We love the Cape Cod Canal. It’s a stunning convergence of industry, technology, history, nature, and art. It’s a great place for a half-mile walk with a cranky old dog or a 14-mile bike/run(7 miles end to end). It’s a great place to catch a fish or a sunrise. It’s a great place to watch people, great blue herons, or barges. It’s just a great place.
The few restaurants which take advantage of this engineering marvel are located at the eastern end of the canal, on the Cape side, and our favorite of these is Hemisphere. The view is spectacular, and the food is generally pretty good.
Your dining experience will not be without missteps. If you’re seated in the upstairs indoor dining area, you’ll find the space to be incredibly loud. The waitstaff is young and immature and doesn’t seem to have a good understanding of how they add to, or detract from, your night out. Our waitress described one dish as “cool,” and we old fogeys thought she meant “chilled.”
But on a recent visit, a bottle of Malbec complimented a very good dinner. We started with fish nuggets: tasty morsels of haddock in a light, crispy batter, served with lemon and tartar sauce and plenty for two. The Big Dog had the stuffed chicken, kind of a twist on cordon bleu which he said was “neither too hammy nor too cheesy.” Gina ordered the seafood scampi, which came in a whiter sauce than the traditional butter and garlic preparation, over penne, but it was very good and loaded with scallops, shrimp, and lobster meat, along with fresh tomatoes.
With the aforementioned bottle of wine, dinner came to about $85. Portions were generous: leftover scampi will make one of us a very large lunch.
Hemisphere
98 Town Neck Road, Sandwich
www.hemispherecapecod.com
Chow 