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Articles about Martha's Vineyard
As Good as Newes
Season after season, islanders and visitors stream into THE NEWES from America for its pub style food, atmosphere, and delicious micro-brewed beers. Part of the Kelly House Hotel, The Newes is the prefect spot to settle in by the fire on a cool night with a steaming bowl of cheesy french onion soup, or to slake your thirst with a cold pint of ale on a summer afternoon. Open year-round, menu favorites include appetizers like Roquefort Stillettos, toasted french bread smothered with roquefort cheese and bacon, and Hot Newes Wings. Wash them down with a glass of the restaurant's own brew, the Newes Pub Draft. The juicy half-pound cheeseburger and award-winnig beer-battered fish and chips hit the spot too. And don't forget the bag o' fries, a paper sack brimming with salty pub fries for the whole table. Another round of ales and you'll never want to leave. The Newes from America is located at 23 Kelley Street in Edgartown (508-627-4397). - Libby Bouck
Pure Pub Pleasure
Tucked away on the harbor end of Edgartown's Main Street, the Wharf is a hidden year-round gem. Owner Will Coogan says of this Vineyard favorite, "We try to serve simple, yet really good good by using the fresthest ingredients possible". For lunch, nip into the tasty crab cakes, served wtih citrus aioli, followed by one of our favorites, the lobster Ceasar salad. At lunch or dinner, the burgers are unbeatable and the fried clams are whole belly beauts; for a health choice, try the vegetable pasta with spinach, artichokes and and mozzarella over penne. Dinner choice range from fried seafood plates galore to blue ribbon entries like the pan-roasted cod with littlenecks, linguica, vegetables, and herbs over mashed potatoes. And if you cruise into The Wharf during the off-season, the Shepherds Pie here is a good as you 'll find anywhere - Susan Dewey
A taste of the Bay
Glen Caldwell, Kitchen Manager of the Offshore Ale Company in Oak Bluffs, likes talking scallops. He says it's crucial not to overcook this New England delicacy - which can be particularly hard to avoid with fast-cooking bay scallops. For this reason, Caldwell often uses larger sea scallops in the restaurant's larger dishes: sea scallops are more versatile, and he has more time to complete the sauce and plate the meal without having to worry about overcooking. But he makes no secret of his affinity for the sea scallop's coastal counterpart. " The bay scallops are remarkable," he says. "They taste like butter. He points to ready -to-serve plate of pan-seared bay scallops with blue cheese and squash risotto served with cranberry sauce, the menu pecial for this particular evening. "We're lucky to live here and have such fresh food available"
Scallops are some of the most prized shellfish in New England. Sweeter, nuttier, and more toothsome than mussels, clams, or oysters, there're also hugely popular. Louise Larsen from The Net Result seafood market in Vineyard Haven, which supplies scallops to the Offshore Ale Company, estimates that he sells 10,00 pounds of bay scallops and 25,000 pounds of sea scallope each yerar. While the belly meat on other bivales is the favored edible portion, the prize of a scallop is its adductor muscle. The subtle flavor of this morsel is perfect for a wide variety of elegant dishes, in seafood terrines and gratins, or served as a quick saute' with light sauces. Caldwell says that when he prepards bay scallops, he ideally lets them marinate overnight. But in reality , he jokes, it's a miracle if he doesnt't devour all the bay scallope as soon as he buys them.
Sea Scallops are typically found in deep water - sometimes as much as 900 feet- and can be cultivated year-round. Sea scallops are typically prepared for heartier dishes; tossed in stir-fries, or wrapped in bacon and sizzled on a grill. But bay scallops are a smaller, tastier, and more delicate choice. Living amongst eelgrass beds in shallow coastal waters, bay scallops have a limited, cold-weather harvesting season due to the their spawning period of June through September. Commercial scallopers work the Vineyard's bays from mid-October through the end of March, using nets to haul in the bay scallope to their small boats and sorting out unwanted crabs, conchs, and seaweed with culling boards.
Scalloping in the winter is a tremendous physical challenge: ice coats the docks and floats in the shallows, strong winds blow off the water, and temperatures almost always hover around freezing. Harvesting bay scallops is not permitted when the air drops below 30 degrees because young scallopers can freeze on the culling board before they can be sorted and thrown back in the water to propagate the stock for the comming year. Amateur bay scallopers, who work with family permits rather than commercial licenses, often wade directly into the water without a boat. Some don insulated waders and peer into the darkness below through a "peep box". This homemade contraption is fashioned from a submergible bucket and has a peice of glass or clear plastic placed at the bottom allowing the scalloper to see below the surface and serach for the shellfish, which they scoop with a small net. Other scallopers go under, snorkeling or diving with air tanks and gathering the scallops with their hands.
"The trick is to try not to stir up the bottom and cloud your view," says Mr. Hanschka, who has been a recreational bay scalloper for three years. Mr. Hanschka chooses to snorkel clad in a mask, a winter wetsuit, neoprene gloves, hood and boots. "Of course, the other trick if trying to stay warm," he says. "With all the gear I got on, there is very little exposed skin, but it still gets pretty cold out there. The water temperature can be down to the freezing point, and sometimes I'm literally swimming through a thin layer of ice that is floating on the top." Diving repeatedly into water that's ten to fifteen deep is even more strenuous when the temperature is so low - even with all that neoprene, he says, you still don't stay warm. "It's exhausting, but that's part of the fun," says Hanschka. "And diving lets you get out deeper than wading. It give you more options."
Bay scalloping varies from year to year, Mr. Hanschka says; some winters are more bountiful than others. "I'm usually out in the water for close to an hour and a half, " he says. "By then, I am getting pretty chilled no matter what I 've gathered. But that's usually long enough to fill a good sized bucket."
After shuckling the scallops, Hanschka like to cook them as simply as possible. "I often toss them in a pan with a little lemon and butter, nothing else," he says. Offshore Ale Company's Caldwell is also a big fan of simple preperation for the tiny delicacies. "I never want to drown the flavor of scallops," says Caldwell, who refuses to call himself a chef. "They're delicious, and I always want their flavor to come through in any dish." From a smaller size to a short harvesting season to short harvesting season to their ease of preparation, when it comes to bay scallops, less is really more.
Story by Charlie Cameron
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