Located at 339 State Road in Vineyard Haven, replacing what used to be the Little House Cafe, is a new eatery that serves dinner as well as selling fresh, housemade pastas and other prepared foods. The Maker: Pasta Shop & Cafe features seasonal, coastal-inspired dishes with a focus on fresh and local ingredients, and held its grand opening on May 22.
The Maker is open for dinner Monday through Saturday, from 5 to 9 pm, and is scheduled to begin serving lunch in mid-June. The Pasta Shop includes pasta by the pound, and will soon include Island-made products like honey, vinegarettes, olive oils, sauces, and dishes including soups, salads, lasagnas, and sandwiches.
The dinner menu features “Cicchetti,” or small-plate options, “Field to Fork” options including salad, burrata, and several housemade pasta dishes, and “Seed to Feast” plates, which include Scallops, Steak au Poivre and a Farmers Plate, which is a rotating dish created with Chef Carlos Montoya’s choice of seasonal vegetable offerings.
When I went in with my siblings, the restaurant was full of guests eager to try the new Island spot. For our table we ordered Tuna Tartare, Baby Spinach Salad, and Beef Meatballs to start, and followed it with various pasta dishes, including their gluten-free Fettucini and their Bucatini with “Chef’s Famous Bolongese.” We also ordered Local Day Boat Scallops, which came with oxtail marmalade and fava bean ragout. The food was fresh and unique, the pasta a vessel for local ingredients, and the scallops were cooked perfectly.
Co-owner and executive Chef Montoya has been cooking for more than 20 years, and has spent the past five years creating the Maker. “My vision for the restaurant was initially for me to have this creative outlet,” says Montoya. “I wanted to have a cozy, comfortable environment where the food was really good, and had a fine-dining quality.”
He defines his style of cooking as being contemporary and foundational, being inspired by the seasons, what’s available, and what’s local.
Sheenagh Caridi is the restaurant’s co-owner and general manager. Caridi is excited to introduce the Island to a restaurant different from what it currently has.
“I know a lot of people hear pasta and they immediately think Italian, and I think what we’re trying to do is change the idea that pasta just has to be covered in red sauce or an alfredo,” says Caridi, who emphasises that Chef Montoya has a different approach to the dish. “I think the way that Carlos looks at and views pasta is really beautiful — we use it as a vessel to showcase those local ingredients, and different kinds of things you can do with pasta”.
“We wouldn’t say that we identify as an Italian restaurant; we’re a Vineyard restaurant,” adds Montoya.
In crafting the menu, the pair paid close attention to dietary restrictions including alpha-gal syndrome and celiac disease. “It was important to us to make sure we had something for everyone,” says Caridi.
Chef Montoya also noted the importance of using local ingredients: “We are living in this incredible place where we have these beautiful ingredients, and I think that we should showcase them when they’re available to us; it’d be foolish not to.”
“It’s nice that the menu will change with the season as well, because that means that it’s always going to feel like a new restaurant, always fresh, which I think will be nice in those winter months too,” Caridi adds.
“I’m looking forward to just being part of a community, and having a place that people want to go to,” concludes Chef Montoya.