Open to celebration: Memorial Day Weekend
By Eleni Collins
Published: May 21, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend: A holiday that marks we're "thisclose" to summer. Many celebrate with cookouts, beach parties, and by dining out. This weekend, many restaurants open for the season, including Giordano's Restaurant, Nancy's, Dreamcatcher Snack Bar, Home Port, and Fishbones. Previously open but now serving dinner are Water Street and Farm Neck.
Dreamcatcher Snack Bar in Aquinnah offers lunch daily. This weekend, they're cooking fried dough that's worth the drive. In its sixth year co-owned by Gordon Perry and wife Dona Mazza-Perry, the snack bar is popular for its lobster rolls, fish and chips, and coconut shrimp.
Sidecar in Oak Bluffs debuted a different menu and chef, Richard Hall, previously of Theo's in Chilmark. Among the new items are a tortellini entrée, flank steak, and two burgers.
This Sunday, chef James McDonough of the Beach Plum Inn in Chilmark offers brunch. For $29/person, enjoy a buffet in addition to a brunch menu.
Also in Chilmark, the Home Port, under new ownership, opens Friday. Sarah and Bob Nixon continue the almost 80-year-old tradition of the restaurant, embracing the fishing community of Menemsha.
The Lookout in Oak Bluffs celebrates with menu additions: a crispy BBQ chicken wing panini with caramelized onions, bacon, finished with BBQ sauce and Jack cheddar cheese; and a grilled jerk salmon over black bean coconut rice, with mango chutney, served with grilled asparagus.
The Wharf in Edgartown offers prime rib this Friday night and hosts live entertainment from Thursday through Monday to celebrate the holiday weekend.
In Vineyard Haven, Le Grenier's chef Jean Dupon offers special dishes built around available fresh ingredients.
Chef Robert Lionette of Zephrus is excited about his Memorial Day weekend menu made up of local produce, meat, and flavor. Local sea bass and fluke, sausage from The FARM Institute, and cured shad roe from Rhode Island flavored with Mac Schilcher's Martha's Vineyard sea salt are just a few of the offerings.
Beginning this weekend, Blue Canoe Waterfront Grill is open everyday at 11 am. Saltwater Restaurant, along with a great view, offers lunch and dinner Thursday and Friday, and begins a weekly Sunday brunch.
The Island Bar and Grill (formerly The Island House) in Oak Bluffs has a renovated dining room and begins Island Night, a weekly dance party, on Memorial Day. The restaurant continues serving lunch and dinner inside and out.
Also in Oak Bluffs, the Oyster Bar Grill debuted a menu with summer executive chef Billy De Caneo. Highlights are a New York block cut steak, sweet corn and tomato basil soup, and a New York steak and tuna tartar appetizer. Their Southern-style Sunday brunch includes jambalaya and eggs benedict traditional or Southern.
