Mahon About Town Nantucket Blog

The Atlantic Cafe has started it’s winter and spring weekly specials: 15 cent Wing Night every Wednesday at 5 pm, and Prime Rib Night every Thursday at 5pm, priced at $14.99 with a baked potato and salad.

21 Federal is closed until Friday, November 23rd.

The last Sunday Brunch of the season (Sunday, October 2 at the Brant Point Grill is always a charity event, where each guest donates the cost of brunch or more to a charity. The choices this year are: A Safe Place, The Food Pantry, and The Literacy Program at the Atheneum. Reservations are strongly suggested.

Below is a comprehensive list of open restaurants, provided to us by David Sharpe at Nantucket Visitor Services. If you have difficulty reading the list, click on it to download a printable pdf version.

Wine tastings at The Cellar are now on Thursdays from 4 to 6:30 pm.

Nantucket Restaurant Week restaurant specials run through Saturday. Here are some of the 3 course special menus for Restaurant Week:

29 Fair Dinners:
1. Seasonal leaves & fresh herbs with roasted goat cheese crumbs - or - Sherry Scented Wild Mushroom Soup - or - Thai style steamed mussels, coconut milk, and cilantro
2. Pan Seared Wild Salmon topped with Lavender Honey Glaze, Tuscan Kale and Sweet Potato Fingerlings - or - Herb Roasted Chicken stuffed with Wild Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, and Chef Vegetables - or - Grilled Hanger Steak topped with a mustard demi glaze and shallots, Mashed Potatoes, and Chef Vegetables
3. Cheese of the Day - or - Chocolate Mousse - or - Crantucket Ice Cream

Over at Arno’s, Chris Morris tells me that they will be doing 3 course wine dinners with wine pairings included in the price of $45 for dinner. Choose from either the United States Dinner or the International Dinner. For lunch, they will have a soup/sandwich or salad choice/dessert du jour for $20 that will change daily for the week.

United States Dinner
1. Choice of sauteed crabcake with dijonnaise aired with Artesa Chardonnay - or - dry rubbed bbq ribs paired with Rancho Zabaco Zinfandel
2. Choice of: Lobster crusted codfish paired with J.Lohr Reisling - or - Grilled sirloin steak with ‘41′ steak sauce paired with Sebastiani Cabernet
3. Dessert: Chocolate decadence paired with Mendelson Dessert Pinot Gris - or - Apple crisp paired with Folie a Deux Menage a Trois

International Dinner
1. Marinated beef satay paired with Mas Delmera Temperanillo - or - Prosciutto wrapped scallops paired with Trimbach Pinot Gris

2. Shrimp and scallop scampi paired with Chateau le Sartre Bordeaux - or - Blueberry glazed half duckling paired with Chapelle St Arnoux Cote du Rhone
3. Creme brulee paired with vintage madiera - or - French toast bananas foster paired with Quinta de Noval Tawny Port

The Atlantic Cafe is featuring a BBQ menu for their 3-course $20 lunch:
1. Southern Spiced Corn Dog Fritters: smoked andouille sausage, roasted corn and bell peppers, served with cranberry mustard
2. BBQ St. Louis Rib with house sauce, jalapeno corn muffins with Jim Beam molasses butter, grilled corn and coleslaw
3. Maple-Walnut Bread Pudding with Jim Beam glaze
+ Beer by Stella Artois

Black Eyed Susan’s Dinners:
1. Duck confit w/ salad of Brussels sprouts, cranberries and walnuts and orange honey dijon sauce
2: Braised Azaluna veal with fresh carrot pasta, local cherry tomatoes, baby organic spinach and Chablis sauce
3. Chocolate espresso pot de creme with housemade cookies

At Fifty-Six Union for dinner:
1. Fall Harvest Salad
2. Seared Diver Scallop
3. Braised Short Ribs
4. Rustic Apple Tart

For LoLa 41:

1. Tuscan Beet & Fennel Salad - or - Calamari - or - Northern California Dungeness Crab Cakes

2. Lobster Lo Mein - or - Pan-Seared Halibut Fresco - or - Braised Pork Shank
3. Desserts du Jour

Chris Freeman sent over his NRW dinner menu - four course prix fixe menu at $45.00 per person - for Oran Mor:
1. Butternut Squash Bisque with Garlic Oil, Pancetta and Olive Crostini

2. Pastrami Cured Salmon with French Green Lentils, Horseradish Vinaigrette and Spiced Lavosh
3. Grilled Cavendish Quail with Wild Mushrooms, Spinach, Hazelnuts and Aged Goat Cheese
4. Chocolate Gâteau with Toasted Hazelnuts and Caramel Sauce

And at the SeaGrille for dinner:
1. Duck confit and frissee salad with poached pear, goat cheese, candied pecans, beachplum vinegrette -or- trio of pumpkin: Pumpkin bisque, pumpkin and sage ravioli, shaved roasted pumpkin with organic greens and sundried cranberries
2. Pan roasted prosciutto wrapped cod with smoked tomatoes, Yukon gold brande - or - Seared diver scallops, potato cake, truffeled hollandaise

Topper’s offers the most extensive menu for Restaurant Week of any that I’ve seen so far. Please take note that they are not open for dinner on this Friday and Saturday (19th and 20th), so Thursday night is your last chance for the NRW dinner prices. Also lunch is selling out every day, so make your reservations now. If you drive out there without one, you’ll likely be disappointed. For the 3 course dinner:

First Courses:

Chilled Island Creek Oysters on the Half Shell
Pan Roasted Chatham Scallops
Endive and Roquefort Salad
Truffled Rigatoni and Cheeses
Creamy Lobster Soup
Salad of Mesclun Greens and Trevisano

Main Courses:
Roasted Day Boat Cod
Center Cut Atlantic Halibut
Potato Crusted ‘Light Ship’ Scallops
Pan Roasted Kobe Flatiron
Venison Sirloin
Peking Style Duckling

Then the $20.07 Lunch Menu:

STARTERS:
Fried Rhode Island Calamari
Romaine Leaves Salad
Berkshire Pork Quesadilla
House Made Charcuterie
Hand Selected Greens Salad

ENTREES
Spa Fish (Chef Daniels’ preparation changes daily)
Soup & Sandwich
Organic Chicken Pot Pie
Cured ‘Peking Style’ Duckling
Grilled Onion Flatbread
Sophisticated Burger

If your restaurant menu isn’t here, please send it to me as soon as you can for the next edition of the newsletter.

Here’s the complete list of participating restaurants:

29 Fair: D
A.K. Diamonds: LD
Alice’s Restaurant: LD
American Seasons: D
Arno’s: LD
Atlantic Cafe: LD
Black Eyed Susan’s
Boarding House: D
Brant Point Grill: LD
The Brotherhood of Thieves: LD
Cambridge Street: D
Centre Street Bistro: D
Fifty-Six Union: D
Languedoc Bistro: L
Lo La 41: D
Oran Mor: D
Queequeg’s: D
Seagrille: LD
Starlight: LD
Toppers: LD
Water Street: D

The Ships Inn is sponsoring “An Evening with the Artist William Welch,” a celebration of the art that has captured so much of Nantucket’s beauty over the years.The Ships Inn has the largest collection of Bill Welch’s art on Nantucket. Bill will be walking around answering questions, offering commentary, and just being Bill. Ships Inn, Thursday, October 4th.

The Ships Inn is also sponsoring the Salt Marsh Senior Benefit Dinner on Sunday,
October 7th. All proceeds from that night will be donated to the Salt Marsh Senior Center. For both events reservations are requested but not required.

The Summer House is offering 30% off all bottled wine thru October 7th (closing day), and a $45.00 Prix Fixe menu on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

The Wok is open through October 5, with a 15% discount if you dine-in or take-out prior to 6 pm on food with a minimum order of $15.

From a recent article in the Boston Herald entitled: “Water Street Will Float Your Boat,” a few excerpts: “There are many places to dine on Nantucket but only a few outstanding restaurants. Add Water Street to that exclusive list.” “Water Street serves seasonal fare using ingredients from small, sustainable farms and purveyors, both on and off the island.” “Water Street has yet to be discovered by ACK foodies. We spied the chef from Galley Beach having dinner. What does he know that you don’t?”

All Kovalencik is working less and less at the Company of the Cauldron, and chef Matt Zadorozny doing more and more of the creative side of the restaurant. All will be concentrating more on the catering side of the business.

More details soon on Nantucket Restaurant Week, this year from October 14th through 20th, with more than two dozen restaurants participating. At each participating restaurant, you’ll find three course lunches for $20, and dinners for $45. The 2nd Annual Nantucket Restaurant Week is holding a gala Sunday, Oct. 14 at The Whaling Museum. The island’s restaurants will each prepare a signature dish. Tickets are $100. Call 228-1515 to reserve your ticket. Ask for Becky. Restaurant Week needs volunteers. Call Jenny at 508-325-0048.

The Stag’s Leap wine dinner at Galley Beach has been postponed to the spring of 08.

Thursdays throughout the fall, there will be free wine tastings called ‘Thirsty Thursdays’ at The Cellar on Surfside Road from 4 - 6. Each week will spotlight a different winery or wine region matched to gourmet cheeses. No more Saturday tastings for now.

Cambridge Street is serviving “Buck a Rib” every Thursday night.

Nantucket Restaurant Week will run from Sunday, October 14 through Saturday October 20, opening with a Gala on the 14th from 6 to 8 pm at the Whaling Museum, where participating restaurants will serve up some of their best dishes. Veuve Cliquot will provide refreshments. Tickets are $100. The Gala will benefit the newly formed Nantucket Culinary Arts Foundation, which will grant scholarships and help further education and direct hands-on experience for students in the Nantucket High School Culinary program.

The Wine Spectator 2007 Awards are out. The Nantucket winners are:

• Topper’s At The Wauwinet: Grand Award. Wine Strengths: California, Bordeaux, Burgundy
• 21 Federal: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: California, France
• American Seasons: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: California
• Cinco: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: Spain, California
• DeMarco Restaurant: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: Italy, California
• SeaGrille: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: California
• Ship’s Inn: Award of Excellence. Wine Strengths: California, France

Arno’s at 41 Main Street presents 3 course theme dinners for $25 Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 3 courses with wine pairings for $45.

The Brant Point Grill has a new $20 bottle of wine list for their September lunch menu. And traditional New England Clambakes are back for the fall, every Tuesday from 5:30 to 9. Islanders with the Islander card received 15% off the $39 price.

At The Brotherhood, Beef and Brew will return sometime in October. And the Hood welcomes back to the island Johanna Jenkins as a new Front of the House Manager, after being off island for 10 years.

The Chanticleer will be serving lunch and dinner though Columbus Day Weekend.

Cinco fills up on Monday nights with their 5 tapas for $25. Cinco will be hosting “A Night in Seville”, a benefit for the Nantucket Arts Council, on Thursday night, September 20. The evening will pair the tastes and tapas of Spain with the finest Spanish wines from the Jorge Ordonez collection, served by Jorge Ordonez himself. Details here.

Cioppinno’s is open 7 nights for a few more weeks, then closing one night. The bar is open at the ususal 4 pm. Closing October 13th for the season.

The Club Car offers Thursday Wine Tasting Dinners, featuring some of Shannon’s classics. Sunday is Beef Wellington night.

Hot lunches are back at the Downyflake Monday through Friday. Turkey dinner here I come.

Galley Beach has added Fall Prix Fixe menus to the normal lunch and dinner menues on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Dinner is $49, lunch is $20. Galley Beach will host a wine dinner on Friday, September 21st, with a five course menu paired with wines from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars of Napa Valley, California.

Jetties Restaurant will be closing for dinner after Sunday, September 16th.

Oran Mor offers a 4 course Prix Fixe Menu Sunday through Thursday for $48.00. The Menu will change weekly. Open 7 nights through Columbus day, then closed on Mondays.

The Pearl presents a 4 course Island Harvest Tasting Menu weeknights (until closing on 10/7) for $55, using local ingredients harvested from the farms on and waters surrounding Nantucket.

Until October 1, Pi Pizzeria will be serving until 10 pm. After October 1: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (in the deli); 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (deli, dinning room, bar). Pi will close on Monday October 29 and reopen on Friday November 16. During that time, Evan and Maria Costanzo will be travelling to Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and the San Marzano Valley seeing where the tomatoes Pi serves are grown and produced, and checking out some of the wineries they sell.

The Rose & Crown is offering “Buy one, get one free” entrees Sundays through Thursdays, and kids eat free with one adult entree.

Topper’s at the Wauwinet has bugun their Fall $20 lunch menu, Monday through Saturday from 12 to 2. Reservations are recommended. 228-8768.