Chicken Box

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Historic Kitchens Tour

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Great Harbor Yacht Club

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Pi Pizzeria

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American Ireland Fund Summer Event

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Nantucket Media Watch

BOLDFACERS is a hot Boston website that features one person a day, a prominent member of the community in a variety of fields. Each feature includes a video short, and personal Nantucket recommendations and loves. This past week, BOLDFACERS featured Nantucket, and here’s who showed up.

Darcy Creech is featured as an entrepreneur for Peter Beaton Hats. She recommends the Galley, especially for their crab cakes. For menswear, she likes Mister, 4 East Chestnut St, as “Bohemian preppy, and all about color.” And for “real” Nantucket News, here’s what Darcy says:

“For the real skinny of Nantucket life, make sure to check out Gene Mahon’s ‘Mahon About Town’ free weekly e-newsletter. Darcy says year-rounders and visitors alike rely on Mahon’s thorough reporting of island news and activities. ‘He’s the pulse of Nantucket,’ she says. ‘It’s the only way to stay in the loop.’ Even if you are a newcomer, you’ll love checking out the pictures of the beautiful people on the site’s party section.”

Thanks Darcy.

I received a call from BOLDFACERS Founder and Editor-in-Chief Lisa Pierpont a few weeks ago, asking if I knew a relatively young and unknown up and comer. I thought of Julija Mostykanova, a painter with the Artists Association of Nantucket, Lithuanian, and on the island for 7 years, who seems to have the buzz. Lisa apparently agreed, as Julija is also featured this week on Boldfacers.

Also featured is Cisco Brewers Jay Harmon, (who recommends Slip 14, Pi Pizzeria), taxi driver David Watts, and fisherman Bob Decosta. Check it out at Boldfacers.

Cioppino’s

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Nantucket Restaurant News Part 1

Each month, I write a column for N Magazine called “Hot Dish” about the restaurant scene on Nantucket. If you haven’t had a chance to read the Early Spring edition of N, the following is reprinted with permission, with some editing and updating where needed. If you’ve already read it in N, skip ahead. Thanks to Bill Ferrall for allowing Mahon About Town to reprint this piece. Pick up the early summer issue now on the stands.

It’s the fourth season for American Seasons under owners Executive Chef Michael LaScola and general manager and sommelier Orla Murphy LaScola. Boston magazine named American Seasons Best Romantic Restaurant, Nantucket in 2005 and Best Restaurant, General Excellence, Nantucket, in 2006. The wine selection has increased to 450 this year from 360 last year, with the new wines coming from exclusive small production vineyards on the West Coast.

“The 41″ is the wine bar at Arno’s, and features 41 wines by the glass, as well as red and white wine flights, and an appetizer pairing menu. Back from last year is Michelle as the head “winetender”, joined this year by Denise, aka Kitty Kat, well known in the Nantucket restaurant scene. New appetizers and entrees have been added to the menu.

Boarding House chef de cuisine Erin Zircher, was in Turkey this past winter, led by James Beard Award winner Ana Sortun and Oldways Preservation, spending time in the spice markets, bustling bazaars and restaurants. This trip has inspired many of the new dishes now on the menu.

At the Brant Point Grill at the White Elephant, new menu items include Kobe Beef Meatballs with Glazed Shitake Mushrooms, Thyme Madeira Jus, and Arugula Leaves, Wood Grilled Lemon Sole from the infamous Fire Cone Grill, and Slow-Cooked Pork Shank with Spring Pea Puree, Lemon Spaetzle, and Tempura Soy Peas.

Some new faces behind the bar at the Brotherhood. Alexandra (Ali) Taylor comes back to Nantucket from The Cirque Restaurant in Aspen, having spent a few seasons at The Tavern in the past; Charles Corkern was most recently at Zozo’s Restaurante in St. John’s, and Martha Hutchins has spent the last two years at Jojo restaurant in Manhattan. New this year behind the line and teaming up with Chef E. J. Harvey, is Chef Noel Middleton, previously from The Harbor House, The Jared Coffin and The Nantucket Golf Club. From Memorial Day Weekend thru Labor Day Weekend, the ‘Hood will serve a late night menu.

Cambridge Street Victuals builds on their regular menu with their traditional barbeque, adding dishes such as shrimp and tofu pad thai, vegetable curry with basmati rice, coconut curry chicken skewer appetizer with green apples over couscous. The menu changes according to seasonal availabilities incorporating as many organic foods as possible. Anthony Roach is back as executive chef. Evan Ross and owner Meghan McCutcheon are back as head bartenders. There’s an all new look to the interior, newly painted in blues, turquoises and deep oranges, with Moroccan lanterns and sheer, guazey window treatments, lending a breezy Mediterrainian/Middle Eastern feel.

Out at the Chanticleer, Panos Kakaviatos is back into town as wine steward, after a few years as a freelance writer in Europe. Kane O’Keefe, well-known to regulars at Black-Eyed, is in the front of the house, back on island this season after a year in Los Angeles. The menu this summer focuses on the ‘World of French Cuisine’, an all inclusive menu of cuisines that have influenced or been influenced by French Culture.

Johnstons Cashmere

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Nantucket Restaurant News Part 2

There’s a new executive chef out at Cinco this season. Jean-Luc Matecat previously worked under Seth and Angela Raynor at The Pearl. Just a few of the new menu items that may appear on the menu are: chorizo and manchego cheese croquettes with a pequillo pepper mayonnaise: creamy black bean soup with cilantro, chipotle creme fraiche and chili threads; beef tartare with capers, shallots, lemon peel, anchoy and baguette toast; wild king salmon with caramelized salsify, crispy leeks, and pedro ximinez reduction; and salt cod fritters with romesco sauce. Owners Connie and Michael Sturgis have created a new casual lounge adjacent to the bar, serving a bar menu from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m., when very few other sit down places are still serving. Cinco may be lesser known for the fine gallery quality artwork on the walls, but shouldn’t be. This year Cinco features the prints of Judith A. Brust’s “Life Cycle”.

Tracy Root is back to run the show, and Chef Benjamin Herriman is back at Cioppino’s for his fourth season. Steve Turrentine is back as bar manager, with the help of Karen Grant who was bartended at several fine restaurants in Florida.

At the now air-conditioned Even Keel Cafe, Virgil Osborn has taken over as chef and has added new dishes to the old favorites. Virgil comes most recently from the Jared Coffin House.

At Fifty-Six Union, Anna Worges is the new bartender. Anna comes most recently from the upstairs bar at the Brotherhood.

Even Keel’s Marshall Thompson has taken over management of Jetties Restaurant on Jetties Beach, where a new weather protective awning covers all deck areas. Marshall offers a very casual self-service breakfast of Keel coffee, pastries, cereals, fresh fruit and egg sandwiches. Lunch includes chowder, burgers, hot dogs, lobster rolls, salads, wraps, and smoothies. Dinner is full service but casual, with a raw bar, steamed lobster, pizza and pasta dishes, and a full bar and wine list. With the loss of the West End, Jetties Beach and the Galley will offer the some of the best sunset views.

Henri Laaksonen is the new chef at Queequeg’s. Born in Finland, Henri has been sous chef at the Wauwinet, has cooked multiple dinners at the James Beard House in New York City, and has been featured in guest chef dinners in many Boston restaurants with Executive Chef Christopher Freeman. Thomas McNeil moved over to bartend at QQ after four years at Kitty Murtaugh’s.

Graeden Ambrose has a loyal following after his time at LoLa 41 and the Pearl. This season he’s behind that bar at Water Street, which now serves a special bar menu. The kitchen staff remains the same: chef/ owners Robert Nelson and Jason Carroll, Sous Chef Carlos Perales and Pastry Chef Thao Nguyen. Water Street’s mission is to serve food as natural and organic as possible, supporting local and sustainable farming. It’s easy to miss Boz’s Dough Hook breads as you walk down Water Street, but don’t. You can also find take out lunches at Dough Hook.

The Wauwinet is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, now catering to younger guests with discerning palates, and has added a dinner menu of smaller bites with wines pairings selected by Cellar Master Craig Hannah.