A Weekend in Cape Cod - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

July 13, 2010 A Weekend in Cape Cod

The weekend begins with the hunt for a good lobster roll on Saturday afternoon. We decided to stop at the Fish Market in Falmouth-I had heard good things about them. They are located at 157 Teaticket Highway in Falmouth. 1-800 628-0045.This place is a fish market, not a restaurant, but they have take out available. They have lobster rolls, clam plates, chicken finger plates etc.

They have plenty of fresh fish and shell fish, along with live lobsters in a variety of sizes.

So here’s the lobster roll. The bun comes cold, which is a bummer, I like mine a little toasted, but the plus side is there is a TON of lobster in the roll. And I’m not talking small pieces, I’m talking big pieces of sweet lobster meat. The lobster roll has the slightest hint of mayo and some celery and overflows over the bun. Not bad!

We hit the beach to catch some of the last rays of the afternoon before heading out to dinner at Homeport Sushi and Kitchen. A little place tucked inside an office park-you might never know about it because of it’s location. (316 Gifford Street, Falmouth (508) 540-0886) There aren’t that many places in Falmouth that offer sushi, so we decided to give this place a shot. They don’t have a website but when I looked online they had pretty good reviews.

The place is pretty small-there are probably a dozen or so tables. The decor reminds you of your college dorm room with posters taped up on the wall. There is one waitress and one sushi chef-so the service is pretty slow. (In the review I read on yahoo it said that during busy times the service is slow…but there were only 2 other tables seated…)

Sorry for the dimly lit picture, but here is the shrimp tempura roll (left) and the spicy tuna on top of the California roll (right). The sushi was ok-nothing to write home about. I think that there is much better sushi to be found in Boston, or any other major city, but for Falmouth, I suppose that this is ok. My dining companions ordered a shrimp tempura dish that was quite tasty-the tempura was nice and light and crisp. They also ordered another chicken dish that looked sparse on the plate and was reported to be so so. Conclusion, went once, not in a rush to go back.

Armed with the June edition of the Boston Magazine (Cape Escapes), we head out the following afternoon on a road trip.

Located right on Route 6, we expected Arnold’s (voted best seafood shack) to be more crowded than it was. The line wasn’t bad, we waited about 5 minutes to get to the front. You wait in line, order at the counter, they call your number and you bring it to any one of the seats out back.

The dining areas are either inside or in a covered tent outside. There are tons of people here, you don’t realize how big the place is when you come in the front door.

Their menu is extensive. Here’s what the Boston magazine had to say about Arnolds: ” If you’re looking for a harborside hole in the wall, this isn’t it. There’s an ever present line out the door, an ice cream stand out back, and (clam purists, cover your ears) a mini golf course. But Arnold’s has lasted 30 years for a good reason, namely the perfectly fried clams, giant lobster rolls, and craveable crisp onion rings. (And we mean craveable:Arnold’s serves 2,000 pounds of rings each week.) Go before you are actually hungry, wait out the line, and be rewarded with heaping baskets of summery deliciousness. 3580 State Highway (Route 6) Eastham, 508-255-2575″

We pass up the $28.99 giant lobster roll that they mentioned in the article, but we did make sure to get the onion rings. They are light and crisp, but lack any real flavor.They mention on their menu that they sell 2,000 lbs a week, but by the size of some of the people dining in here, it doesn’t seem like such a huge number. The people sitting next to us each had a lobster roll with fries and a clam plate with fries with a side order of onion rings. That’s some serious fried food!

So we opt for the $15.99 warm lobster roll, it also comes cold, that has a side of fries, coleslaw and a container of melted butter. The lobster meat wasn’t as hearty as the one from the day before, there are a lot of smaller pieces, but I love a warm lobster roll any way I get it, so this one isn’t half bad. There are a LOT of tourists here and a LOT of young children with their families (due to the mini golf course next door).

Full from lunch we head back towards the upper cape. We stop Four Seas in Centerville. They have a huge dirt lot next to their existing lot for addition parking, so you know they must do a serious business.

The line is contained inside, but you can’t open the door because people are packed like sardines-there isn’t much room inside to stand but that doesn’t stop people from standing in a line 3 deep.

Here’s what Boston Magazine had to say about them: “Best Ice Cream. Owner Douglas Warren has strong feelings about what makes an ideal scoop. Unlike at many tourist trapss, he won’t name any of his flavors after Cape landmarks. (“You shouldnt have to give good ice cream a fancy name,” he says.) Nor does he believe in jimmies. (“Why would you put something that’s mostly wax on top of a good scoop?”) What he does believe in is doing things the old fashioned way. Which makes sense:The shop has been churning out simple flavors like fresh peach and mocha chip since 1934. 360 South Main Street, Centerville, 508-775-1394.”

The inside is pretty old school, and they scoop ice cream with a scoop shaped like a cone. The afternoon is quite warm and the ice cream begins to rapidly melt before we even get out the front door. They were out of a lot of flavors because it was so hot and there were so many people looking to get ice cream-so we tried the mocha chip (above) and the mint chip (below).

I have never seen pink mint chip before but suppose it’s logical since pepermint stick is usually pink. The ice cream is creamy and refreshing-a great mint flavor. I think that if this place wasn’t so far down the Cape I’d be there more often.

We stop in Mashpee at Mashpee Commons and browse the shops there-we catch a movie and then head back to Falmouth for dinner.

We decide on Osteria La Civetta-a cute little place on Main Street in Falmouth. (133 Main Street
Falmouth (508) 540-1616) I have had my eye on this place for a while-it’s been on my to go to list-so I am excited to try it. When I walked in, I immediately fell in love with this place. It is cute, charming, it looks like you could be in Europe or maybe stepped on the set of a movie.

There isn’t a bad seat in the house, they have seats up in front by the window, a small private area in the back, and there’s plenty of room between tables for you to have a quiet conversation in the back.

They offer take out and gluten free pasta which are a bonus. They don’t have a kids menu but can make something simple like pasta a meat sauce for the young ones.

I think that the one thing that could have been nicer was that the waiters could have been in some kind of uniform, but instead they were in street clothes. The food is Northern Italian which I am excited about.

We start with the caprese salad-tomato and mozzarella with olive oil and basil. If you look at this one, and the one on the website, you may be shocked. The tomatoes aren’t very ripe and it could have been plated better. It is true, you eat with your eyes.

I order the maccheronicci con ragu al bologese-basically bolognese with hand made pasta ($18). The pasta was tasty, even though the bolognese was a little ‘American’ for me-ie. meat and sauce. Coincidentally this is what they give to the kids and call it ‘pasta with meat sauce’.

My dining companion decides on the tagliere di salumi e formaggi, a selection of cured meats and cheeses with a selection of compotes and honey ($18). It is served as an appetizer but we find it to be more than sufficient for a dinner-a nice selection of cheese and meats.

We were almost going to pass up on dessert-thank goodness we didn’t. We ordered the marscarpone pralinato ($9). Home made mascarpone cream with almond, nuts, and amaretti praline coat. One word-YUM! Literally I could have eaten 5 of these. The mascarpone was smooth like pudding, not too sweet with a lovely flavor to it and then the crunch from the nuts and the amaretti-which were like little crispy balls (my dining companion compared them to co co puffs). This made the dinner all worth it!