Provincetown, the "Outer Cape," and Wellfleet Too

[weinoo]

There's a Hopper Museum and study center in Nyack, NY...https://www.edwardhopperhouse.org/hours-tours-admission.html, and there have been tours of his studio on Washington Square Park in NYC.  But I don't see anything about the Hopper home in Truro.

[liamsaunt]

11 hours ago, weinoo said:

There's a Hopper Museum and study center in Nyack, NY...https://www.edwardhopperhouse.org/hours-tours-admission.html, and there have been tours of his studio on Washington Square Park in NYC.  But I don't see anything about the Hopper home in Truro.

Looks like you are right, from what I can find, it’s privately owned on a private dirt road.   I guess the only way to see it now is from the beach.  

 

We have been hiking in the Momomoy Wildlife Preserve the last few days. It’s bird migration time, and we have been picking up lots of new birds with our Merlin apps.  There are dedicated birders with massive camera equipment out there to catch the birds coming through.  I’m too lazy to even carry my basic DSLR, let alone one of those giant telephoto lenses the serious birders have.  
 

Here are a couple of pictures I took at low tide on Wednesday

 

 

 

Neither of us felt like much for dinner, so we just ordered a clam pizza from a shop in town. We got an arugula salad to put on top as well. It was fairly good.

 

 

 

We went back to Monomoy today and hiked another seven miles.

 

 

 

 

We were unsure of when exactly the tide would submerge the trail, so headed back out of there on the early side. We went to a different area of town for the sunset.  This is Harding’s Beach.

 

 

 

After sunset we had dinner at Pisces.  Martini for husband, n/a gin and tonic for me

 

 

We shared a tuna tartare appetizer

 

 

Then he had the same oyster spaghetti he ordered here in June

 

 

I had grilled swordfish with pesto ravioli

 

 

We shared a slice of key lime pie for dessert

 

[Smithy]

Those ravioli look wonderful. I go in fits and starts, trying to make my own. Thanks for the inspiration to try again!

[liamsaunt]

We spent the afternoon at Monomoy again 

 

 

You can go clamming here as long as you have a permit. There were steamers sticking right out of the sand at lowest tide

 

 

 

 

My sister and niece came back for the weekend. We decided to try a new to us place in town called Pates. I took photos of the menu (the lighting was tricky, sorry for the glare and shadows)

 

 

 

Bread with bean dip

 

 

Drinks. I don’t know what my sister and husband ordered, but my niece and I both had a watermelon-hibiscus mocktail. It was pretty good.

 

 

oysters

 

 

Two orders of tuna cones

 

 

Potato chip crusted cod

 

 

Scallops with sucotash

 

 

Pork chop with pork belly fried rice

 

 

Seafood pan roast

 

 

We ordered two desserts to share. A ‘snowball” (basically a hot fudge sundae with coconut)

 

 

and a coffee mousse

 

 

We were all stuffed! 

[MetsFan5]

That pork chop dish is calling to me!!

[Katie Meadow]

You had me at steamers sticking their necks out of the sand. Your crowd never seems to order them, Doesn't anyone like them? Of all the things I miss from the east coast that's almost at the top of my list. I just love them. And of course there are none here on the west coast. It's mostly a clam desert except for manilla clams,  which are okay but tiny and can't match the little quahogs. 

[MetsFan5]

5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

You had me at steamers sticking their necks out of the sand. Your crowd never seems to order them, Doesn't anyone like them? Of all the things I miss from the east coast that's almost at the top of my list. I just love them. And of course there are none here on the west coast. It's mostly a clam desert except for manilla clams,  which are okay but tiny and can't match the little quahogs. 

 

idk about @liamsaunt but I cannot stand steamers with big siphons. Give me little necks any day of the week. 

[Katie Meadow]

10 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

 

idk about @liamsaunt but I cannot stand steamers with big siphons. Give me little necks any day of the week. 

What, you don't like their geezer stockings?

[liamsaunt]

15 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

You had me at steamers sticking their necks out of the sand. Your crowd never seems to order them, Doesn't anyone like them? Of all the things I miss from the east coast that's almost at the top of my list. I just love them. And of course there are none here on the west coast. It's mostly a clam desert except for manilla clams,  which are okay but tiny and can't match the little quahogs. 

When I was a kid my family lived near the beach in Westerly RI, and my parents had friends who were fishermen. They would drop sacks of cull lobsters and extra clams off at the house for us often.  I loved, loved, loved steamer clams. They were my favorite food.  Then, one year, when I was about seven or eight, I ate three heaping bowls of steamers and two whole lobsters at a 4th of July family picnic. I got so sick! I have not really been able to enjoy steamers or lobster since. I still really love littleneck clams though.  My husband orders steamers once in a while, as long as there’s someone to share them with — he had them at the Beachcomber last week. 

Yesterday we went into town to go shopping. It was crowded, and we bought nothing except ice cream.

 

 

Last night we celebrated my niece’s birthday a little early with a sushi dinner at Bluefins.  Sister’s cocktail

 

 

Crispy tuna rice

 

 

Platter of sushi rolls that my niece selected for us to share

 

 

She had a bread pudding for dessert.  It was too huge to finish! 
 

We stopped at the lookout at the beach next to the house to check out the almost full moon after dinner

 

 

Chatham Light

 

 

This morning we drove down to Chatham Bars Inn for Sunday breakfast. It was very foggy and damp. We have had great weather for the past few weeks so I cannot complain

 

 

Niece had waffles with fruit

 

 

Husband had the same thing he ordered when we stayed here a few weeks ago, poached eggs on sourdough with tomato and prosciutto

 

 

I had poached eggs on spicy ratatouille with manchego cheese

 

 

and sister had smoked salmon

 

 

It’s pouring rain now, so not much on the docket for today.  Sister and niece are heading back to our home this afternoon, and husband and I have one more night here before going home tomorrow. Dinner tbd. 

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday ended up being a total pouring rain washout, so no beach pictures. Our only foray from the house was when we went into town to attempt to have dinner at the local tavern. We walked in and encountered the rudest hostess I think I have ever had the displeasure of speaking with. This went beyond New England reserved to outright rudeness. Needless to say, we walked right back out. We ended up back at Viera on Main instead.  Drinks (martini and phony Negroni)

 

 

A shared fritto misto

 

 

Swordfish with chickpea panisse and cauliflower puree

 

 

steak frites

 

 

Raspberry-strawberry bread pudding for dessert

 

 

That’s it for this visit. I have had enough restaurant food for a while. See you back on the dinner thread. 

[rotuts]

@liamsaunt

 

thank you for taking us along.

 

and sharing some wonderful dishes and sunsets.

[TdeV]

Me too! @liamsaunt, thank you.

[Okanagancook]

Great job of documenting your adventures.  Thanks for bringing us along.

[weinoo]

It’s been fun being up here for the nor’easter; today appears to be the first day w/o gale force winds and/or lots of rain!

[liamsaunt]

53 minutes ago, weinoo said:

It’s been fun being up here for the nor’easter; today appears to be the first day w/o gale force winds and/or lots of rain!

 

We were in Falmouth until Friday. The house we were in was right on a seawall. We had a mild storm while there and the waves were already coming over the wall and into the yard then. I can only imagine what happened during the nor'easter!  I didn't bother with a food report since most meals were pretty blah, with the exception of Water Street Kitchen in Woods Hole.  I am sure you are having better eats out there in Provincetown. Enjoy the blustery beach for me!  🙂

[weinoo]

Spent a nice (well, other than the Nor'easter) 3.5 days and 4 nights in Provincetown, staying where we normally stay.

 

 

View from outside our room, as the Nor'easter was leaving, and low tide.

 

 

And caught some sun the next evening, from the same vantage point.

 

 

 

Mr. Wondrich ( @Splificator ) on the bar with me, as I'm enjoying an old fashioned at Ladyslipper.

 

 

Ladyslipper.  They built this bar out from scratch, in 2 months. 3 co-owners and a helper or two...I was impressed, as it's quite lovely inside.

 

We basically ate like townies on this trip, as our dinners were with townies (and one lunch was, as well).

 

The Mayflower - now closed for the season, and the place where my niece mentioned they cook the best lobster in town...

 

 

Quite good - comes with a side of your choice, and at $34, a relative bargain.  Absolutely classic joint, with a good $8 Manhattan to boot!

 

 

Another dinner was at the Governor Bradford, sadly slated to close in a few months. Huge place, interesting menu, tasty stoner food. Good beer list, too.

 

Lunch one day was across the street from Ladyslipper, at a lunch only place...Vorelli's Restaurant. Significant Eater had a great lobster roll, and my lobster salad on a salad was super too.

 

Final dinner with the niece and husband - we took a drive out of town to The Wicked Oyster, in Wellfleet.

 

 

I can't tell you the last time I enjoyed such beautifully shucked, plump, shell-filling oysters..the sine qua non of oysters, if you will.

 

A couple of apps...

 

 

Fried local clam strips on the left, and Jonah crab salad on the right.  These were fine.

 

 

For my main, I had the scallop dish, described thusly:

 

Seared Dayboat Scallops … 35 Carrot-Ginger Puree | Snap Peas | Parsley and Hazelnut Pesto

 

The scallops were great, snap peas replaced by roasted purple cauliflower, and just a bit too much going on on the plate, when you have such beautiful scallops.  And seven of them!  Most of the dishes appeared to suffer the same fate, just an ingredient or two too much.

 

One night, we did have all 3 desserts from Kelly Fields at Ladyslipper...

 

 

 

 

Top one is basically a warm apple galette, with caramel crunch drizzled atop. And underneath is a PB & J mousse, with a house-made Concord jam - more crunches atop.  These were excellent, and go well with the Amaro treats on offer.

 

There was a little sightseeing on the one nice day...

 

 

The Nauset Light in Eastham.

 

 

Nearby are the Three Sisters Lighthouses...

 

 

Which were in use prior to the Nauset light going into service.

 

Fun, if short, trip.