Culinary Capsule

Over the past three weeks, Bill and I have experienced several very positive – and delicious – encounters of the culinary kind! As most of my followers know, we enjoy dining out for breakfast as much as lunch or dinner, and we go out of our way to sample local cuisine wherever we find ourselves workamping. Such has been the case here in Cape Cod, and if you ever find yourself in this area of the country, here are three more locations to add to your dining repertoire!

Last week for breakfast we visited C-Shore Kitchen and Bar, a newly opened restaurant in Wellfleet. Always a tad hesitant when trying new restaurants, we were actually very pleased and delighted with our meal. The restaurant is located in a really unique building, boasting multiple levels, including an outside patio area. We sat inside, however, as it was a rainy day. In perusing the menu, imagine my delight when one breakfast choice was named “Jersey Girl” and in reading on I realized that they also had “Taylor Ham” (a.k.a. Pork Roll) on the menu. I had to then ask if the owners or chef had a New Jersey connection and lo and behold they hail from the Garden State! I shared with our server that I had eaten pork roll almost every time we went out before we left New Jersey in the spring, feeling certain I would never taste it again until returning in the fall! Needless to say, I enjoyed my eggs with a side of Taylor Ham! Unfortunately, the Jersey owners were not in the house, but we hope to meet them in the future – when return for dinner!

Capt. Cass, located on Rock Harbor in Orleans, is truly a hidden gem, one of those original fish shacks that has been run by the same family for at least three generations. We noticed it when we first arrived in May and kept watching for it to open. Since there is no phone number and no website, we just kept driving by to check for any progress toward an opening. Once we noted that the mismatched chairs had been lowered from the tables and placed on the floor; another drive-by yielded half-window curtains had been hung; and then condiments appeared on the tables with a sign indicating they would be opening July 1.

It took us till July 11th to get there and are we glad we did! What a unique eating establishment – cash only, BYOB (which we didn’t realize but know for the future), no take-out available – unless you arrive and order and wait, all paper and plastic, a written menu which says “See Board For Prices” – and look at the Board – I love it! We also had a bird’s-eye view of the kitchen prep area right over Bill’s shoulder!

There is a counter that seats about 10 people and then there are seven – yes, only seven – tables. We were lucky that we were seated immediately at around 6:30, but many parties arrived after us and were in for a wait! I asked our extremely pleasant server if there really was a “Capt. Cass” and she explained that he had died three years ago and that now the restaurant was being run by his daughter and her family. Two servers worked the entire place and did a fine job! We dived into our meals of scallops and shrimps too quickly before I realized I hadn’t taken a photo, but we will certainly revisit this most unique and delectable Cape Cod fish shack!

Our last culinary entry in this capsule occurred this morning – our first day off this week. We ventured back to Chatham and had breakfast at Hangar B Eatery, which is located at the Chatham Municipal Airport. Think about it – why is it that so many small, local airports have really good restaurants? There is one at home in Cape May, one in Ocean City, NJ, and we also heard about one in Maine when we were workamping up there. Whatever the reason, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal! The wait was only 15 minutes and then we were seated at an outdoor high-top counter overlooking the runway and the small private planes that call this airport home. Hangar B uses only local ingredients and they offer very unique breakfast choices, such as a lobster and crab omelet, lemon ricotta pancakes, huevos rancheros, and their famous red flannel hash. Each meal also includes a sampling of their home-made jams including a strawberry thyme balsamic, raspberry red wine vinegar, and blackberry lemon. Bill feasted on the “Pilot’s Breakfast” while I enjoyed a breakfast sandwich with egg, arugula, roasted tomatoes and avocado! My mouth is watering as I re-live the experience! Once again our managers at Atlantic Oaks, Katie and Dan, did not let us down with this recommendation!