Tag: Nantucket

A Final Meal on Nantucket …

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It’s a small island, and in 400 years, give or take a year or two, it will be submerged by the waters of the Atlantic. But it’s had a good, long run, and Angela and I enjoyed our time on Nantucket this month. We took part in a beautiful wedding, met some great people, cooked some food and fed 50 people, and spent some time in a few good restaurants.

Our final dinner of the trip was the best one, at a restaurant called The Proprietors Bar & Table. (We had unknowingly encountered the restaurant’s chef, Thomas Berry, several evenings before at a bar, and then the next day saw him walking a bulldog around town. We, in essence, followed him and his girlfriend, the restaurant’s pastry chef, to their kitchen.) It was a rainy evening, and we were seated at a table in the rear of the tiny dining room. The menu excited me, we ordered a good wine, and the dishes began arriving. We talked, and drank, and were warm and happy.

Pork cheeks done right, shrimp cooked the way I like them – not overcooked – some excellent mushrooms, and a few perfect beets, all accompanied by ideal ingredients. Simple, honest, full of confident technique, and satisfying.

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The Brockhaus Does a Wedding on Nantucket

The menu was set, the venue ready, the brides were prepared. A wedding would soon take place on Nantucket, and The Brockhaus was in charge of the food. The beautiful couple had given me their directives for the weekend – five hors d’oeuvres immediately following the ceremony on Saturday afternoon, four side dishes to accompany the barbecue from Salt Lick that would be shipped in and served for dinner on Saturday evening, and the festivities would close with brunch on Sunday. The house, which overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, would be full of smiles and music and warmth and activity for the next three days.

Alison and Constance enter a new phase. (Photo courtesy Oliver Quillia)

Alison and Constance enter a new phase. (Photo courtesy Oliver Quillia)

I consulted with Constance and Alison about the food, and came up with an hors d’oeuvre menu that was, by turns, classic, unfussy, and, elegant. Blinis with crème fraîche and caviar; chicken liver mousse on baguette slices; butternut squash shooters; pimento cheese sandwiches; and fried curried oysters on the half shell with a cucumber-sesame oil sauce and salmon roe.

Wolfgang Puck had it on the menu at Spago, and we did it on Nantucket.

Wolfgang Puck had it on the menu at Spago, and we did it on Nantucket.

Several weeks before the wedding took place, as the number of attendees increased, I decided to hire someone to help with the prepping and cooking, and lucked out with Lucas Maylott, who lives on the island and works as a private chef. He and I worked seamlessly in the kitchen, without a hitch. Angela did her part as well, assisting with the hors d’oeuvres and keeping things running smoothly.

The brides were married, the hors d’oeuvres were passed among the guests by several servers, and we completed the side dishes for the barbecue: cole slaw, German potato salad, a mixed green salad, and crab macaroni and cheese, the latter of which – along with the pimento cheese sandwiches and the oysters – was the star of the weekend, culinarily speaking.

The barbecue from Salt Lick had traveled well, and Lucas made sure it was plated properly on the buffet table; we had brisket, and smoked turkey breast, and beef ribs. By 8 p.m. everything was gone, save the Champagne and wine and laughter.

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