Is there such a thing as too much lobster? Yeah, I think there is. We spent the last week taking advantage of being on the East Coast (pre-hurricane) and had a mini working road trip. There were times when I felt like a traveling salesman.
We found ourselves having dinner in Newport, Rhode Island on a Friday night during the Wine Festival. Maybe not the smartest idea. Parking was an issue. But when a table for 2 would be a 45 minute wait, a table for 5 could get seated right away so we lucked out. I have no photos to share, but believe me, if you like the idea of a coastal boating community, then you should try to find your way out there. At dinner we met a group that was heading to Europe the following day on a 170 ft sailboat.
The Back Eddy in Horseneck Beach, MA was a wonderful find. Steamers in broth and drawn butter, the tastiest heirloom tomatoes, swordfish that rivals no other, and a lobster casserole, which was really lobster meat in a buttery sauce with sautéed leeks and asparagus. My first of many tastes of lobster during this week.
Mystic, CT was a perfect place to stop for some lunch. We found a little roadside seafood shack and grabbed a lobster roll and whole belly clams. Note to everyone that is ever intrigued by whole belly clams. Don’t do it. It just means the clam bellies are full, and you eat what the clams ate. Yuck. Stick to clam strips.
Asbury Park, NJ? A hidden little treasure that seemed like it was stuck in a time warp on a Tuesday afternoon. An old fashioned boardwalk with a plethora of different types of people to watch as you grab some lunch at the waterfront/boardwalk restaurants. We were drawn to this community because of the lyric, “Asbury Park misses you”, in a Claire Means song.
Falmouth, MA officially welcomes you to Cape Cod. Even with a cute downtown main street, the main attraction is its proximity to Martha’s Vineyard. The ferry terminal to Martha’s Vineyard is in Woods Hole and there is a cute waterfront community with tons of restaurants where you can sit right on the dock.
Our first stop: Shucker’s World Famous Raw Bar. We were seated outside on the dock and started with a bottle of wine and some steamers. Well, all I have to say is, isn’t there some sort of quality standard that you have to reach to call yourself ‘World Famous’?? Even though I had my eye on a lobster dinner, we left after a lackluster order of steamers (especially after the tasty gems we had at The Back Eddy) and the bottle of wine. So now, I am still hungry and slightly drunk.
After a quick lap of the ferry terminal we ended up at The Fishmonger’s Café where we ordered another bottle of wine, a lobster bruschetta appetizer, and finally, my Lobster Dinner!
After we drank and ate our way through Woods Hole, we called it a night so we could wake up bright-eyed and bushy tailed and tackle Martha’s Vineyard the next day. The most efficient and affordable way to get a taste of Martha’s Vineyard is to walk on the ferry and buy a day bus pass that will let you bounce between Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown. The wind was a whipping with the pre-hurricane weather but we still enjoyed sitting outside in the sun on our 45 minute ferry ride.
Martha’s Vineyard: lots of beaches, lots of cute knick knack stores, tons of restaurants and ice creameries, and a Secret Garden feel that makes you want to explore the untouched parts of the island and find a beach house somewhere to spend a week reading books, napping with the windows open and riding your bike with a basket full of fresh baked bread and leafy-stemmed carrots.
We got through quite a bit in a week. And okay, I guess when I said that we went on a mini working road trip I actually meant that we went on an East Coast eating tour….
Adventures On the Road 