Cape Cod Restaurant Week Blog

Have you tasted this world-famous New England Classic yet? Scargo Cafe is doing us all a favor by going public with their Grapenut Custard recipe - even Bon Appetit Magazine is asking for it! Here’s your chance to whip up this iconic dessert between visits to the Cape. But be warned -  cutting corners and substituting milk or half & half for the light cream won’t compare to the “real deal.” A deal so real that it has remained untouched since 1987. One taste and you’re hooked! See what else Scargo Cafe has in store for Restaurant Week here!

Ingredients

9 large eggs

½ gallon light cream

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 cup grapenuts cereal

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

Whip: eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla completely with a wire whip or mixer.

Pour mixture into a 9×12 inch pan (we use a stainless steel pan called a “half hotel pan”) and sprinkle grapenuts, cinnamon and nutmeg evenly over the top.

Place the 9×12 pan into a large pan to form a water bath (fill with water equal to the height of custard mixture) and place them carefully into a preheated 325-degree oven for approximately 90 minutes.

Chef’s Notes

Your oven temperature will greatly affect cooking time, so to check for doneness, gently wiggle the pan.

Remove as soon as center of custard mixture begins to gel.

Struggling to choose where to eat on your first round of Cape Cod Restaurant Week? We’re here to help! Check out how CapeCodRestaurantWeek.com’s filtering tools help you sort it out.

The “Browse Restaurants” tab lets you sort your options two ways:

By Town: Looking for something close by? Live in the Upper Cape? Is Harwich in your radius? Filter through the flock with just one click.

By Cuisine: Maybe you’re craving a trip to Tuscany? Or you’re dying to dive into a traditional Japanese sushi spread? Search by cuisine and take off on a culinary vacation!

Combine the Town and Cuisine filters to pinpoint your ideal meal, like this Raw bar in P-Town - we’ll see you there!

Know exactly where you’d like to go? Skip straight to the “Select Restaurant” tab and use “Jump to a Restaurant” to go right to that eatery’s listing.

May is the best month. For us here in New England, it’s usually when spring hits us in full force. Flowers and trees are blooming and the world once covered in white snow then grey rain, suddenly becomes vibrant shades of greens, pinks, and yellows. With all its bright sunshine and warmer weather, May offers many reasons to enjoy a gorgeous dinner out on the Cape.

We decided to pull together a list of some of our favorite places to gather, raise a toast, and dig in!

Graduation

Graduations abound in May and to honor your food-obsessed graduate, a special dinner is certainly in order. Whether it’s from college or kindergarten, graduation dinners usually involve the whole family. Old Yarmouth Inn is perfect for large groups that span generations. Cooking up classic cuisine reimagined for today, the Old Yarmouth Inn offers the perfect setting for a casual and cozy family gatherings or an elegant social affair.

Anniversary

What’s spring without a little romance? Whether your love is blossoming or well-seasoned, making Wednesday night dinner feel like a Parisian feast is the surest way to the heart! Experience the sophisticated yet intimate setting of the Chatham Wine Bar where Executive Chef Regina Castellano uses the finest local and seasonal ingredients to create a gorgeous menu that mirrors the chic and elegant dining room. Or visit, if you’re looking for a place with a more whimsical air, visit the breathtaking grounds of surrounding The Chills Bistro .

First Communion

For many families with younger children, May is a month filled with back-to-back First Communion celebrations. Spend some extra time with the family this year and leave the cooking up to the folks at Buca’s Tuscan Roadhouse. Kids and parents alike will enjoy the candle-lit checkered tablecloths from that famous scene in the Lady and the Tramp. The menu too is packed with classic favorites like the wild boar bolognese and calamari fritti that are hearty enough to share with the whole family.

(Post) Mother’s Day

Mom deserves all the best this and every year, so why not treat her to a dinner she’ll never forget! For that, we recommend the Captain Linnell House. Treat mom to a little luxury in this gorgeous manor where Chef Bill Conway provides a carefully curated menu the picture of sophistication and indulgence. Go the extra mile by choosing the prix fixe menu, and let mom sit back, relax, and take in the breathtaking views!

You don’t need a reason to celebrate!

This Restaurant Week season, we’re taking a deeper look at the places and ingredients that give Cape Cod its culinary spirit.

Pc: racheleats.com

Cape Cod Restaurant Week is coming soon and restaurants all along the Cape are preparing to showcase all the culinary treasures the region has to offer. Restaurant Week is a great time to celebrate Cape history and traditions as chefs prepare dishes rooted in the local land and sea. In honor of the culinary culture of Cape Cod, this week, we present an (incredibly) abridged overview of the Cape’s most treasured ingredient: cod.  

Cape Cod received its eponymous name in the early 17th century by English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold who, when visiting the southernmost bay of Massachusetts took aboard a great number of codfish. For hundreds of years stretching down the Gulf of Maine from Nova Scotia to the Cape, cod had been more than abundant. This particular fish drove the local economy making Cape Cod one of the most flourishing fishing regions of the world.

More than an export good, cod-- in particular salt cod--  was an essential part of Cape cookery. Salt cod is preserved by first brining the fish with rock salt then drying it, a practice used by the earliest settlers to ensure a regular supply of the fish. Once re-hydrated, cod was prepared in as many variations as there were days in the year in which to eat it. In Provincetown, where a large Portuguese immigrant population settled, salt cod, or bacalao,  can still be found on several restaurant menus.

Pc: newengland.com 

For the past several decades, though, the local cod population has been shrinking, and the cod on the Cape now is often imported from Iceland. For local fisherman who have switched to dogfish as their staple product, to reel in a cod has become an experience that is bittersweet. Though cod may not be as plentiful as it once was, it still represents the spirit that lives on on the Cape.

The revival of historic New England foodways and cooking practices as well as the popularity of recipes like Cape Cod Turkey or Codfish Balls means that cod, in one way or another, will always find a place at the heart of the Cape.

                                                                                             Pic: Shutterstock

Starting Monday, May 14th and running through Sunday, May 20th, Cape Cod Restaurant Week is back to usher in the spring season... whether mother nature likes it or not!

Cape Cod Restaurant Week has been around for quite a while, which means that for most Cape residents the week-long food fest has become a regular part of the ebb and flow of the seasons. Beckoning diners to the region a bit earlier than the beaches can each spring, and then in the fall, calling them back for one last escape before the winter months take hold, Cape restaurants from Provincetown to Falmouth bookend tourist season with offers of special prix-fixe deals. Although Restaurant Week undoubtedly serves an economic purpose by extending the commercial season, Restaurant Week does more for the Cape than put a few well plated dishes in front of a few more people. It is an opportunity to reawaken and revitalize the Cape Cod community-- through food.

Cape Cod Restaurant Week is the chance to celebrate local businesses and their role in the Cape Cod community and economy. Cape Cod restaurants are a significant part of the local identity, relying on the support of local diners to continue to provide spaces spearheading the Cape’s culinary culture. In coming together to offer special 3- or 4- course menus priced at $25, $30 or $35 per person, the restaurants that participate each spring and fall showcase the essence of the Cape: its sense of place. Each season, this group of restaurants encourages Cape residents and tourists alike to celebrate and explore all that makes Cape Cod special.

                                                                                           Pic: Shutterstock

Restaurant Week visitors are invited to take a break from routine and reconnect with their neighbors and neighborhoods. A Cape-wide event, local and out-of-town diners have the chance to explore less familiar or less-traveled parts of the Cape, making destinations out of places typically passed through. For returning visitors and Cape residents, the week-long event is a great excuse to revisit and rediscover the joys of familiar spots. Making new memories with friends and family at familiar or just discovered restaurants is an experience sure to spark more visits in the future.

                                                                                      Pic: Bostonchefs.com

There is no doubt that Restaurant Week is a lot of work for participating restaurants, particularly when it comes to sourcing larger quantities of seasonal ingredients and staffing sufficiently to handle the increase in traffic. However, the chance to revamp the restaurant’s offerings always outweighs the cost. Twice a year, chefs get the opportunity to be a little more creative in their kitchens, to flex their skills by experimenting with seasonal ingredients and developing or adjusting recipes. They then take the time to create or curate menus specifically for restaurant week to ensure that restaurant week is an experience their guests will never forget. Often, dishes from restaurant week menus will pop up on menus later in the season.

Cape Cod Restaurant Week doesn’t just benefit restaurants. Hotels and inns, local shops, and other Cape activities see an increase in traffic this week as people come out to explore the neighborhoods in between reservations. Restaurants may even choose to partner with other local businesses and food and beverage vendors to make the week of deals that much sweeter. Restaurant Week is a great way for restaurants to draw in new customers, keep existing customers on their toes, and showcase what makes the Cape a culinary destination.

photo: Bell & Evans Chicken at Cape Club Grille

The 20(ish)  Can’t Miss Dishes This Restaurant Week

… So far

If you’ve been following us on our social media accounts (and really why wouldn’t you be?) you probably already know that Restaurant Week menus have been pouring in. There are 24 of the 36 on the site so far, and with October 9th right around the corner, we expect a lot more.

For those very few of you who have somehow missed our Facebook and Twitter posts, we’d like to inform you that these menus are amazing! There is duck everywhere. Oysters as far as the eye can see. A risotto for each day. And butternut squash– what is Fall Restaurant Week without you!  

Instead of listing off the very many options you can feast your appetites upon next week, we’ve decided to pull together a (vaguely) curated collection of dishes we are most excited for… so far. The meals below are not at all ranked in any type of order, nor are they the only meals we hope to have next week. This is essentially just our round-one.

Don’t worry, we tell you where to find them too. We know scrolling through all those menus might be more than your hungry hearts can handle!

Pan Seared Duck Breast

with herb spaetzle, swiss chard, carrot purée, and cranberry jus

Where: Fin in Dennis

When certain things are on the menu, you order it. No questions asked. Duck is one of those things.

Curried Pork Chop…

with caramelized apple polenta, roasted cauliflower

    and Carrot Pineapple Coconut Cake

with caramel sauce

Where: Five Bays Bistro in Osterville

Coq au Vin…

with crisp bits of bacon, mushrooms and burnished pearl onions, carrots and creamer potatoes

    and Lamb Shanks, Osso Bucco

with mashed potatoes and a mirepoix of vegetables

Where: Old Yarmouth Inn in Yarmouth

Black Truffle Tater Tots and Avocado…

    and Truffle Salt or Bluefish Paté Toast

Where: West End in Hyannis

Tots trump fries.

Warm Cinnamon Brioche Bread Pudding

with Gold raisin creme anglaise

Where: The Cape Club in Falmouth

There are so many bread puddings for dessert (and one for dinner!), but this one hands down was the favorite.

Misto di Carne

A Plate of Chorizo, Fennel Salami, and Pancetta

with roasted bell peppers, mixed olives, artichokes, pecorino toscano and aged balsamic

Where: Nauset Beach Club in Orleans

Lemongrass Dusted Grilled Salmon…

With marble potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and turnip spaghetti, in a rich stock

     and the Profiterole

with coffee ice cream and warm chocolate sauce

Where: Chills Bistro in Brewster  

In all honesty, though, we want one of everything on this entire menu.

Espresso Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

Rubbed with Italian Espresso and Pan Seared, Finished with a Kahlua demi-glace.

with roasted Yukon gold potatoes and seasonal vegetable

Where: Torino in Hyannis

Coffee and pork sound strange together but it’s the kind of strange we know really means EXCELLENT.

Roasted Boneless Long Island Duckling…

    and Beef Bourguignon

Where: The Red Pheasant Inn

These may not be exclusive to Restaurant Week, but they’re special to us.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

with raspberry jam

Where: Bayzo’s Pub in Brewster

Pork Belly Shoyu Ramen

Where: BlueFins Sushi and Sake Bar in Chatham

Good ramen is like coming home.

Wild Boar Bolognese Ragout over Fresh Tagliatelle Pasta

With ricotta and pecorino Romano

Where: Buca’s Tuscan Roadhouse in Harwich

Chef’s Third Course

Where: The Naked Oyster in Hyannis

We don’t know what it is but we’re dying to find out!

Oyster Brochette

Bacon Wrapped Oysters

with a remoulade dipping sauce

Where: The Red Inn in Provincetown

Grapenut Custard

Where: Oysters Too Restaurant in Falmouth

We’ve heard of grapenut ice cream but we’ve never tried it. We figured this was our chance.

Fish Cake…

with pickled daikon, green apple, radish, kimchee basil sauce

    and Garlic Fried Calamari

with kimchee aioli

Where: Ocean House Restaurant in Dennisport

We’re here for the kimchi.

Cannoli Trio

Where: Soprano’s Ristorante in Mashpee

ALWAYS make room for cannolis. Always.

The Entire Red’s Restaurant and Lounge Menu

Where: Red’s Restaurant and Lounge Menu in Falmouth

We couldn’t narrow it down. Really, we tried.

Photo Courtesy of Etsy It’s easy to assume that Cape Cod Restaurant Week is all about the food. All week long, chefs and restaurants are putting their best foot forward to wow diners with impressive and delicious dishes that are a bit more special than the norm. But what about in between meals, when you’re looking to stave off the food coma from lunch to make room for dinner?

More than the food, Cape Cod Restaurant Week is about reconnecting with the local Cape culture. Although the summer easy breeze of summer is over, Restaurant Week provides another chance to spend some extra time with family and friends, exploring a calmer Cape while supporting local businesses. In fact, dinner doesn’t have to start and end at the table. Make a whole night of it! Take the opportunity to see something new or remember all of the things you love before you sit down for the first course. The journey may just make the destination even sweeter!

With that spirit in mind, we’ve come up with a few ways to get the most out of Restaurant Week— beyond the table.  

The Beauty of the Cape 

Feeding the eyes is almost as satisfying as feeding the appetite, and there are plenty of art museums, galleries, and studios on the Cape where you can get your fill. Before feasting on your chef’s latest work of art, stimulate your senses with a painting or sculpture. Art is truly the best kind of aperitif! Plan for an early dinner and take the opportunity to catch up with local talent at  exhibition openings like Truro in Truro by Kenneth Hawkey or Marian Roth’s The Village In My Mind. Or perhaps, a particularly beautiful meal will inspire you to take a class in painting or drawing. We believe a beautiful plate will give you enough creative energy to consider it!

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!

Fall is the season of harvest which means it is also the best time of year to enjoy a festival. Luckily, this year’s Restaurant Week coincides with two! The 6th Annual Cape Cod Brew Fest is a wonderful excuse to make one last trip down to the Cape. Spend the day sampling over 200 styles of beer from 60+ American breweries. If you can find some room around all that beer, squeeze in dinner at a nearby Falmouth restaurant, or have your designated driver pilot a drive out to Harwich for a whole new ocean view. Brewery tours are also offered all week long.

If you’re going out for Restaurant Week, you might as well stick around for the 16th Annual WellFleet OysterFest too. OysterFest is a celebration of seafood and the shell-fishing traditions that have helped feed the Cape for hundreds of years. Cap off the summer at this festival full of art, music, games, and even food tastings and demonstrations. What better way is there to enjoy the essence of Cape Cod than by adding a visit to OysterFest to your plans. You’ll be celebrating food two ways, and we certainly can get behind that idea!   

Do a Little Learning

Cape libraries are cultural hubs and offer many lectures and classes that will certainly make your dinner conversations much more exciting. The West Dennis Library will be hosting Dr. Michael Thurston’s as he explores Thoreau’s complex understanding of nature and its value of society in his talk To Live Deliberately: Thoreau’s Complicated Notion of Nature. Gain a deeper appreciation for Cape Cod and its proud connection to nature by sharing a locally sourced meal after.  For a dose of feminism before your meal, perhaps make a pit stop at the Brewster Ladies Library to hear author Denise Kiernan discuss the unsung heroines of WWII featured in her recent work, The Girls of Atomic City. As part of their new Curiosity Untapped series, Cape Cod Beer will also be hosting local science teacher Amy Fleischer for Nautilus Live: Underwater Exploration. Fleischer will share stories and videos from her research into ancient submerged shorelines, sea caves, and relic coral reefs. Get a glimpse of the underwater world your dinner inhabited before it appeared on your plate.

With a heart opened to good food and an intellectually stimulated mind, dinner is bound to satisfy the whole body. It’s what the doctor ordered.

Play with Your Food

As the days become shorter and the weather cooler, it’s time to fall back in love! Apple picking and wine tasting are some of the many great date ideas out there for the season, but Restaurant Week might just give you the best opportunities to impress your loved ones (of course there may be some bias in there somewhere!).  While there are more and more reasons to cozy up at home with your honey, like sunset at 4 o’clock, we’re thinking a couple of romantic nights out on the town may help keep that spark of love ablaze through the colder winter months.

We’ve started you off with our picks of some of the most romantic places to visit this Restaurant Week. They range from classic Italian and French menus that will have you planning your next vacation at the table to places with such beautiful Cape views, you’ll never want to leave.

Now go make the magic happen!

Take a Mini Vacation

Photo Credit: Caroline Talbot Photography

There’s a reason hundred year old barns are popular wedding locations and The Red Pheasant Inn knows just how to make those reasons shine during dinner. Exposed beams and a brick wall complement table linens and candlelight to make the restaurant feel as soft and warm as any idyllic barn house should. The Red Pheasant Inn is everything charming about rustic home cooking but with a classic French twist. Though dinner here is casual, menu staples like the sole meuniere and roasted young duckling can make a romantic dinner on the coast of Massachusetts feel like a gourmet feast in the French countryside.  

Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor. 

Buca’s Tuscan Roadhouse is everything you need to recreate that iconic scene from the Lady and the Tramp. With its arches, wood beams wrapped in twinkle lights, and candle lit checkered table cloths,this small and cozy restaurant will transport you to a small Tuscan trattoria. Here, classics like Lady and Tramp’s simple spaghetti and meatballs are transformed with wild boar ragout and fresh tagliatelle pasta. We’re positive the kiss at the end will be so much better than the one in the movie.

Go Big!

Photo courtesy of Captan Linnell House Facebook. 

If you’re thinking restaurant week calls for a grand romantic gesture (popping the question anyone?), you might as well choose to eat somewhere just as grand. Dining at the Captain Linnell House is an exquisite experience that will certainly garner an enthusiastic “Yes!” by the end of the evening. Chef and owner Bill Conway provides a carefully curated menu that is the picture of sophistication, as well as wine and cocktail lists that leave nothing to be desired. Go the extra mile by choosing the prix fixe menu, and take in the breathtaking views with only each other to think about.

Photo courtesy of Chillingsworth Facebook. 

Tasting menus, like falling in love for the first time, can sometimes seem a little intimidating. Luckily, The Chills Bistro eases any anxiety of the unknown with a more casual prix fixe menu. The dishes here are more familiar, like Crispy Fried Panko Crusted Chatham Oysters and Grilled Veal ‘Porterhouse’ Chop,  yet they maintain an air of haute cuisine.  Think Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan in the summer. Set on the same breathtaking grounds as the Chillingsworth Restaurant, the Chills Bistro is whimsical and light-hearted, making for the perfect end of summer date with someone carefree and fun.

Fall for the Cape

Photo Courtesy of Ocean House Restaurant Facebook. 

Cape Cod favorite Vers has spent the summer getting back in the groove. The restaurant relocated from Chatham to Orleans back in June, and has spent a successful summer reminding Cape Codders why it deserves a best restaurant title. In the larger space of the former Orleans Public House, and with the addition of Chef Jeremiah Reardon formerly of the Brewster Fish House, the team at Vers has more room to flex its creativity, something we’re excited to see brought to Restaurant Week this fall.  

We decided to sit down with Karen Haffmans, partner and general manager of Vers, to chat about the restaurant’s plans for the Week and the future.

So Vers has recently reopened. Congratulations! What can diners expect from the new Vers?  

We have tried to keep true to our spirit from our Chatham location: fresh, modern, and locally sourced cuisine but now in a larger, more welcoming environment.

We're glad to see Vers is not only back, but participating in Restaurant Week again! What keeps you returning to Restaurant Week? 

We love the opportunity to introduce ourselves to people who otherwise might not try our restaurant.  It's also an opportunity for our Chefs to experiment a bit with the menu.

What has inspired you while planning your Restaurant Week menu?  

We are inspired by the unique environment of Cape Cod and by the seasonal and local products we are able to source here.

What are your favorite local ingredients to work with? Will you be featuring them on the restaurant Week menu?

This time of year we love working with local apples, fall squash varieties, Shiitake mushrooms grown on Martha's Vineyard and Chatham skate wing.  All of these ingredients will be used on our upcoming restaurant menu.

What’s your favorite dish at the restaurant and why? Will you be serving it on your Restaurant Week menu?  

We have a few! Local Skate Wing is one of our most popular dishes and a favorite of ours.  We love working with the local fishermen to introduce sustainable seafood to the restaurant community.  We will be featuring skate on the Restaurant Week menu.

Truth or Dare Dessert is also a favorite.  This is our nightly dessert for two served table-side by Chef Jonathan. Here we showcase some of our modern culinary techniques and it gives Chef and opportunity to meet our guests in person. This dish will be available as a supplement to the Restaurant Week menu.

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?  

After restaurant week; Vers will continue to offer a 3 course dinner for $30 between 4:30pm and 6:30pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  We will go down to reduced hours and be open Wednesday through Saturday, 4:30-9pm.

Vers may have a different view on the Cape, but who they are hasn’t changed at all. Here, seasonal and local ingredients are transformed into brilliant pieces of art that are sure to add splashes of fun and flavor to your Restaurant Week.

With so many options for Cape Cod Restaurant Week, we understand it’s hard to choose. We can help you sort it out with help from CapeCodRestaurantWeek.com’s filtering tools.

The “Browse Restaurants” tab lets you sort your options in two ways:

By Town: Looking for something close by? Live in the Lower Cape? P-Town in your radius? Narrow down the options with just one click

By Cuisine: Maybe you’re looking to cozy up at a local French Bistro. Or you’re dying to try out some Italian fare. Search by cuisine and be transported on a culinary vacation!  

Use the Town and Cuisine filters together and you can pinpoint your ideal meal. Comfort Food in the Mid Cape – here we come!

Know exactly where you’d like to go? Skip over to the “Select Restaurant” tab and use “Jump to a Restaurant” to go directly to that eatery’s listing.

Finally, some warm weather on the horizon – that means it’s time to take it (lunch, dinner, drinks – all of it) outside. Consult the BostonChefs Outdoor Dining Guide to choose from 125+ al fresco options – patios, terraces, courtyards and roof decks – for your outdoor dining pleasure next time you’re in the city. 

From the tip of Provincetown to the Falmouth shore, the Cape’s most talented chefs are taking inspiration from the season to craft their Restaurant Week menus. Take a gander of some of the dishes featuring our favorite springtime ingredients and don’t forget to book that dinner reservation!

Spring Greens Salad with asparagus, fava bean, shaved radish, sweet onion poppy seed dressing - Five Bays Bistro

Gorgonzola Gnocchi with spring pea, prosciutto and mint cream sauce - toasted walnuts - Pisces

Asparagus Risotto - Certo’s

Squash "Spaghetti" Pesto with Arugula Pesto, Olives, Heirloom Tomato, and Garlic White Beans - Linx Tavern

Pan Seared Australis Barramundi, spring pea risotto with roasted asparagus - Red’s Restaurant and Lounge

Nantucket Flounder in the Spring with sugar snap peas, roasted corn, tomatoes, pea tendrils, carrot puree, cucumber tarragon sauce - The Naked Oyster

English Pea Risotto with goat cheese, wild mushrooms, lemon, pea shoots (Gluten Free) - Oak and Ember

Spinach Linguini, with Lemon Artichoke Pesto, Artichokes, Prosciutto, Pine Nuts, Rich Stock & Parmesan Reggiano - Chillingsworth

Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Purple Potato and Asparagus Hash, Fried Brussels Sprouts, Demi Glaze - Ocean Terrace

Carnivores rejoice! Chefs are getting to the meat of the matter on their Cape Cod Restaurant Week menus. See a sampling of the week’s most decadent meat dishes and start planning your supper!

Wild Boar Bolognese Ragout with fresh tagliatelle pasta, ricotta and Pecorino Romano - Buca’s Tuscan Roadhouse

Grilled Flat Iron Steak with sweet corn bechamel, fingerling chips, asparagus, port wine demi glace - Fin

Beef Tenderloin Brochette with a wild rice blend, roasted asparagus, cabernet jus - Van Rensselaer’s

Lamb with golden beets, sunchokes - Certo’s

Herb Roasted Chicken with fennel, dill, fingerling salad, citrus jus - Ocean Terrace

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with apple, jicama, ginger slar & mashed potatoes - Red Pheasant Inn

Veal Cutlet, breaded, pan fried over a bed of mixed greens with pink grapefruit, avocado, toasted barley, Feta cheese, walnuts and drizzled with roasted onion & cilantro vinaigrette - Old Yarmouth Inn

Can’t wait for Cape Cod Restaurant Week? Head on into your kitchen to whip up a tasty dessert -- Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake, courtesy of The Red Pheasant Inn. The family-owned restaurant puts an emphasis on fresh & local ingredients and luckily strawberries are about to be in peak season! Give this recipe a try after a day of fruit picking and reap the rewards of your labor. See what else the Red Pheasant Inn has in store for Restaurant Week here! 

Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake

Servings: 5

INGREDIENTS  

For the Biscuits:

3 and 1/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons baking powder

8 ounces cold butter

2  eggs lightly beaten

¾ cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Strawberry Rhubarb filling:

1 quart strawberries

2 stalks rhubarb

1 cup sugar, split

½ vanilla bean split and scraped out

For the Whipped Cream:

2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar 

Whip to a soft peak 

DIRECTIONS

For the Biscuits: 

Combine dry ingredients

Cube butter into small pieces, cut butter into dry ingredients with pastry blender or paddle attachment on mixer

Whisk together liquid ingredients; add all at once to dry ingredients and mix until just moist, do not over mix

Turn onto floured surface, knead about 1 minute, flatten to ½ inch thick round; punch out using cutter.

Brush lightly with beaten egg and bake at 400 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes until golden on top

For the Filling:

Wash strawberries, cut tops off and slice or quarter into a bowl

Add ½ the sugar & the scraped out vanilla bean

Toss and set aside for 2-3 hours

Peel and slice rhubarb into ¼ inch thick pieces 

Put rhubarb in baking dish and toss with the other half of the sugar

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until soft but not mushy; Pull out of the oven and remove foil and let cool 

Mix with the strawberries, use all the juice from both items 

In anticipation of Cape Cod Restaurant Week, we decided to dig a little deeper in order to get you up close and personal with some of our favorite Cape restaurants. This week, we had a chat with Frank Tammaro, the chef-owner of Certo’s Trattoria. 

As a newer restaurant on Cape Cod, can you tell our diners about your cooking philosophy?

It is said that before you put a single morsel of food in your mouth, you taste it with your eyes. Certo’s Trattoria has taken this idea even further by conceiving dishes that are equal parts culinary delight and works of art. Each item is made from scratch using only the freshest and traditional ingredients, along with contemporary cooking techniques. Our intention is to cultivate a food experience that will stimulate all five of your senses. The result is unexpected combinations including foams, gels and caviar that are as pleasing on the plate as they are to the palate. We’ve thrown out the rules and created flavors, textures and presentations that we believe will please you from first sight to last bite. Certo’s dining is meant to be full of wonder and delight.

All of Certo’s dishes seem beautiful to look at and even better to eat. Why did you get involved with Cape Cod Restaurant Week?

I’m a new restaurant on Cape Cod and need to gain exposure to the public with what I’m doing.

Well we’re very excited to have you! What has inspired you while planning your Restaurant Week menu?  

I get inspired making recipes of Italian food that are not on my main menu for Restaurant Week, because it allows me to combine different fresh, local ingredients and textures and flavors creatively.

What are some of your favorite local ingredients to work with and which ones are you playing around with for this restaurant week menu?

Fresh fish, greens, sunchokes, turnips edible flowers, asparagus, ramps, cranberries, some of which will be on the menu.

Those are all great seasonal ingredients. What’s different about the spring week vs. the autumn week? Since this is your first spring restaurant week, what are you most looking forward to?

It’s my first spring serving and it will be more creative than the fall one, which was my first restaurant week ever. I’m excited about offering Cicchetti’s (Italian Tapas) for lunch and early evening until 6:00 starting in mid-May.

What’s your favorite dish at the restaurant and why? Will you be serving it on your Restaurant Week menu?  

It’s very hard to choose my favorite dish. If I had to choose, it would be the Lamb or the Sea Bass. They will not be on the restaurant week menu because I’m creating new ones for that week.

With so many options for Cape Cod Restaurant Week, we understand it’s hard to choose. We can help you sort it out with help from CapeCodRestaurantWeek.com’s filtering tools.

The “Browse Restaurants” tab lets you sort your options in two ways:

By Town: Looking for something close by? Live in the Lower Cape? P-Town in your radius? Narrow down the options with just one click

By Cuisine: Maybe you’re looking to cozy up at a local French Bistro. Or you’re dying to try out some Italian fare. Search by cuisine and be transported on a culinary vacation!  

Use the Town and Cuisine filters together and you can pinpoint your ideal meal. Comfort Food in the Mid Cape -- here we come!

Know exactly where you’d like to go? Skip over to the “Select Restaurant” tab and use “Jump to a Restaurant” to go directly to that eatery’s listing.

We hope you got your fill of the fall edition of Cape Cod Restaurant Week, but if you’re still hungry there are plenty of restaurants extending their special prix-fixe menus!

Chillingsworth

The Restaurant Week menu is available nightly at the Bistro until the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mad Minnow Bar & Kitchen

Head to this Harwich hotspot and enjoy their 3 for $30 deal for the remainder of the season.

Naked Oyster

Don’t miss out on the delicious deals to be had in downtown Hyannis. Treat yourself to a midday meal with a 3-course Bistro Lunch for just $19. Or make Monday more special with a 3-course prix fixe for only $30. And get other the humpday blues with $1 oysters all day, every Wednesday.

Viera

Get your fill of the 3-course menu for $35 until Dec. 30th