous chef Pry
Grasint, a cook from House favorites among main courses include a
terrific scallop and shrimp pad thai, duck breast with gnocchi and
broccolini in a satay sauce, and spice-rubbed grilled rack of lamb.
Exotic flavors enhance such options as The taste treats culminate in memorable desserts. Among them are caramel cheesecake with poached pears, lemongrass crème brûlée, rhubarb napoleon with strawberry sorbet, and warm walnut-date pudding cake with toffee sauce and ginger ice cream. The wine list, from boutique wineries around the world, is as unusual as the rest of the fare. (508) 255-8144. www.abbarestaurant.com. Entrées, $25 to $34. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday from 5.
Poised in a pillared Greek
Revival sea captain’s house, this stylish restaurant garnered rave
reviews shortly after opening – one calling it the town’s best and
probably the hottest restaurant on the entire Cape.
Owners John Guerra and Jay
Coburn, who know their food and wine, named it for their pet airedale
terrier. Jay oversees the kitchen staff of seven, while John, a former
diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service, manages the front of the house. The dining room with
butter yellow walls and white trim is pristine and serene. A few
artworks provide color. Rows of tables are lined up ever-so-perfectly
facing banquettes along walls on two sides. The demeanor is proper to
the point of being uptight – some find it a bit austere. Understated, beautifully
presented food is the hallmark of the kitchen staff, who procure local
seafood and pick produce from a garden behind the restaurant. The
menu is short and focused, listing all the ingredients, as in roasted
Atlantic salmon with carrots and harissa, carrot puree, garden-grown
mint pesto and sugar snap peas. Other main courses in the seasonal
repertoire might be butter-poached lobster with orzo and mascarpone,
roast free-range chicken with sage cream and brussels sprout-bacon-apple
hash, and grilled lamb sirloin with parsnip-celery root puree and
maple-glazed cranberries. Starters included cod cakes with celery root rémoulade, an item called “quack, quack: confit of duck with polenta and house-smoked duck breast with micro greens salad” and a trio of beets: red and golden beet napoleon with chèvre, roasted beet tartare and truffled beet micro greens. Dessert could be peach tarte tatin with basil ice
cream, molten bittersweet chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet and
chocolate tuile, individual goat-cheese cheesecakes with poached figs
and pistachio praline, homemade ice creams and sorbets, or a selection
of artisanal camembert cheeses with muscat-poached apricots. (508) 487-8200.
www.chesterrestaurant.com. Entrées, $27 to $39. Dinner nightly in
season, from 6; fewer nights off-season. Closed January-March. The
Mews Restaurant & Café Innovative fare is offered here in a dynamite
waterfront setting – a romantic downstairs dining room that looks like
an extension of the beach just outside its walls of glass. The designer
even took samples of sand to Owner Ron Robin and executive chef Laurence de Freitas feature American fusion cuisine. A basket of breads arrived as we were seated for dinner. Among appetizers, we liked the oysters with crabmeat béchamel and pancetta, albeit a precious little serving that we had planned to share, and a classic caesar salad. Garlicky shrimp with a chile pepper sauce, panko-crusted calamari with a szechuan cilantro-lime sauce and tempura-fried tuna maki rolls with a spicy mayo are among the fiery possibilities. Main courses range from hoisin-brushed, sesame-crusted Atlantic salmon with sweet chili sauce to Mediterranean spice-rubbed rack of lamb. Our smoked pork tenderloin with apricot-serrano chile sauce was served with sweet potato polenta, while the shrimp curry came in a puff pastry with black mission figs. Creamy key lime pie was a hit from the dessert tray, as was the ginger-chocolate pot de crème. Service was polished and the food preparation satisfying, but the romantic beachside setting – illuminated as darkness fell – is what remains etched in our memories. The upstairs bar area called Café Mews offers a casual American bistro menu of appetizers, sandwiches, pastas and lighter entrées. Here you’ll also find a vodka bar, billed as New England’s largest, with more than 175 brands from 27 countries. (508) 487-1500. www.mews.com. Entrées, $23 to
$32; café, $9.95 to $21.95. Dinner nightly, from 6. Sunday brunch, Wequassett
Inn Cape Cod has perhaps no more majestic water view amid more elegant surroundings than from the restored, 18th-century “square top” sea captain's mansion that houses the dining room at this venerable inn, resort and golf club. After a $2 million renovation, the dining facility
reopened under a new name, Twenty-Eight These are the varied settings for superior food
created by executive chef Bill Brodsky, most recently from the
Charleston Grill in the Menus come in weighty double covers that contain gel resembling sea water, sand and shells. The food descriptions cannot do justice to the complexities of the innovative combinations of ingredients nor their architectural presentations. Dinner might start with a trio of tartare – spicy yellowfin tuna, gingered hamachi and truffled salmon – or a trio of tomato and goat cheese – chilled soup, parfait and sandwich. The wait staff has a bit of explaining to do when it comes to the duo of foie gras (one seared with coffee and fig french toast and the other a torchon with eos jelly), the composed salad of baby lola rossa and tango with candied pecans, and the lobster egg foo young with thai basil puree and lemon-soy butter. More exotica is imparted in such entrées as shallow poached dayboat haddock with trout roe sauce, crispy trout with caviar butter and ratatouille moderne, and roasted lamb with yellow pepper-black bean romesco. The strip steak comes with a trio of sauces, and the beef tenderloin may be enhanced with seared foie gras. Desserts could include crème brûlée, cranberry mousse in an almond tuile with a red and white sauce underneath looking as lacy as a doily, and a frozen chambord mousse in a parfait glass. With candles lit and reflecting in the windows, it’s a romantic atmosphere in which to linger over cappuccino and cordials. (508) 432-5400 or (800) 225-7125. Entrées,
$24 to $42. Lunch daily, Pisces “Coastal cooking” is the theme of this summery,
low-profile charmer, ensconced in a sweet yellow house up against the
road. Chef-owner Susan L. Connors named it for a favorite Sue, who became executive chef at the The menu is rolled up in a blue ribbon. Untie it to reveal a panoply of culinary treats. Look for appetizers such as seared rare tuna drizzled with wasabi-lime mustard and soy glaze, served with a gingered vegetable salad, and crab and lobster cakes with mango salsa and sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Sue’s risotto of the day is always a good choice, as are her pasta dishes, perhaps lobster ravioli with sautéed mushrooms, butter beans and parmesan-prosciutto cream. Typical main courses are a Mediterranean-style fisherman’s stew in a saffron-lobster broth, grilled salmon fillet with dill-butter sauce and roasted local cod brushed with lemon-thyme oil. Meat-eaters are well served by the likes of a veal T-bone chop with portobello mushroom and balsamic demi-glace and grilled garlic-rubbed ribeye steak topped with creamy gorgonzola butter. Sweet endings could be a signature oreo cookie cheesecake, bananas foster and chocolate-walnut tart. The Godiva chocolate martini is recommended for an unusual “dessert in a glass.” (508) 432-4600. www.piscesofchatham.com. Entrées,
$20 to $27. Dinner nightly in summer, from 5; Wednesday-Sunday in
off-season. Closed December-March. L’Alouette
Bistro Modern French cuisine is served up with style at
this old-timer under new ownership. Proprietors Alan and Gretchen
Champney took over the shingled Executive chef Steven Graves accompanied the couple from the Nauset Beach Club and Abbicci, where the men had worked together for eleven years. They rewrote the French menu in simplified style in keeping with their dramatic new logo. The chef is known for spectacular sauces, as in a
lime, coriander and cumin beurre blanc for the seared diver scallops and
a basil oil and saffron red pepper vinaigrette for the tapenade-crusted
salmon. A gingered-mustard sauternes sauce dresses the roasted chicken,
and a Typical starters range widely from a chilled summer gazpacho with poached shrimp to a foie gras torchon with pear chutney on toasted brioche. You might also find a gratin of native mussels, warm oysters with a light fennel curry and salmon caviar, escargots in puff pastry and a pepper-seared tuna napoleon with miso vinaigrette. The pastry chef’s desserts run from tarte tatin to crème brûlée to a trio of chocolate mousse – chocolate grand marnier, white chocolate with pistachio and bittersweet with raspberry sauce and crème anglaise. The well-chosen wine list is categorized by French regions and “new world.” Fine estate-bottled wines, poured in Riedel stemware, are featured at good values from the high twenties. (508) 439-0405. www.lalouettebistro.com. Entrées,
$22 to $34. Dinner nightly, from 5. 902
A romantic glow is cast by candles and tiny white lights flickering everywhere – behind the bar, above the mantel, inside the fireplace, reflected in gilt-framed mirrors – in this 45-seat restaurant hidden inside a former pizza parlor. Even the funky restrooms sparkle, from a chandelier overhead and gems embedded in the sinks. Gilbert and Kolleen Pepin, Maine natives who trained
at the Regatta in Cotuit, returned from Florida in 2003 to open their
own stylish restaurant to unusually quick and high acclaim, he in the
kitchen and she out front. Within two years, the Zagat Survey propelled
it into one of the its top-rated The unassuming roadhouse exterior and the plain-jane
name mask an enterprise of uncommon appeal, from superior food to
charming ambiance to flawless service. At a spring dinner, two
unexpected amusés – a smoked salmon canapé and mozzarella with
tapenade – hinted at the treats to follow. Homemade bread arrived
fresh from the oven in a tin basket and a Crosspoint chardonnay from Champagne sorbet topped with lemon zest in a liqueur glass cleared the palate for our entrées, sautéed soft-shell crabs in a winning lemon, caper and brown butter sauce and fabulous sautéed lobster and shrimp, served with white wine-butter sauce, oyster mushrooms, sugar snap peas and lemon fettuccine. Other choices that night ranged from bouillabaisse and roasted duck breast and leg with port wine and cranberry sauce to grilled buffalo sirloin sauced with cabernet horseradish cream and grilled veal tenderloin with morel cream sauce. Starters included smooth lobster bisque with aioli toast, a smoked salmon palette (smoked, tartare and cured), homemade game sausage and sautéed foie gras with morels and sauternes sauce. Desserts were a raspberry napoleon, chocolate trilogy, grand marnier crème brûlée and homemade mango sorbet. The mix of booths and well spaced tables, elegant yet homey, made for a comfortable dining experience. (508) 398-9902. www.902main.com. Entrées, $25 to
$33. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday from Bleu The menu arrives in two slabs of wood tied together at this with-it new bistro in the up-and-coming Mashpee Commons lifestyle center. The interior of the restaurant is cool in shades of blue with rust accents and white paper globe lights hanging from the ceiling. A sleek aquarium occupies a central position in the front bar. Executive chef Frederic Feufeu, a native of At night, regulars go for the bistro specialties, ranging from salmon baked on an oak wood plank to braised rabbit casserole with smoked bacon and wild mushrooms in sparkling cider. Other entrées vary from potato-crusted halibut with miso-mustard hollandaise to roasted rack of lamb with a pecan and goat cheese crust. Starters might be “Fred’s bacalao” codfish chowder, scallop seviche over daikon radish and cucumber, poached foie gras au torchon, or the night’s “trio for two,” at our visit salmon tartare with fennel cream and fried shrimp tempura; assorted tomato tartare with basil oil and reggiano toast, and duck terrine with wild mushrooms and cranberries and garlic sausage. Typical desserts are caramelized apple tarte tatin with crème fraîche, hot chocolate truffle cake with vanilla bean ice cream and raspberry crème brûlée. (508) 539-7907. www.bleurestaurant.com. Entrées,
$18 to $29. Lunch, Monday-Saturday Chapatuoit
Grill People wait up to two hours on busy nights for one of the 95 seats in this trendy but affordable grill. They come for wood-fired pizzas from a huge brick oven that occupies an open room off the entry, “big-flavored” appetizers and entrées, specials that are truly special and a wine list with many choices priced under $20. Unassuming on the outside, “Chappy’s” is much bigger than it looks with a bar and waiting area and a large rear dining room. The last has a vaguely tropical theme: splashy patterned cloths on the widely spaced tables, colorful sea prints on the salmon-colored walls and the odd fish silhouette hanging from a trellis screening the two-story-high ceiling. The printed menu offers appetizers like littleneck clams steamed Portuguese style, deep-fried calamari, and the chef’s antipasti. Entrées range from penne alla vodka and wild mushroom ravioli to cioppino. Specialty pizzas are available in small and large sizes. They include margarita, shrimp diavolo, southwestern and chef Carl Bonnert’s favorite – grilled chicken with broccoli, mushrooms and provolone. The specials board generates the most excitement. Consider one night’s selections: snapper marinated in tequila and ginger and served with coconut-mango relish, cumin-rubbed swordfish with roasted jalapeño butter, roasted coffee-encrusted pork tenderloin with raspberry and hoisin sauce, and grilled sirloin marinated in tequila and cilantro with a chipotle demi-glace. Desserts follow suit: a classic tiramisu, mango cheesecake with macadamia nut crust, exotic gelatos and sorbets made by a neighbor down the road. “We keep things changing so people will come back,” says the chef. People certainly do. (508) 540-7794. Entrées, $11.50 to $25.95.
Dinner nightly,
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