Archive for category Dining with a Great View
QUICK BITES: Sushi at Fishermen’s View
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Quick Bites, Seafood Restaurants on December 27, 2021
Remember when sushi used to be exotic and just a little bit scary? Nowadays, even the ichthyophobics among us can find something that feels safe on the sushi menu, and you can buy a California roll at the local supermarket.
But you don’t have to. You can buy your California roll ($17) at the Fishermen’s View in Sandwich, where the crab comes off the boat just a few feet away from your table. And it’s real Jonah crab, not the crab “sticks” you get elsewhere.
Cisco Kitchen & Bar, New Bedford
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Good Wine/Beer Selection, Outdoor Dining, Pub, Restaurant Review on August 13, 2021
Have you seen that commercial for Haribo Gummy Bears, where a group of adults in a formal meeting room talk with delight about gummy bears in little kids’ voices?
We found a place that will make you feel like that.
Cisco Brewers New Bedford would be a cool spot anywhere: seven indoor and outdoor bars, live music, and concessions cleverly set up in shipping containers alongside a huge sandy patio with umbrellas shading wooden tables.
Now, put that spot literally right on the water, true waterfront dining being an amenity in short supply throughout the Southcoast.
Mix in a pleasing array of craft beers, spirits, and wines made by the people who own the place.
Then add some of the best food around.
Recipe for success? You bet!
Your visit begins, as some of life’s best moments do, with a doorman putting a paper wristband on you. The place gets wicked busy, we were told, and the armband signifies that you’ve been carded (not literally, for the aging Gina and the Big Dog) by the door staff.
On a drizzly Wednesday afternoon, we figured “busy” wouldn’t be an issue. Wrong! We were given the choice of fending for ourselves at the downstairs indoor bar, or taking the last available table inside. We chose the bar and found a nice spot amid a fairly diverse assemblage of tourists, tradesmen, twenty-somethings, ladies lunching, and professionals.
We started with an order of steamers ($16), a large portion of clean clams served in a broth with drawn butter and another more flavorful dipping sauce with a little bit of red pepper flakes and other unidentified but nicely flavored seasonings.
Gina selected the swordfish kabobs ($18). The six large chunks of grilled swordfish were described as being “spice crusted,” which is kind of like describing the Taj Mahal as a “stone building.” The dusting of exotic seasonings gave the dish a rich, Middle Eastern flair. The fish was cooked perfectly and was served atop a salad of spinach with halved cherry tomatoes and delicious pickled red onions. The swordfish chunks were separated by grilled red onion slices.
That sophisticated cadence, of ingredients treated differently in a dish, was even more noticeable in the Big Dog’s Brisket Wedge ($18) (shown). Smokey bacon on the iceberg lettuce? Check. Giant slabs of smokey beef brisket alongside? Double-check! Sliced beefsteak tomatoes? Yep. A scattering of multicolored sweet cherry tomatoes under a generous serving of blue cheese? Wow! Chef definitely knows how to take a classic dish and give it a spin.
And speaking of homage, the swordfish kabobs came from a section of the menu called “Davey’s Locker,” a nod to the worn but timeless restaurant which used to occupy this space. In between was a spot called The Edge, from which Cisco inherited some decor improvements before making more of their own. Some favorites among many in the Cisco space: surfboards suspended from a drop ceiling, and shelving displaying retail items against a shiplap wall supported by heavy nautical rope knotted to cleats on the wall.
Our bill identified our server as Jessica, although we think that was the name of a woman who headed up a large team of friendly and attentive servers, any number of whom stopped in to see how we were doing or to bring us stuff.
We admit to skipping the Cisco-branded beverages, opting for the more standard bar fare inside. Gina selected a Rufo Portuguese red blend ($12 for a 9-ounce pour), and the Big Dog enjoyed his usual Ketel Citron and soda ($10).
Stepping back to the sense of delight one feels upon arrival: whether the display of Cisco-branded garb catches your eye in one shipping container, or you’re drawn by the colorful vending of specialty cocktails, or you wonder what’s coming next on the giant Peavey amps, or the waters of Buzzards Bay appeal, or you just want to perch at a hightop under an umbrella at a sleek wooden table, this space is expertly designed.
A sure sign that Gina and the Big Dog really enjoyed a new spot: we plan our next visit while we’re still there; better yet, we plan friends to bring along next time. This was one of those spots – we look forward to becoming regulars and sharing this special spot with people we like.
Cisco Kitchen & Bar
1482 East Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, MA
Barrett’s Waterfront, Fall River
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Family Dining, Outdoor Dining, Pub, Restaurant Review, Seafood Restaurants on May 21, 2021
If your rice bowl came with a side of fries… you must be in Fall River, MA.
This beautiful seaside city has a rich Portuguese heritage. For diners, that means the freshest of seafood and gently seasoned dishes. And layers upon layers of carbs: it’s not unusual for a single restaurant dish to feature rice, potatoes, and bread.
The Barretts’ restaurant group so popular in southeastern Massachusetts typically has kind of a pubby feel and menu. Their acquisition of this waterfront restaurant, formerly owned by beloved Red Sox second-baseman-turned-announcer Jerry Remy, promised a continuation of that theme. They kept the giant – no, billboard-sized – TVs above the bar within the cavernous industrial space.
But happily, they added homage to the area’s culture.
On a recent lunchtime visit, most patrons were outside on the patio, but we sat at the bar alongside a group of what appeared to be construction workers who added a nice contrast to the mostly business-casual crowd.
A lunch special called Spicy Texas White Bean Chili Mac & Cheese ($15) caught our eye, and we decided to split it as an appetizer. Our bartender, who never gave us her name, told us the head chef is a butcher and all the house made sausages, including the “spicy Texas” one in this dish, were genuinely made in house. Our advice: if a special says “house made,” order it. This dish was an oversized portion of spicy, cheesy deliciousness. The ground sausage lended a subtle depth.
The Big Dog ordered a half dozen oysters ($16). We were told they were from Duxbury, which could mean from a number of farms. One was perfectly shucked, the rest not so well but all tasted great.
Gina selected a Mozambique Bowl with shrimp ($21). If the cavatappi pasta in the chili mac and cheese weren’t enough, this dish put us in carb overload. The classic mozambique sauce had the traditional tang and rich butteriness, and the extra large shrimp were clean, crisp, juicy, and perfectly cooked. Meaty onion slices were tossed in the sauce with banana peppers, and the whole thing came atop saffron rice with a fistful of house cut french fries dunked into the sauce.
We boxed more than half of each dish, which justified a rare foray into dessert: a peach cobbler ($8). Crisp peach slices were baked in a dish with a cinnamony crust and topped with ice cream and whipped cream.
Our advice: If you’re looking for an authentic Fall River dining experience, don’t overlook what might seem to be a chain experience. Este é um excelente lugar para comer.
Barrett’s Waterfront
1082 Davol Street, Fall River, MA
Black Whale, New Bedford
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Good Wine/Beer Selection, Outdoor Dining, Seafood Restaurants on February 27, 2021
Gina rambled on about how the Black Whale has so many of the features we love about dining out: a nice view, delicious food, an expansive menu, unexpected surprises, good Covid protections, broad wine and beer selections, and she finally got to those awesome pocketbook hooks under the bar… when the Big Dog interrupted.
“Everybody has those now.” (Insert eye roll.)
Maybe, but not everybody has the feature that really stands out at the new Black Whale and which is the true indicator of an enjoyable restaurant dining experience: outstandingly pleasant staff. During our visit, we encountered enough employees to know that this is a systemic thing. One sure sign was the uniform: jeans and a stylish checked shirt that looked great on each employee and was worn with pride.
Our Exhibit A was bartender Carolyn, who efficiently walked the line between service and solicitousness. She didn’t intrude on our conversation but quickly stepped in when needed. She detected that we were having a leisurely lunch and so didn’t even ask for a food order until after our appetizer had been delivered. Through the plexiglass, we witnessed a completely different interaction with the French-speaking millennials seated next to us.
The backstory is that the people who own a couple of Not Your Average Joe’s restaurants, including the Dartmouth location we love, bought the Black Whale on the New Bedford waterfront a short time before the pandemic shutdown. They kept the stuff that was great about the old Black Whale, including a lot of the menu, and obviously introduced their whole service vibe.
We began with a bottle of William Hill Cabernet ($36). Before we left, we split a small glass of the “Silk and Spice” red blend from Portugal ($28) to compare with the Cab, and may likely choose that instead next time we visit. While perusing the menu, we were given the complimentary smoked cod dip with crackers that was a favorite at the old Black Whale; after a couple of scoops we put in an order to take home ($6).
Carolyn noticed that we couldn’t see the specials from our seat at the bar and recited them to us. The Big Dog zeroed in on the sushi special: a tiger roll, with tempura shrimp and avocado topped with salmon, as shown above. It was delicious, beautifully presented, and a bargain at $14.
For his entree, the Big Dog chose a seafood lasagna special ($24). It was a generous serving of a bad idea. The flavors were very nice, but we’re not sure how shrimp and scallops baked in a casserole dish of pasta and sauce would ever work.
Conversely, Gina ordered scallops from the “simply grilled” section of the regular menu. A half dozen proteins are available and described as being cooked with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and served with a selection of two sides. The bronzed scallops were delicious, if perhaps a bit overcooked, and our choice of fingerling potatoes and “garlicky” kale were excellent. Hard to not order scallops when the busiest seafood port in the U.S. is like six feet from your seat.
Black Whale
106 MacArthur Drive, Pier 3, New Bedford, MA
The Bog Tavern, Bourne
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Outdoor Dining, Pub, Restaurant Review on January 9, 2021
You’ll come to the Bog Tavern for the panoramic view.
You will return for the clam chowder.
The oversized bowl ($11) comes adorned with littlenecks, steamed open in their shells. The creamy broth contains plenty of chopped clams, and Yukon gold potatoes and bacon. The difference is that each bowl is made to order, so it has an unusual fresh taste.
Where the chowder is The Big Dog’s go-to order at the Bog Tavern, Gina’s is an appetizer called “pig wings” ($14), a trio of easy-to-handle ribs in a dry rub, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, served with a tart barbecue sauce.
Don’t make the mistake of looking at the menu and deciding in advance what to order, though. The Tavern offers daily lunch specials that are often quite dramatically different from other items on the extensive menu. One day specials included an Italian sandwich (pictured) for $14, another day it was spicy chicken enchiladas ($13).
Better yet, they’ve been doing a three-course lunch for $13, weekdays from 11:30 to 2, with the purchase of any beverage: choose a (delicious) garden salad or (also delicious) soup of the day, add an entree, and select a (to-die-for) made-to-order cannoli or key lime pie.
It’s the kind of place where the chef, Kirk FitzGerald, steps out of the kitchen to ask how you enjoyed the food. And weekday bartender Allison, always cheerful and fun, enthusiastically describes the specials she’s seen coming out that day.
Covid protections are top notch. Tables are spaced, staff are masked, bar seats are separated by plexiglass dividers, and capacity is enhanced by a well-heated tent off the main dining area.
The view? It’s nice. The restaurant is set atop a hill overlooking the Brookside Golf Course, whose lush landscaping rolls down towards Buzzards Bay, visible in the distance. Apparently you can watch ships traveling through the Cape Cod Canal, but we’re always so engrossed in the food that we forget to watch.
The Bog Tavern
11 Brigadoone Road, Bourne
Black Whale, New Bedford
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Outdoor Dining, Restaurant Review, Romantic Dining, Seafood Restaurants on July 1, 2019
We first visited The Black Whale on New Bedford’s charming state pier shortly after they opened in 2014. We were horrified. Mind-boggling acoustics, insufficiently trained staff, lackluster food — just a bad all around experience.
Enormous improvements have been made since then, and we highly recommend this restaurant now. And we have a secret to share: there is no better example of lunch being a better value than dinner. At night, The Black Whale is busy and pricey. Lunchtime prices are significantly less than the same dishes on the dinner menu. If they’re a correspondingly larger size at night, you’re going to need a bigger boat.
You know how if you go to an ethnic restaurant and there are people of that ethnicity dining there, you feel more confident in the food? Well, we’ve found after a handful of visits that this seafood restaurant is patronized by real live fishermen, and that makes ordering seafood dishes a no-brainer. That, and the fact that you park among fishing boats.
We sat at the bar, of course, on a recent Wednesday afternoon. This is one of those bars that’s perfectly suited for dining, with the bar top and stools at comfortable heights, and plenty of depth to spread out. Our attentive bartender, Zachary, brought us a bottle of Chasing Lions Cabernet ($39) and the complimentary cone of toasted bread and crackers alongside their delicious codfish dip.
Gina started with a house salad ($9.99), an enormous plate of pristine red and green lettuce with cucumber, tomato, and a scattering of sunflower seeds, with a lightly sprinkled citrus vinaigrette. It was perfectly simple and plenty for two.
The Big Dog ordered a bowl of the soup of the day ($6.99), a thick and zesty tomato soup garnished with goat cheese and chunky croutons. We liked it a lot.
For her main course, Gina ordered the pan roasted monkfish, described as being served with littlenecks, chourico, white beans, escarole, and white wine garlic butter, and topped with two grilled slices of rustic bread. At lunch, this dish is $12.99, and an enormous amount of very good food. At dinner, it’s $24.99, and probably still worth every penny. There was a little grittiness to it the sauce, which might have been from what we suspected as spinach rather than escarole, or maybe from the half dozen sweet clams. Gina regretted polishing off the bread with the cod dip earlier, because the somewhat spicy sauce was outstanding despite the grit.
The Big Dog selected linguine and clams ($14.99 – five bucks more at night), which also came with six clams. He found them to be a tad overcooked and chewy.
As mentioned, on our previous lunch visits, we’ve always noticed fishing professionals among those at the bar. On this particular stop, we saw one who literally wore an actual eye patch, and another was talking about bridal gowns with what appeared to be a granddaughter or niece. A lot of these guys come in to The Black Whale with hoodies and boots, but most of us would feel more comfortable there dressed a notch or two above that. In the summer, the restaurant offers a nice tented outdoor space looking out over the fishing boats docked a few feet away.
The Black Whale
106 Pier 3, New Bedford
The Chart Room, Cataumet
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Outdoor Dining on July 26, 2018
The Chart Room is located at the Kingman Marina in Red Brook Harbor. We went there by boat on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in July with friends.* The nautical approach probably halved our travel time from the mainland, and made for a fun — and exceedingly civilized — adventure, where the food far exceeded our expectations.
After slicing across the Cape Cod Canal, we motored into the harbor and queued in behind an orderly line of boats entering the marina. Our friend radioed in that we were in need of a lunchtime slip and refueling. A team of college students home for the summer graciously guided our vessel to the dock. For a moment we were Kennedys in Camelot, and surprisingly, that feeling remained through our visit.
The Chart Room waiting line involves claiming a circle of adirondack chairs on a sunny crushed shell patio rimmed with a fragrant beach rose hedge looking out over the marina. They’ll come out and get you to bring you to your table. Our estimated wait was 15 minutes, even on this busy afternoon, and that didn’t give us time enough for our nominee to return from the outdoor bar with drinks. We were quickly guided to the restaurant’s open air porch.
Our friends had raved about the lobster salad roll. Yep, it’s 29 bucks. And yep, it’s enough for two. But that doesn’t begin to tell the story. The restaurant happily puts the sandwich on two plates and splits the sides. And one of our sandwich-sharers couldn’t even finish his half.
We all have our thing that we like to order AND see as an indication of a restaurant’s capabilities. For the Big Dog, it’s a chicken salad sandwich. Here, it was $10, and came with delicious potato salad (or choose chips or cole slaw). He got it on Portuguese bread and had plenty left over for dinner. The salad was deliciously rich.
Gina ordered the gazpacho ($5, and we’re not sure it’s always on the menu) and the avocado salad ($9). Gazpacho aficionados will relish the sour cream or creme fraiche float, the onion and pepper dice garnish, and the rich tomato flavor. The avocado salad was full of frisee, with hearty hunks of avocado. The Italian dressing was a couple of ticks up the sweetness scale from the Ken’s Italian Gina likes — if that’s your standard too, you’ll be okay with this.
Our friends had a young teen in tow (who piloted the boat much of the way home) and he ordered a bacon cheeseburger ($10). He enjoyed it, but couldn’t finish it. We can think of no truer evaluation of portion size than a dish that defies a 13-year-old.
The Chart Room and marina seem to employ hundreds of Cape teenagers during the summer, and they are well trained and pleasant. The food is great and the atmosphere is unique. We know from experience that it’s just as enjoyable after an off-season drive.
*We were there with friends, but the occasion was the result of an auction gift they had generously offered to the Boys & Girls Club of Wareham. Want to support the Club? Click here.
The Chart Room
1 Shipyard Lane, Cataument, MA 02534 | (508) 563-5350
Moby Dick Brewing Co.
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Good Wine/Beer Selection, Inexpensive Dining, Pub, Restaurant Review on May 1, 2017
We stopped recently for lunch in one of New England’s most vibrant cities, a place shaped by a beautiful working waterfront, historic sites, unique and world-renowned museums, and a thriving cultural scene. Boston? Providence? Portsmouth? Portland?
Nope, New Bedford. And if you haven’t been there recently, you need to visit.
Here’s a good reason: the Moby Dick Brewing Co., an authentic brewpub which recently opened on Union Street, one block from the Route 18 artery, and two from the state pier in one direction, and the famed New Bedford Whaling Museum in another. The food is delicious, the service excellent, and the space is a thoughtfully restored old building.
But let’s talk about the beer. Park on the South Water Street side and walk up and you’ll see the beermaking equipment, smartly separated from the restaurant so the odor doesn’t permeate. We had the good sense to do a flight of four each, so we could sample each of the seven beers on offer that day, five weeks after the restaurant opened. The range and variety of beers was remarkable, from a pale yellow unfiltered wheat to a frothy and nearly black Irish stout. Name any mass-produced beer, and the bar staff will match you up to a Moby Dick brew. Gina, not a beer drinker, liked the amber Ishm-Ale, and the Big Dog enjoyed the hoppy Sailors’ Delirium, a double IPA. All of the beers were good, though, and it was just a matter of personal preference.
A tray of four five-ounce pours is just $10, which felt like a very good value. And non-beer-drinkers shouldn’t feel left out — they have an excellent wine list, and we spotted some very special liquors on the shelf above the bar.
The lunch menu is short but wide-ranging, with a little bit of exotica balancing out the standards, and the dinner menu is as well. (The website, we notice, does not include prices, but don’t be alarmed — we noted prices to be on the low side of reasonable.)
Gina started with a sweet potato and apple soup ($5), a thick and spicy blend topped with toasted sesame seeds. The Big Dog chose the salt cod chowder ($6), a very good twist on the standard chowder.
We split the marinated beet salad ($10): thick slices of beets that were likely roasted, then arrayed over what they call a whipped ricotta, mixed with shallots, which would have been outstanding on toast. The whole thing was topped with chopped cashews and microgreens and looked as good as it tasted.
But the star of the show for us was crispy fried fish sandwich ($12). A buttery bun was piled high with pickles, tartar sauce, lettuce, and a giant pouf of fried fish. If you’ve sworn off French fries, these need to be the ones for which you make an exception. The whole thing was a messy, high calorie treat, plenty for two.
We think that a well-designed space can really enhance the experience of dining out, and the Moby Dick vibe is truly outstanding. Every detail, from the beam over the bar from which bulbs dangle, to the iron pipe toilet paper dispenser in the restroom, to the subway tile behind the bar, celebrates the history of the building, and the oversized windows are a textbook tactic for enlivening a city block while connecting the people inside with the world beyond.
Combined with the great food, delicious beer, and good service, Moby Dick Brewing Co. offered a great special occasion experience, and the reasonable prices make it a sensible regular spot for a meal. We look forward to returning.
Moby Dick Brewing Co.
10 South Water Street, New Bedford
Quicks Hole Tavern, Woods Hole
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Good Wine/Beer Selection, Pub, Restaurant Review, Seafood Restaurants on January 29, 2017
Q. What kind of people would write a glowing restaurant review after eating approximately three square inches of pork belly?
A. The kind of people who got the right seats.
Let us explain. We weren’t all that hungry on a recent visit to Woods Hole, so we decided to stop at the bustling Quicks Hole Tavern on a blustery Friday night for just a glass of wine and light snack. The first floor level was jam-packed, and we made our way up to the second floor where the only two seats available were at the chef’s table, a four-stool bar facing the cooking activity.
Gina ordered a Terra Grande Portuguese blend ($8) and the Big Dog selected a Familia malbec ($9). Both were good wines we hadn’t tried before.
As we perused the menu, waitstaff serving both floors, and likely the floor above us too, dashed in beside us to pick up orders. And 90 percent of them were burgers, even though there was no mention of burgers on our menu. Burgers on plates, burgers in boxes, veggie burgers with Harvarti, burgers with salads, burgers with little tin cups of crispy fries, etc., etc. — they all went flying by.
We finally asked, and learned that burgers could only be ordered on the first floor of the restaurant. We briefly contemplated calling in an order to go from our seat next to the spot where they were dispensed, but we opted instead for an appetizer they call “pig candy” ($9) four slices of pork belly on a sweet potato puree. They were awesome.
But back to our review.
We watched as the four men in the kitchen braised lamb shanks, grilled steaks, sauteed juliennes of vegetables, pan-roasted chickens, and fried, then filled, little homemade donuts they put in a paper bags. We watched them test beef for doneness with a finger (a trick the Big Dog swears by). We watched them navigate the tiny space with nary a bump, criss-crossing paths as if they had done the dance a hundred times before.
Interestingly, we also watched as the line of cars waiting to board the Martha’s Vineyard ferry started to move, and the anxiety level among the waitstaff increased palpably. Not so the kitchen staff. If the customer wanted chicken on his kale salad AND wanted to make the ferry, he should have ordered three minutes earlier. The customer knew that too, and shook off the waitstaff apologies as he grabbed his bag of takeout.
Quicks Hole offers an ever-changing charcuterie and cheese board, with three choices for $17, five for $22, and seven for $26. The choices looked interesting on the blackboard, and the board of three we saw looked like a generous serving for two people with all its accompaniments. We’ll likely try that on our next visit.
But watching the professionalism of the kitchen staff, we’re certain we’ll enjoy any selection from any of the restaurant’s menus. We look forward to returning.
6 Luscombe Ave., Woods Hole, MA
Fishermen’s View, Sandwich
Posted by Gina and The Big Dog in Dining with a Great View, Good Wine/Beer Selection, Outdoor Dining, Seafood Restaurants on September 26, 2016
Q. What kind of person eats dinner at 3 in the afternoon?
A. The kind of person who wants a seat at the fabulous new restaurant at the Sandwich Marina.
Gina and the Big Dog planned a lunch visit to Fishermen’s View, only to find that this beautiful new spot at the Cape Cod Bay end of the Cape Cod Canal didn’t open until 3 p.m. We enlisted reinforcements for another day and concluded that a mid-afternoon visit would be the best approach, given the many somewhat agitated comments online about long waits for dinner.
The four of us were seated on the deck overlooking the marina. We saw no land mass on the horizon there but knew the next stop was Orleans on the Cape, and after that, somewhere in Portugal. The view of boat traffic on an early fall afternoon was entertaining and relaxing.
The restaurant is family owned and operated, and co-exists in its sleek new space with a fish market. We felt like we learned everything we needed to know about the business during our first visit, when we sat at the crowded bar, marveled at the view, ordered a glass of wine and insisted that’s all we wanted, and we were still treated to a basket of the restaurant’s outstanding herby cornbread with sweet butter.
During our more recent visit with friends, the cornbread was back, and once again set the tone for what was to come. We all loved it.
After the bread, we started with a half dozen Wellfleet oysters ($2.50 each) for the gentlemen and a buffalo cauliflower appetizer ($8) for the table. The former were perfectly shucked and served with a trio of sauces. The latter was a linear arrangement of cauliflower florets that were deep fried and tossed in the familiar chicken wing sauce, then garnished with a Great Hill Blue cheese dressing and carrot ribbons. It’s a tasty, classy, somewhat healthy twist on the traditional bar snack, and a pretty hearty serving for the price.
The Big Dog ordered a burger ($11) with guacamole ($2) and chose potato salad from the extensive list of sides. It was good, but with its two angus patties, onion, “yellow cheese,” and puffy bun, it was just too tall to be easily eaten.
Gina can’t pass up a beet salad, so ordered this one ($11) with a Jonah crab “cocktail” topper ($9). She later likened it to a Twinkie, with a delicious muddled kale in lieu of creamy filling, and crunchy quinoa in lieu of yellow cake. And smokey roasted corn, and crisp pepitas, swirls of pickled onions, and sweet chunks of red beets, all topped with cotija cheese. The crabmeat came naked in a mound on the side. Don’t order this expecting a light meal — it was hearty and filling.
Our friends made their choice from the short but varied list of entrees: the pan-roasted halibut ($28) (shown), whose pancetta and red pepper sauce added a smokey flavor; and the skirt steak ($22), arriving as rare as hoped for, atop a fig risotto.
Gina and the Big Dog opted for a bottle of Josh cabernet ($34), while our friends enjoyed a pinot noir and a sidecar, whose amber color warmed our table.
Our server, who was personable but not to the point of introducing herself, was professional and capable. The food was very good to excellent, the venue comfortable yet sleek, the view was unparalleled, and for all that, the prices were surprisingly reasonable. We look forward to returning in the off-season, when we might be able to enjoy dinner at dinnertime.
Fishermen’s View
20 Freezer Road, Sandwich
Chow 