Cape Cod Clam Shack

In 2006, Elizabeth Bougerol published New England’s Favorite Seafood Shacks: Eating Up the Coast from Connecticut to Maine. Though it may not be the definite tome on the best seafood establishments in the region, the unifying theme is that each and every place listed is someone’s favorite. It may have made the list simply because of the food, but it might also be for the location, the colorful native patrons, the authenticity of the experience, an owner who’s a real character, the atmosphere, or just years of time-honored existence.Whatever the grounds for inclusion, to me the very existence of the book and places listed within are reason enough to chart a course that includes a stop at each and everyone of them, just to judge for myself whether it deserves to be on “the list”.

I have my own rating system for lobster rolls, my particular seafood obsession, and raison d’être for going in search of every obscure hole-in-the-wall seafood eatery here on Cape Cod. It’s a one- to five-claw system that awards points for food quality, setting, value, friendliness of the wait staff, and authenticity. So far, I have only found one that merits 5-claws, but I have sampled a mere third of the possibilities that Bougerol lists. Here, in reverse order from the tip of the peninsular to the islands off its coast, are the 21 establishments on the Cape and Islands that were deemed worthy by the author.

P’Town
The Lobster Pot

Wellfleet
Mac’s Seafood
Bayside Lobster Hut
Moby Dick’s

Eastham
Arnold’s Lobster & Clam Bar

Orleans
Cap’t Cass Rock Harbor Seafood
Sir Cricket’s Fish & Chips
The Lobster Claw

Brewster
Cobie’s

Dennis
Captain Frosty’s Fish & Chips
Sesuit Harbor Café

West Dennis
Kream ‘n’ Cone

Hyannis
Baxter’s Boathouse

Falmouth
The Clam Shack

Martha’s Vineyard
The Black Dog Tavern
Giordano’s
Larsen’s Fish Market
The Bite
Home Port Restaurant

Nantucket
The Lobster Trap
Nantucket Pharmacy

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Twenty-one “Favorite” Cape Cod Clam Shacks

Cookbook KickOff
3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 3 at Sturgis Library, Main Street, Hyannis
$5 admission at the doorVolunteers will be cooking and serving dishes from the new “Simply Sturgis, Local and Fresh” library cookbook. The spiral-bound book will be on sale for $15. It includes recipes from local cooks and prints from local artists.

Meet the Chefs
2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 3 at Highfield Hall, Falmouth
$29 per person,
www.highfieldhall.org

Weldon Fizell, chef and owner of The Regatta of Cotuit, explores New England regional recipes and how to put a modern spin on old favorites. Fizell graduated from Johnson and Wales University and has been a veteran of the restaurant world for nearly three decades. When he moved to Cape Cod he worked at The Regatta and The Coonamessett Inn before becoming executive chef at Chatham Bars Inn.

Fashion for SHADE
11 a.m. Sunday, May 3 at Chatham Bars Inn
$55 for champagne brunch and fashion show, 508-945-0096

High fashion comes to Cape Cod in May when Chatham Bars Inn hosts a special Neiman Marcus Fashion Show and champagne brunch. Neiman’s will showcase a variety of late summer and fall designs in the resort’s oceanfront dining room. FOX25 news anchor Maria Stephanos will emcee the show. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the SHADE Foundation of America, which is working to eradicate melanoma by educating children and the community about sun safety, as well as teaching people how to detect skin cancer.

Cinco de Mayo Tequila Dinner
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5 at The Barnstable Restaurant and Tavern, Route 6A, Barnstable Village
$60, inclusive, for dinner and tequila pairings, and information about the spirit
Reservations: 508-362-2355

The dinner starts with a special margarita made from Sauza Hornitos, agave nectar and lime, and ends with coconut flan accompanied by Chamucos Reposada. Each course will be paired with a different tequila.

Zammer Hospitality
5 to 9 p.m. May 6 at Cape Cod Community College, Grossman Commons building
Tickets: $30, at the college box office, 508-362-2131; shuttle service from parking lot 9.

The Zammer Institute of Hospitality’s six classes are working on this event, along with The Cape and Islands chapter of the American Culinary Federation and the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. Peter Hyde, chef/owner at Blue Moon Bistro in Dennis Village, has contacted many local food purveyors who are donating products. Paul Smith, chapter president and a culinary teacher at the high school, will provide a table of desserts prepared by his students. The high school’s culinary program chair, Chip Koser, is sculpting a 7-foot ice table to be used as a raw bar. The fund-raiser benefits the college’s Zammer Institute of Hospitality.

Ring Bros. Marketplace’s Spring Festival
Noon to 3 p.m. May 9
485 Route 134, Dennis,
508-394-2244, Free; more info:
www.ringbrosmarketplace.com

Stop by for samples of new products, cooking demonstrations with marketplace chef Don Fallon, a chance to meet gourmet food purveyors and live music by The Bart Weisman Trio. A raffle will be held to benefit The Ezra Baker Elementary School, with the grand prize of a steak and lobster dinner for two. Harney’s Wine and Liquors’ Grand Wine Tasting will offer more than 50 fine wines from around the world, with representatives from major wineries on hand. Every store in the marketplace will offer samples, from Spinner’s gourmet pizzas and Nata’s Noodles appetizers and desserts to Chatham Fish’s crab and scallop cakes and Dark Horse’s deli items. “We love festival day. Our customers are able to try new items we have developed,” said Rita MacLeland, owner of Spinner’s Pizza and Burrito.

Boutique French Wine Dinner
5:30 p.m. May 17 at Blue Moon Bistro, 605 Route 6A, Dennis Village
$100 inclusive, 508-398-2147; PaulMcCormick@comcast.net

The Dennis Conservation Trust’s fund-raiser is a four-course meal paired with wines. Highlights from bistro owner/chef Peter Hyde’s menu include Maine blue crab ravioli with lemon asparagus cream and roast beef tenderloin with porcini mushroom crust, Parmesan au gratin, burgundy reduction and roasted asparagus. A single bottle of 1975 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, donated by Hyde, will be auctioned with a minimum bid of $200.

Cape Cod Life Food & Wine Festival
3 to 6 p.m. May 31, continuing through June 6
Tickets: www.capecodlife.com or 800-595-4TIX (4849)

The festival will kick off with a grand opening tasting at the Rectrix Aerodrome in Hyannis. The event will include tastings from dozens of Cape restaurants, wines from more than 200 wineries, presentations from local artists and musicians, and cooking demonstrations from guest chefs and mixologists. Chatham resident and master sabreur Kevin Howard will once again kick off the festivities with an official champagne sabering ceremony. Proceeds will benefit the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod.

Chefs providing cooking demos include Bill Brodsky of The Wequasett Inn, Paul Cunningham of Willowbend Country Club, Anthony Cole of Chatham Bars Inn and Nitzi Rabin of Chillingsworth. Two Boston mixologists – Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square and John Gertsen of Boston’s No. 9 Park – will demonstrate the latest trends in cocktails.

Wine for Conservation
6 to 9 p.m. June 7 at Cape Sea Grille, 1 Sea St., Harwich Port
$100 per person, inclusive, www.harwichconservationtrust.org

Award winning chef/owner Doug Ramler creates a multi-course dinner with wine pairings to raise money for the Harwich Conservation Trust. Menu will be posted soon on the Trust’s Web site.

Taste of Cape Cod
June 13 and 14, Regatta Ballroom at the Holiday Inn, Route 132, Hyannis, and Truro Vineyards, Route 6.
$35, www.tasteofcapecod.com

Cape Cod seafood is the theme of the third biannual Taste of Cape Cod Restaurant and Food Festival, which will feature Cape dining establishments including a sample of their seafood menu, paired with wines and beverages. There will be sample tasting, cooking demonstrations and local entertainers. John Rega of Dining Around and Luke’s Super Liquors are sponsoring the event. The Rehabilitation Hospital of Cape Cod and the Islands will receive $2 from every admission as well as proceeds from the sale of tickets for extra tastings.

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Calling All Foodies to Cape Cod

I, and my mother before me, am somewhat of a lobster aficionado. Steamed, baked-stuffed, in stew or en casserole, lobster is much more than just “the other white meat” for me. True purists, of course, prefer to eat lobster in the rough, or au natural, meaning as seemingly untouched as possible. Often this entails a seaside lobster pound, picnic tables, and the requisite bib.

Arriving at your table steamed to a bright red perfection, the lobster (or “bug” as we New Englanders often refer to them) is served whole in its shell, leaving the diner to his or her own device to gain entry to the succulent meat contained within. A few essential tools are required-a lobster or nut cracker, a small metal pick, a plastic or paper bib, and in some instances, a rolling pin.

Eating lobster in the rough is a messy business, to be sure, but one that offers immense and immediate pleasure. It was not my father’s favorite pastime, being an accountant and not fond of getting his hands messy. But my mother was in absolute hog heaven when faced with a lobster, and my father indulged her whenever possible. It was she who taught me the finer points of lobster domination. Woe unto the person who left behind even the smallest morsel of lobster meat in my mother’s presence. Now if you are not a purist, or lean towards my father’s camp of not liking to get mucked up, there are plenty of establishments that will do the preliminary work for you by serving the lobster with pre-cracked claws and slicing open the tail. Some will go so far as to remove the meat from the shell and serve it in a casserole with butter and breadcrumbs in a style we refer to as the “lazyman’s lobster”. But the true experience is a hands on proposition. So, here for the edification of the uninitiated, is the best, and most efficient way to handle a whole steamed lobster:

How to Handle a Lobster

1. Start with the tail. Grasp the body of the lobster with one hand and the tail with the other. Gently twist the tail until it separates from the body.
2. Next, snap off the tail flippers (use your lobster pick to remove the sweet meat contained in each flipper). Then using a fork or your fingers, bend the tail slightly and firmly push the lobster tail meat out of its shell. A dark vein runs down the center of the tail. This should be removed before eating.
3. Tackle the claws next. Again, grasping the body with one hand, twist the claws away from the body so that they separate at the knuckle. Spread the pinchers of each claw open until they snap apart. Use a nut cracker to crack the shell and remove the meat with a lobster pick.
4. Break the legs off the lobster body. Use a rolling pin to push the meat out. Conversely, you can suck the meat out while gently squeezing the legs with your teeth.
5. If you have patience you can remove the shell from the body of the lobster and pick the meat from the knuckles. This is time consuming work, but well worth it.
6. You may encounter the greenish tomalley and coral roe inside the body of the lobster. The roe are the eggs of a female lobster, while the tomalley is the liver of the lobster and considered a delicacy by some.

My favorite lobster presentation, however is the lobster roll. Chunks of lobster meat are dressed ever so lightly in mayonnaise and served in a hot dog bun that has been grilled on the outside with butter. A bit of finely chopped celery can be added, but nothing else. Nothing; no onion, garlic powder, or other unnecessary ingredients. And please don’t replace the bun with a sub roll, croissant, or other pretentious bread offering, or try to detract from the main ingredient with fluff like lettuce and tomato. In fact, the hot dog bun should be in the classic New England tradition, sliced open on top, not along the side. I am such a purist with regard to lobster rolls that I have devised a rating system that measures quality on a scale from one to five claws. Criteria include presentation or visual appeal (a bun toasted to golden brown, sizable chunks of tail and claw meat, full, but not overflowing); taste; and ambiance of the setting (preferably outdoors with a view of the ocean). Few in my lifetime have measured up. And when I do find one, it is a treasure worth sharing. So please, if you are a guest at the High Pointe Inn and you want to experience a five claw lobster roll, just ask me. But don’t be surprised if I ask you to bring me one “to go”.

Lobster Factoids

• 11.9 million pounds of lobster caught and cooked annually in Massachusetts
• 52 ports in Massachusetts with lobster boats
• 400,000 lobster traps in Massachusetts waters

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Lobstah Tales: A Cape Cod Passion

Two Enchanted Evenings on Cape Cod

While Rich and I have always known that Cape Cod is a magical place to live, we recently learned that it has been chosen as one of the Top Ten Most Romantic Places to Live by frontdoor.com. Perhaps it is the romance of the sea, the drifting sand of the dunes, or the luminous light that dapples the marshes in late afternoon that makes this small spit of land off the coast of Massachusetts such a special place

If you can’t pull up stakes and move here, a vacation getaway might  just do the trick. We’ve put together a special 2-night getaway package we call “Two Enchanted Evenings” that is a huge hit with our guests.

The package includes a 3-course dinner one night at one of Cape Cod’s most romantic restaurants, afternoon tea and cookies, complimentary evening cordials, plus the special blend of hospitality that earned Rich and I the “Innkeepers of the Year” award for 2009.

Come sample the romance of Cape Cod.

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Cape Cod Chosen As One of the Top Ten Most Romantic Places to Live

"The perfect Valentine's Day treat!"

This delicious chocolate fondue is the perfect accompaniment to fresh fruit and buttery pound cake. For Valentine’s Day, I use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the pound cake into small, bite-size pieces and serve the fondue with fresh strawberries and bananas. For an even more festive event, serve with champagne. I love this recipe…it’s quick…it’s easy…and it is always a big hit! In fact, it was recently featured as the “Recipe of the Month” in BedandBreakfast.com’s Innkeeper Newsletter.

Fantasy Fondue

 Ingredients

• 2/3 cup half-and-half
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 ½ cups)
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• ½ teaspoon rum extract

Directions: Stir half-and-half and sugar in a medium-size saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add chocolate; stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted. Stir in extract. Makes 2 cups. Will keep up to 1 month in a tightly covered glass jar. To reheat, remove lid and place jar in a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until warm.

To serve: Prepare chocolate fondue and pour into fondue pot, keeping the pot warm with sterno. Cut up fruit and pound cake into bite-size pieces. Arrange on a glass plate next to the fondue pot. Provide guests with dessert plates and fondue forks, allowing them to select fruit and cake to dip into the fondue using the forks provided.

Serves 8-12

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Chocolate Fantasy Fondue Recipe