New restaurant coming to Tisbury

Ocean Club is set to open as Vineyard Haven’s newest dining location after the Tisbury select board approved victualler license at a meeting earlier this month. 

Owner Reid (“Sam”) Dunn said the new 85-seat fine-dining restaurant located at the Old Stone Bank is planned to officially open year-round in the week of Aug. 25.

Two of the interior changes highlighted at the upcoming restaurant were that the bank’s 9,000-pound vault door was relocated as an eight seat dining table and the bank vault will be utilized as a wine cellar. 

“It’s a really kind of impressive building,” said Dunn. “As an architect turned into a builder and real estate developer I’m kind of wearing all the hats. I always look at everything as an architect and this building would excite any architect with his head screwed on right.” 

Dunn said now that they have approval by the Tisbury select board, all that’s left is electrical, food service, and building inspections. 

Dunn also opened the seasonal 70-seat taqueria El Barco, located on 16 Union St behind the historic bank building. Ocean Club will also be managed by Lyon’s Group, who currently owns and operates El Barco.

The cuisine at the Ocean Club will prioritize coastal Mediterranean flavors, emphasizing seafood driven dishes with influences from across the region. 

The new restaurant’s chef, Marc Orfaly was nominated for the James Beard Foundation awards six times, a prestigious accolade that recognizes some of the best chefs in America. According to Dunn and General Manager Tyler Shapiro, the upcoming full-service restaurant’s menu will prioritize fresh, locally sourced ingredients from the Island, including raw shellfish with most hot dishes being sautéed or grilled, with minimal fried options. 

“We want to build a menu that’s an option for people that want to somehow have a nice dinner, but it’s also an option where someone could come out and have a casual meal at our bar on a Tuesday night,” said Shapiro in an interview with the Times. 

Dunn aims to balance fine dining with accessibility, offering a menu that ranges from upscale dishes to casual options like spiced pita sliders, inspired by Orfaly’s grandmother’s recipes to serve at the bar. The goal is to create a flexible dining experience that caters to both special occasions and casual weeknight meals, ensuring locals and visitors feel well taken care of. 

“We hope customers feel like they’ve been well taken care of,” said Shapiro. “The goal is hospitality and that people come in and that we were able to meet their expectations whatever they are, whether it’s a casual dinner on a weeknight to a special occasion. That’s the strength of a restaurant like this. It is a flexible concept, you can use it however you want to.” 

For Dunn and Shapiro, who grew up on Island and graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, they hope to find ways to help the community including potential vocational programs with high school students and benefiting local food pantries. 

“When El Barco opened, they did a lot of things for the community, including donating to the Island food pantry and things like that,” said Shapiro. “I grew up here and part of my experience at the high school was working with the vocational department there and, you know, I thought … We might be able to develop a relationship with them and help bring some students in to experience both the back end and front of the house. It’s still something I need to discuss with our chef and make sure it’s possible and feasible but that is in my mind at least.”