cape dining

Since I've been here, I've abandoned all restraints on eating —especially given that it hasn't been bathing suit weather for more than four hours total since arriving last Wednesday.

So instead of floating in the water and reading, I've been focussed on food, especially the kind I can't get at home.

The first night was Crabapples with my mom and M. It's a local, nondescript little place that has a huge menu, where everything is excellent. I had my annual fried-clams-with-bellies dinner. Outstanding, as usual.

Another night my mom and I met Jean and her family at The Quaterdeck. It's a downtown establishment that's been around forever. The food is reliable and the menu large. It's good enough but not great.

Last night M and I go to C-Salt. I've never been. The atmosphere is casual. Jeans are fine. Oh but the food... it's inventive. Beautifully plated. Big portions.  And beyond outstanding. This high-end restaurant is not just one of the best on the Cape (which it is), it would be one of the best in NY if it were there. 

We sit at the bar as a last-minute reservation is impossible. The truffle fries and calamari are among the best I've ever had. I take that back. The calamari IS the best I've ever had. The batter is light and it's seasoned with mango, grapefruit, baby spinach and cashews.  No sauce is served with it; none is needed. it's amazing. Everything is. 

And tonight, my mom, her wonderful and fantastically fun friend Cindy, and I all go to The Chart Room for dinner. The sky is overcast and it's a cool 65 degrees. We get there and a woman sitting near us is dressed in a short down coat. She does not look out of place.

This hard-to-get-a-reservation place is less busy than usual. Our first table is too near the serving station. We move. Our second table is situated next to a table set for 12. We move again. Our third (and final) table is too high, but this time we smile and say nothing. 

My mom will be 88 in September. I often forget her true age, as nothing about her suggests it.

Some don't like The Chart Room. My dad didn't. Too crowded. Too loud. Always a long wait. And mediocre food. Others love it. I'm in the latter category, but only when it comes to the baked stuff lobster. The kind where all the cracking is done for you. The claw meat is taken out and re-stuffed into the tail. For me anyway,  it's worth a trip to the Cape just for this meal.