Hot L Winter Menu Offers PTown Some Real Bargains and a Cozy Table by the Fire

Meatloaf at Hot L Bar and Grille, a $10 Provincetown winter dinner special!

If you haven't yet discovered Hot L Bar and Grill in the Far East End of PTown, now is the time to go and check it out. The friendly staff and relaxed pace of the off-season, the welcoming bar and the cozy atmosphere around the wood stove all invite you in from the cold, and the tasty, generous portions served with a bit of southern flair will make you glad you ventured out. And there are great dinner specials offered every night of the week during the winter.
Tonight is Monday, so this evening the special will be Hot L's homestyle meatloaf. This photo was taken at the beginning of the off-season, when zucchini and summer squash were at their peak. Now that we're into the winter season, fresh green beans will be the vegetable accompaniment to two thick slices of meatloaf, along with a generous serving of real mashed potatoes, with a luscious mushroom demi-glaze completing the dish. By the way, dinner starts off with hushpuppies with cranberry butter. These are the traditional southern favorite... tasty little balls of deep fried cornmeal dough, but dressed up a bit with a little Yankee flavor, a little New England accent. And this entire dinner is going to set you back a mere $10!
That's right, Sunday through Thursday nights in the off-season there's a different $10 dinner special each night, like Thursday's baked cod with basmati rice and seasonal vegetable, or Sunday night's BBQ chicken with baked beans, cranberry coleslaw and cornbread. Dinner specials start at 5 PM every night, and the kitchen is open till 9, but you'll want to come early in the evening on Saturdays for the Prime Rib au jus, with white truffle mashed potatoes and vegetable du jour, because it's only $20 and it's very popular, and likely to sell out before the night is over.
Friday nights you'll find Hot L's all-you-can-eat fish fry, with haddock, curly fries and cranberry coleslaw for $13. The lunch menu offers a dozen different burgers and sandwiches as well as daily specials, and breakfast is served every day from 8 AM till noon, with a special Sunday breakfast buffet served until 1PM. The social hour  Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 PM brings a lot of folks in for a drink and some of their favorite bar food as well as raw bar. And I haven't even begun to talk about the barbecue. The chef whips up about a dozen different BBQ sauces for various dishes, like the peach BBQ sauce for the ribs (delish!) and the Jack Daniels sauce for the pulled pork, which is my favorite sauce so far, but there are still more barbecues here that I need to try. There are also nine or ten seafood entrees I haven't yet gotten to.
Hot L Bar and Grille, with plenty of free parking, is found at 350 Bradford Street, near the split where Route 6A comes into town and divides into Commercial Street to the left and Bradford Street to the right. Call them at 508 413-9511. This is currently Provincetown's only restaurant open year round for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you probably know, I go out of my way to eat everywhere in town, but I hope to get back to Hot L for another great meal, soon!