Mahon About Town Nantucket Blog

Here’s a list of restaurants open for next week. Click anywhere on the list below to download a printable pdf version. Thank you to Nantucket Visitor Services, especially David Sharpe, for providing the most current weekly restaurant list. For last minute guest room availability, call Visitor Services at 228-0925.

The Brotherhood is now open for the season, although it’s not listed below.

Heather and Rose MacDowell, former summer island residents, have written a novel based upon their experiences in the front of house restaurant business called “Turning Tables”, published by Dial Press, and released just this month.

I know Heather from her time at 21 Federal, so I contacted her to get some background. Here’s what she wrote:

“Between the two of us, we lived on Nantucket off and on for ten years, the last year being ‘99. I worked at 21 Federal and Galley Beach, with many restaurants in New York and San Francisco in between. Rose worked at The Ropewalk, Cioppino’s, and The Tavern, so we have a variety of Nantucket restaurants covered. We decided to turn our restaurant experiences, (great and not so great), into a novel after we saw many books and TV shows about cooking and chefs, but none about waiters. We made our main character as naïve as we once were, and threw her into every embarrassing and difficult situation we could think of - many of which we’ve been through ourselves.

“Nantucket is a unique place to wait tables, in part because the clientele is largely made up of people on vacation, and the high season is fast and furious. While some guests are relaxed in spite of higher island prices and long waits for tables, others are unhappy if the weather and every restaurant meal aren’t perfect. Being on the service end of someone’s all-too-brief holiday can be stressful. But local restaurants can also be a great place to make friends, (not to mention money), and enjoy some of the best food and drink on the island.

“I also waited tables through the winter, and nothing makes you part of the community like serving Bloody Bulls to the same locals week after week. Nantucketers are lucky to live in a beautiful place with such a high concentration of terrific restaurants. If Rose and I were to (God forbid) ever wait tables again, we’d definitely want to do it there!

“Thanks so much for getting in touch, and we hope to make it to the island soon. It’s great to reconnect with the place where Rose and I made so many restaurant memories!”

I don’t think they’ll be waiting tables again. Their book has already garnered good reviews. Heather and Rose are already working on their second book, a sequel to “Turning Tables”.

Publishers Weekly says this: “Penned by twins who’ve paid their dues in the restaurant biz, this whip-smart debut chronicles a brief slice of the life of Erin Edwards, a marketing manager who loses her job and cashes in family favors to snag a wait-staff position at Roulette, a top-flight New York City restaurant . . . This page-turner reads like recent restaurant-linked memoirs, with accounts of unrealistic expectations, slippery tactics, critic and rival-driven anxieties and general kitchen mayhem . . . and is tons of fun, especially for those who’ve done time in the service industry.”

Claire Cook, author of “Life’s a Beach” and “Must Love Dogs”, says: “Turning Tables is tons of fun! Heather and Rose MacDowell’s twin voices blend seamlessly to create a delectable fusion of humor, heart, hope and keen observation-peppered liberally with some great waitress horror stories.”

Kirkus Reviews says “A spirited debut . . . The setting sparkles.”

Associated Press: “This novel will give you a new appreciation for what waiters and waitresses at fancy restaurants go through. And even if you don’t eat at fancy restaurants, you’ll be rewarded with a delightful story. “Turning Tables” is written by identical twins who drew on their own experience as waitresses at restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Nantucket, Mass . . . Surely there’s a movie in such a feel-good tale with outsized personalities, high-pressure action and an attractive young heroine. Until somebody makes it, the book will surely satisfy your appetite for a good tale.

Amazon has an excerpt from the book.

More on the book’s official website, www.turning-tables.com.
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More details on the Cisco Brew Pub at Logan Terminal B, the American Airlines concourse, inside the security gates. The Pub is scheduled to open in early June, 2008, and will feature beers from Cisco Brewers, cocktails from Triple Eight Distillery and wines from Nantucket Vineyard.

The pub will feature two bars and a Nantucket themed dining area. Images of Nantucket will adorn the walls, and island colors and textures are incorporated into the décor. Seven draft lines will feature fresh local beers from Cisco Brewery on Nantucket, including Whale’s Tale Pale Ale, Sankaty Light Lager, and Grey Lady, a Belgium wheat style beer and the breweries newest creation.

Cocktails will be crafted with spirits from New England’s original micro-distillery, Triple Eight Distillery, and will include signature cocktails like the Nantucketini and the Pink Whale.

The wine list will feature many selections from Nantucket Vineyard along with some other better known varieties. The food will be moderately priced, classic American fare under executive chef and GM Dave Martin.

Here’s a list of restaurants open for next week. Click anywhere on the list below to download a printable pdf version. Thank you to Nantucket Visitor Services, especially David Sharpe, for providing the most current weekly restaurant list. For last minute guest room availability, call Visitor Services at 228-0925.

The Atlantic Cafe has reopened after a short hiatus: Tues - Sun from 11:30 - midnight with a new menu and look. Thursday is till Prime Rib Night.

Even Keel is reopening on Valentine’s Day for their winter season schedule -seven days and five nights, closed Sunday and Monday nights. Look for a new menu from their new chef Bruce Yancy.

Here are the restaurants doing something different for Valentines Day. Thank you to David Sharpe of Nantucket Visitor Services for compiling this information:
A.K. Diamonds: $35 fixed price dinner
Centre Street Bistro: special menu
Fifty-Six Union: same menue but two seatings: between 6 and 7, then between 8 and 9.
Kitty Murtaugh’s: fixed price menu
Queequeg’s: romantic apps ad entrees
SeaGrille: romantic specials
Tutto Sfoglia: Valentine’s cookies and desserts

Received this note from Tracy Root today:
Karen and I got married in Megans Bay, St. Thomas on December 31st, just the two of us on the beach, passing up an offer from Jimmy Buffett to get married on his yacht or plane by himself personnaly. Karen is working at Mangrove Cafe, and I’m am working at Prestons Steak House, which has the finest meats I have ever served. Very small, quaint, and limited to 50 dinners or so a night. Cioppino’s will open around May 6th ish.

If you get to Naples this winter, look them up.

Mobil Travel Guide 50th Annual Star Awards are out. The Wauwinet has won 4 stars, the same also awarded to the Charlotte Inn in Edgartown, as well as the Taj Boston, The Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common, and XV Beacon, all in Boston. Some of the highlights of the review:

“Sense of New England and its history is all around, including sprawling silver-shingled cottages and inn, and sea gulls overhead. Inn’s restaurant, Toppers, prepares creative New England cuisine. Perfect spot for the outdoorsy set, with biking, kayaking, sailing, beachcombing, and more. Romance abounds, with massages by the sea and wonderful water views.”

Here’s a list of restaurants open for next week. Click anywhere on the list below to download a printable pdf version. Thank you to Nantucket Visitor Services, especially David Sharpe, for providing the most current weekly restaurant list. For last minute guest room availability, call Visitor Services at 228-0925.

The N Magazine produced Nantucket Restaurant Week will be two weeks sooner this year, running from Monday, September 29th through Sunday October 5th, with the Gala on Sunday, September 28th. A two tier pricing for dinner this year, at the choice of the restaurant: 3 course dinners for either $45 or $30. Lunches will not be officially included in NRW this year, but several are already planning to offer lunch specials. The Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce has come aboard as a co-sponsor of NRW, and will offer support through off-island marketing and public relations, administrative and organizational.

According to the Jared Coffin House website, the Harbor Wok will be opening there this May through October.

Shannon Haddon’s Bamboo Supper Club has applied to add liquor service to their second floor and install outdoor patio seating.

The Murray’s Liquor Store building is on the market. I guess that got some people thinking that should the building sell to someone not wanting to continue the liquor store at that location, it would mean no liquor store downtown. Three people have jumped in with three different ideas.

The Selectmen have approved Beth English’s application for a seasonal wine and beer license at 4 Easy Street for currentVintage, a wine & clothing boutique.

Selectmen have also approved Slip 14’s owner Jonas Baker’s application for a seasonal all alcoholic package store license at 5 Salem Street, previously the home of Barry Thurston’s Tackle Shop.

David Cantella’s application for a seasonal wine and beer license at 1 North Beach Street will be decided on February 20th.

LoLa has applied for an entertainment license. I expect that will be a live DJ on weekends. The hearing will be on February 20.

Here’s a list of restaurants open for Valentine’s Day. Click on the list below to download a printable pdf version. Thank you to Nantucket Visitor Services, especially David Sharpe, for providing the most current weekly restaurant list. For last minute guest room availability, call Visitor Services at 228-0925.

And the list of restaurants currently open. Click to download a printable copy.