Off Season on the Cape

When you think of Cape Cod, you probably picture crowded beaches with splayed, lotioned bodies, white-washed bungalows tightly packed with seashell ornaments and piles of salt-water taffy, twisted in white paper wrappers.

Well, I’m here during the off-season (after Labour Day) under the pretence of finishing my book - with my fella Scott along for company - but really I’ve come for the food. 

As seafood lovers, we feel like we’ve won the lottery to be surrounded by so much fresh fish and lobster (As Torontonians Lake Ontario does not provide us with such a bounty). But because it’s the off season, many of the restaurants are closed with signs “See you next season!”

Uh oh.

Cape Cod is made up 15 of mostly quaint areas with charming names (Being food-obsessed, staying in Sandwich would be a dream, but Mashpee has its own appeal as well). We’re staying in Dennisport, in a cottage with the main office housed in a mini golf-sized lighthouse. The ocean is just across a narrow, forlorn road where 40 miles of sandy beach awaits us on the other side.

We are relieved to find places still open and indulge in many of the areas delicacies and specialties. Thanks to Cape Cod’s proximity to Boston, there are a ton of Irish breakfasts available - eggs, Irish sausage, Irish Rasher, Black & White Pudding, grilled tomato, baked beans and Irish Soda Bread. We visit the Wee Packet Restaurant - est. 1949 and home of the “Cape Cod Scallop,” and Lobster Benny, just down the road from our place (in Toronto, the only seafood you'll see in the a.m. is smoked salmon). We tuck into seafood at every meal. I become a chowder expert. It doesn’t matter - bowl, cup, native clams, haddock – I can suss out each ingredient by scent alone. 

One lunch, I introduce Scott to lobster rolls, a fond memory I’ve carried since my parents took me to the Cape as a kid. The price has gone up considerably in 20 years ($3.49 back then, $16.99 now), but worth every bite. I love the specificity of it - large chunks of fresh, sweet lobster, swathed with mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper on a toasted hotdog bun that's sliced on the top and is more like white bread slices than bun. Sure it varies slightly from place to place, but very little. Cooks know that you want to be able to taste the lobster and not cloak it in too much of anything else. Usually they are served with french fries, homemade coleslaw and dill pickle.

For everything else however, it is almost always fried (if it does come broiled, it’s served casserole style with sauce and topped with seasoned breadcrumbs). We have it all  - stuffed quahogs (hard-shell clams stuffed with fresh Maine crab), schrod (young cod or haddock) shrimp, coconut shrimp, clam strips, clams, native Wellfleet oysters, sea scallops, Cape Cod bay scallops, crab, crab cakes and calamari. There are fried “Captain’s Platters” with a smattering of various things dredged in batter. There is even fried lobster, lobster “fritters” and “Lazy Man Style” (fresh lobster meat served casserole style topped with seasoned crumbs) but we pass… the boiled/steamed versions suit us just fine, thankyouverymuch..  We eat with an abandon unlike anything at home. Here on the Cape, the guilt of eating fried foods has been abandoned along with our demanding writing schedules and the chores of everyday life.

But one can only eat like this for so long.

Nearing the end of our stay, we take our rental car, leaving a trail of oil-blotted napkins behind in search of clean, fresh seafood that will excite our now weary palates.

There’s just got to be something around here.

On our way home, we pass by Ocean House Restaurant, ironically located just steps away from our little shingled cottage.  Though it’s in a large barn-like building, it’s pushed back a little from the road so we’ve missed it this whole time.

This modern oasis is just what our city palates need right now - fresh seafood made with local ingredients. And because the focus is seafood with a fusion edge, we are able to gratify our need for   exciting, intriguing ingredients.  We luxuriate in Yellow Fin Tuna Tartare. Scott is taken by the pillowyness of his Pan Roasted Diver Sea Scallops. I moan over simple ingredients – miso dressing, black Thai rice, wild mushrooms, wine reductions. It is all so exemplary that we don’t speak much, just smile and nod. 

And look out the window.

Ocean House rewards the diner with a wall of just glass, and the most spectacular view of Nantucket Sound, leading its way out to the Atlantic Ocean.

We head back to the cottage, giddy and sated.

We leave Cape Cod and come home to desks covered with work to be completed and tasks that need our immediate attention.

We put it all on hold and grab our coats. We have this mad craving for onion rings, fried chicken or calamari. You know, just something crispy, coated and deep fried.

Wee Packet Restaurant

79 Depot St, Dennisport, MA 02639

Hours of Operation – 7:30am -9:00pm seven days a week in season

508-394-6595

Take-out available

Ocean House Restaurant

425 Old Wharf Road, Dennisport, MA 02639

Dinner - Sun, Tue-Sat: 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

Lounge - Sun, Tue-Sat: 4 p.m.-10 p.m.

508-394-0700

Reservations recommended

Parking on-site lot, on-street

Valet   

Capacity - 160