Provincetown, the "Outer Cape," and Wellfleet Too

[liamsaunt]

I am back in Wellfleet for the next two weeks with family.  Our first dinner had to be at Mac's Shack, of course.

 

 

The specials last night. 

 

 

Drinks.  The usual sparkling water, gin spin, and mescalito.  

 

 

We shared appetizers of spicy tuna mango martini and halibut seveche.  These are the same choices we made last time, but they are both so tasty.  

 

 

 

 

I got the salmon special.  It was delicious.  The salmon was cooked perfectly.  The raw shaved beets in the dish were not in the menu description though.  I really like beets, which is a good thing, because they really flavored the dish.  If you did not like beets and got this dish, you would have been disappointed.  

 

 

My niece, husband, and sister all shared some sushi.  They intended to bring home any leftovers for my husband's brother, who was arriving later that evening, but they ate it all haha

 

Halibut turadito

 

 

Jalepeno yellowtail sashimi

 

 

Salmon poke bowl (this was only for my niece)

 

 

Big Mac roll (spicy tuna and avocado inside, wrapped in tuna outside, topped with tuna poke)

 

 

Big kahuna roll (my niece's favorite, I am not sure that my sister or husband got any of this one)

 

 

Stoplight roll (tuna, mango, avocado inside, yellowtail outside)

 

 

We did not have time to get to the west-facing beach for the sunset after dinner, so we returned to the house and my husband and I walked on the east-facing beach in front of the house instead.  

 

Here's a view of the house we are renting as seen from the beach.  I counted the stairs on the way back up--97.  It's a nice workout!

 

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday, my sister, niece and I went out to breakfast at Fox and Crow.  We all got the same thing, this egg sandwich:

 

 

Later we went to Provincetown and stopped by Race Point Beach.  It was high tide so we did not walk for long.

 

 

In town, my niece, sister and I went book shopping while my husband and his brother went for a drink at Aqua Bar.  I had good luck at the fantastic Tim's Used Books, scoring three Folio Society illustrated Jane Austen novels and a hardcover copy of On the Road.  Nobody else found anything they wanted.

 

Lots of pretty flowers around.  

 

 

 

We walked by a new grilled cheese restaurant.  I wonder if the emergence of this restaurant has anything to do with all of the cannabis stores in town.  Note the grilled cheeses with mac and cheese inside of them 🤣

 

 

We went to dinner at Pepe's Wharf.  View

 

 

 

 

The menu was via a QR code so no picture of that.  Here are the drinks people ordered.  A Don Julio, which was basically a margarita, I think

 

 

and a fraperol, some sort of frozen slushy aperol drink.

 

 

Appetizers.  Fried calamari 

 

 

Bruschetta with peppers and stracciatella cheese (my niece wanted this and said it was very good)

 

 

and wild mushroom flatbread

 

 

The catch of the day was swordfish.  My sister had it with a lemon garlic marinade

 

 

and my husband's brother ordered it with a cajun coating

 

 

My husband and I both got the colossal shrimp with arugula salad.  The salad was really tasty

 

 

My niece ordered a special of miso salmon with asparagus and rice.  She liked this a lot

 

 

We were all too full for dessert, but my sister wanted to order a piece of their coconut cake to take back to work with her today.  It looked pretty tasty.

 

[TicTac]

Wonderful shots as usual - thank you for taking the time to share!

 

You folks are down there so often, perhaps it's time to pitch a permanent tent!?

 

Oh - and I hate QR code menus.  I refuse to get data on my cell phone (gasp - the horror!) and usually get some really odd looks when I have to explain that I still prefer to live in the Flinstone days.

 

 

[liamsaunt]

22 hours ago, TicTac said:

Wonderful shots as usual - thank you for taking the time to share!

 

You folks are down there so often, perhaps it's time to pitch a permanent tent!?

 

Oh - and I hate QR code menus.  I refuse to get data on my cell phone (gasp - the horror!) and usually get some really odd looks when I have to explain that I still prefer to live in the Flinstone days.

 

 

 

I don't like QR code menus either.  I am sure it saves the restaurant money in printing costs, but I do prefer having the actual menu in hand rather than scrolling back and forth on my phone.

 

Yesterday we were lazy and spent most of the day reading books or on the deck looking at the water so not too many pictures to share.  I cooked at home last night.  I wanted to grill, but the tenants who were here last week broke the connector that brings the gas line into the grill somehow. So, I ended up pan roasting the halibut I intended to grill.  I served it with sautéed corn, marinated tomatoes, and salad.  All the veggies were brought from home as I got a CSA delivery the day before we came out here.

 

 

We did make it to the beach for the sunset last night.

 

 

Dropping into the haze on the horizon

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

Yesterday we were lazy and spent most of the day reading books or on the deck looking at the water

Sounds like a fine way to spend the day! Beautiful food and photos, as usual!

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday, my husband's brother was leaving for a few days.   Before he drove home, he wanted to have lunch at Winslow's Tavern.  After our prior poor dining experiences there earlier this year, we all agreed to play it safe with sandwiches.  The guys ordered summer in a glass cocktails

 

 

We ordered some roasted oysters with rosemary lemon butter, which were fine.  

 

 

and the guys also wanted to order a striped bass crudo.  I skipped this one: the MA striped bass season ended weeks ago, and I have no idea where this fish came from.  They seemed to enjoy it.  

 

 

For sandwiches, I ordered the frenchie, which was caramelized onions and gruyere cheese (a tad bland, some grainy mustard would have perked it up)

 

 

My husband and his brother ordered a lobster salad and prosciutto panini with saffron mayonnaise.  My husband was annoyed that they put celery in the lobster salad this year.  I guess it never had celery before.

 

 

 

 

Niece ordered her usual prosciutto, gruyere, and fig jam sandwich.  She said it was good.

 

 

We skipped the sunset last night, and instead went to the drive-in movies (in case you are wondering why the front is empty--nobody parks there because all of the speakers in those rows are broken due to a bad paving job).  We did not make it to the second movie (Top Gun: Maverick) but Grease was a lot of fun. 

 

[Anna N]

Thanks for sharing some of the other activities you enjoy while there. I have often wondered what you did other than meals and sunsets. 😂 

 But I also know the problems of going off topic.  

[weinoo]

That's a great movie theatre.  I'm getting excited, as we will be at our favorite Red Inn at the end of September.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Niece ordered her usual prosciutto, gruyere, and fig jam sandwich.  She said it was good.

Some iteration of this needs to happen in my house soon!

 

All the fries from that Winslow's Tavern lunch look deliciously crispy.  Were they hot as well?  Not sure why that's such a difficult combination to deliver.  

Crispy and tepid ✔️

Hot but flabby ✔️

Crispy and hot?  Please!

[liamsaunt]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:17 AM, Anna N said:

Thanks for sharing some of the other activities you enjoy while there. I have often wondered what you did other than meals and sunsets. 😂 

 But I also know the problems of going off topic.  

 

I try not to go too far off-topic, but I figure an occasional brief diversion is OK, as long as people are interested.  

 

23 hours ago, weinoo said:

That's a great movie theatre.  I'm getting excited, as we will be at our favorite Red Inn at the end of September.

 

 

 

It's always fun, as long as the mosquitoes are not attacking! They have not been bad this year.  We saw a brilliant shooting star with a fire trail, and there were tons of fireflies flitting about.  It was a nice evening.  Did you see that Oysterfest is happening this year?  They are limiting attendees to 6,000 and advance tickets only, so it should be a more comfortable experience.  Unfortunately, the dates do not work for us.

 

18 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Some iteration of this needs to happen in my house soon!

 

All the fries from that Winslow's Tavern lunch look deliciously crispy.  Were they hot as well?  Not sure why that's such a difficult combination to deliver.  

Crispy and tepid ✔️

Hot but flabby ✔️

Crispy and hot?  Please!

 

They were very crispy and reasonably hot.  

 

Yesterday we drove to the next town over, Truro, to visit the Chequessett Chocolate Company.

 

 

They have an attached store with all different types of chocolate for sale.  I took some pictures to show you. This is their own chocolate

 

 

And other various chocolates for sale

 

 

 

 

 

There's a cafe with coffee drinks also.  Outside, there is a food truck that serves ice cream and smoothies.  Here is that menu

 

 

We ordered ice creams, and the order taker messed them up rather grandly.  Here is one ice cream we ordered.  It has the flavor I ordered, my niece's sprinkles, and my husband's cone!  We swapped around as best we could.  It's ice cream, it's all good.

 

 

My sister came back out in time to go to dinner.  We decided on the Pearl.  Menu

 

 

 

Drinks for my husband and sister

 

 

Fried calamari

 

 

My husband chose shrimp tacos

 

 

My sister had fish tacos

 

 

My niece chose bourbon pork 

 

 

and I had roasted cod.

 

 

Sunset at Wellfleet pier

 

 

We are going on a whale watch this afternoon, so maybe I will have some whale (or even shark!) pictures to share tomorrow.  

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

 

We are going on a whale watch this afternoon, so maybe I will have some whale (or even shark!) pictures to share tomorrow.  

 

That's my favorite Mac's!

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday we started with a walk on the public beach near the house, LeCount Hollow  You have to be a Wellfleet resident (or own, not rent, a seasonal house in Wellfleet) in order to park here during the on-season, but anyone can walk in.  The town enacted this rule about three years ago, and I think it is a good policy.  All of the beach lots fill up early in the summer, and it's not fair to the people that live here year-round that they do not have a place to go to the beach if they want to.   This is a popular surfing beach, but it was calm yesterday.

 

 

Yesterday was our whale watch

 

 

We saw seven humpback whales, a fin whale, a basking shark, and a blue shark.  Here are a couple of photos.

 

A pair of humpbacks, one blowing through its blowhole

 

 

A humpback slapping the water with its fin

 

 

Two different whales diving down

 

 

 

and my favorite, a pair of humpbacks that looked like they were doing a synchronized swimming routine.  They kept moving out of the water in unison.  It was very cool.  We were also very lucky to see some completely out of the water breeches, but from a distance too far to take decent photos, even with my DSLR.

 

 

 

Back to shore.  This is the lighthouse on the end of the curve of Provincetown

 

 

and town as seen from the boat

 

 

After our whale watch, we headed to Mac's Fish House Provincetown, as that is our tradition.  Drinks for my husband and sister

 

 

My niece wanted a steamed pork bun appetizer

 

 

 

My sister, husband, and I split some oysters and littleneck clams

 

 

 

For entrees, my sister had sesame-crusted tuna over a soba noodle salad

 

 

My niece wanted sushi (of course)

 

 

I got a masala rubbed salmon on coconut curry lentils with mint raita (under the lentils)

 

 

and husband went for the classic halibut with lobster mashed potatoes.

 

[weinoo]

 

Love the Long Point Light (and its sister, the Wood End Light) yet nothing could get me to make the trek out to see it close up...I'm a little too neurotic for that!

 

It really has an interesting story...https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=490

 

Nice whale pics.

[Anna N]

28 minutes ago, weinoo said:

It really has an interesting story.

Thanks for a good read. Took some mettle to be a lighthouse keeper. 

[liamsaunt]

15 hours ago, weinoo said:

Love the Long Point Light (and its sister, the Wood End Light) yet nothing could get me to make the trek out to see it close up...I'm a little too neurotic for that!

 

Me too!!  I would be paranoid about the tide coming in and stranding me on the jetty.  Plus, I hate walking on soft sand for any distance.  I guess there is a shuttle boat that will take you over from MacMilllan pier to avoid the jetty and sand hike, but I have never done it.

 

So yesterday our plans got scuttled when we got a message at 10 AM from our farm share delivery service saying that the driver had hit traffic, and our scheduled pickup had been changed from 4 PM to 7 PM.  That was pretty annoying.  So we spent the day at the house reading and visiting another beach within walking distance, White Crest.

 

 

Since we had to drive two towns back to get the farm vegetables, we ended up going out to dinner rather than cooking at the house.  We chose Rock Harbor Grill in Orleans.  It was full on arrival (it's walk-in only), so we walked over to a nearby candy shop and bakery, the Hot Chocolate Sparrow, to see what was on offer.  Here's the bakery case, with various slices of cakes

 

 

Chocolate barks

 

 

Hard candies

 

 

Fudge flavors

 

 

And a picture that my niece asked me t take for this report.  She would like to know if anyone would actually eat these two items, because they sound completely disgusting!

 

 

After poking around a bit in the chocolate shop, we got a text that our table was ready.  Menu:

 

 

 

 

Complimentary pretzel bread for the table

 

 

Drinks for my husband and sister (sorry, I forgot to ask what they were)

 

 

Fried clam and cherry pepper appetizer

 

 

Fried mushroom appetizer 

 

 

My niece got the prosciutto pizza.  She said it was quite tasty.  

 

 

My husband chose the lazy lobster.    He said it was very rich.  He did not eat the potatoes but enjoyed the broccoli.  

 

 

Sister got the roasted cod.  She said it was very fresh and that the grilled asparagus was excellent.  

 

 

I chose the shrimp and scallop special, which was a bit of a mistake.  The porcini powder they put on the seafood before searing it made everything look burnt, which was not really appealing.  The powder didn't add much flavor either, so it was kind of a strange decision.  The mushrooms mentioned in the menu description were missing.  Finally, this dish had WAY too many sun-dried tomatoes.   There was a whole layer of them under the tortellini.  Overall it was not a great dish, despite the freshness of the scallops, but I knew I was taking a chance when I ordered it.  Oh well!

 

 

We skipped dessert in favor of ice cream at the Ice Cream Cafe in town.  Here's the menu of flavors.  There are lots of choices!

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by liamsaunt (log)

[Arey]

Id rather eat  chocolate covered Swedish fish than Surstromming

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

Me too!!  I would be paranoid about the tide coming in and stranding me on the jetty.

 

Exactly my fear. And I'm sure you've seen the warnings posted at the jetty (aka the Provincetown Causeway). They sorta say don't be an idiot and get stranded out there...check the tides, and know what you're doing!!

 

As an aside, we did a walk through the White Cedar Swamp Trail last year - uncrowded, and pretty nice. I'm guessing you've done it?

 

The Marconi Wireless Station at the trail is where the first transatlantic wireless signal was sent, so that's another added attraction, if one is into that sort of thing. 

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

And a picture that my niece asked me to take for this report.  She would like to know if anyone would actually eat these two items, because they sound completely disgusting!

 

 

If your niece knew what some of the old-school Passover candies were like...

[gfweb]

RE QR code menus.

 

I reject them. They aren't an advance.  And they avoid a minimal covid risk at most (esp compared to eating maskless)

[curls]

Thank you for the photos.

 

Yikes, I'm surprised to see how much they are charging for the chocolates, barks, and fudge! Bark $22.95 per pound, chocolate 28.95 per pound, fudge $20 pound. They don't look like they are using high end chocolate. Even for a resort town, that is expensive.

 

As for the chocolate covered gummy candies. They can be quite good. Not my favorite but I can understand why people like them.

 

Chocolate cinnamon bears are huge in Utah and they are starting to show up all around the United States. https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/food/2018/02/13/spicy-and-sweet-these-chocolate-cinnamon-bears-are-a-utah-obsession/

[Katie Meadow]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

If your niece knew what some of the old-school Passover candies were like...

And then there's Bridge Mix, always a sign of disappointments to follow when you see them in a bowl. Like raisinettes.

 

I have no memory of Passover candy. My concept of Israeli candy is still stuck with Hannukah gelt. Worse even than Hershey's milk chocolate. For dessert at Passover my favorite tradition was meringues and strawberries. And a gluten-free walnut cake that everyone loved except me.

[liamsaunt]

21 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Exactly my fear. And I'm sure you've seen the warnings posted at the jetty (aka the Provincetown Causeway). They sorta say don't be an idiot and get stranded out there...check the tides, and know what you're doing!!

 

As an aside, we did a walk through the White Cedar Swamp Trail last year - uncrowded, and pretty nice. I'm guessing you've done it?

 

The Marconi Wireless Station at the trail is where the first transatlantic wireless signal was sent, so that's another added attraction, if one is into that sort of thing. 

 

Yes, I have done that walk many times.  It is great when there is water in the swamp around the trees.  It makes for beautiful, almost fairy-like pictures.  I am sure it is dry as a bone at the moment!  

 

17 hours ago, curls said:

Thank you for the photos.

 

Yikes, I'm surprised to see how much they are charging for the chocolates, barks, and fudge! Bark $22.95 per pound, chocolate 28.95 per pound, fudge $20 pound. They don't look like they are using high end chocolate. Even for a resort town, that is expensive.

 

As for the chocolate-covered gummy candies. They can be quite good. Not my favorite but I can understand why people like them.

 

Chocolate cinnamon bears are huge in Utah and they are starting to show up all around the United States. https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/food/2018/02/13/spicy-and-sweet-these-chocolate-cinnamon-bears-are-a-utah-obsession/

 

Yes, the chocolate looks like standard quality touristy stuff, doesn't it?  We did not buy any.  I am not sure how their prices compare to other candy stores out here--I will look.

 

Yesterday we had to leave the house in the morning because the cleaners were coming for a house refresh. My niece wanted to go book shopping, so we decided to go to Chatham and Harwichport for the morning to get breakfast and shop.  Chatham was wall-to-wall people!  They must have all arrived Friday night.  We went to Captain's Table.  An obnoxious lady cut us in line for seating, but I could see an open table for four on the terrace that did not have any other tables around it to combine, and she had eight people with her, so I just let it go.  My sister ordered pancakes:

 

 

I ordered a breakfast burrito

 

 

Niece had French toast

 

 

And my husband had smoked salmon eggs benedict

 

 

We tried doing some shopping in town, but it was so crowded that some of the stores had ropes up with staff to limit entry like you were shopping for Gucci instead of t-shirts!  Needless to say, we did not stay.  I did see this funny sign on a church in town:

 

 

And my niece found a book she wanted at Yellow Umbrella Books, so it was not a total shopping bust.  Harwichport was not as crowded, but none of us saw anything we wanted to buy.

 

Back to the quiet house!  I cooked dinner.  Sauteed swordfish (the grill is still broken) and lobster with peppers and rice pilaf.

 

 

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday was a very hot day.  All of the beaches and restaurants were packed for the holiday, so we spent most of the day just reading on the deck.  We did venture to a beach in the afternoon for a walk, but it was so hot we did not stay long.  

 

 

My husband's brother wanted to go to the Beachcomber for dinner.  I warned him that the parking was going to be full.  He insisted we go anyway.  The parking was full, the police were there, and cars were not allowed to wait to pull into the lot as others left.  This is just as I expected based on years of experience going there on Labor Day weekend.  🙄

 

We ended up at Mac's Shack again.  There was an hour wait for a table, but everywhere else was equally full.  Drinks while waiting:

 

 

Oysters

 

 

Spicy tuna mango martini

 

 

Toro sushi roll

 

 

Toro poke bowl

 

 

Regular tuna poke bowl

 

 

Big kahuna roll

 

 

Special of swordfish skewered with shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers, and zucchini over rice

 

 

Spicy seared tuna over soba noodles with wasabi cream sauce

 

 

My husband's brother insists we try for Beachcomber again today.  They are only open until 4, then close for a week for a staff holiday, so we will see if we can get there.  

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

My husband's brother insists we try for Beachcomber again today.

I think you and Job must have lucked in to the same bucket of forebearance.  I hope it works out for all of you. Thanks for sharing so much with us. 

[TicTac]

That toro sushi roll looks awesome.  Too bad they don't splurge on some real wasabi root to accompany that awesome cut.