Sunday, July 26, 2015

Provincetown Inn's Early Bird Dinner Special Garners a Best Bite Award

Provincetown Inn's Barbecue Braised Pork is one of their four great
Early Bird dinner specials, each one well prepared, and a terrific value.
One of the greatest dinner deals in PTown is the Early Bird special at the Provincetown Inn, at 1 Commercial Street. From Sunday through Thursday, 5 PM to 7 PM, they are serving your choice of four terrific three-course dinners for just $15.95.
Dinner starts with your choice of a hearty New England clam chowder or a small salad of mixed greens accented with cucumber, tomato and onion, along with a basket of warm dinner rolls.
The dinner pictured above is the Barbecue Braised Pork with Southern Comfort barbecue sauce. It's served over mashed potatoes, with mixed vegetables. Other choices include a Teriyaki Glazed Grilled Salmon, a Chicken Marsala, or a Baked Lasagna served with garlic bread. All four dishes are very good.
Dessert choices include the Chocolate Blackout Layer Cake, an authentic New York cheesecake, or a great bread pudding drizzled with the chef's secret sauce, which is a little different each time it's served. That one is my favorite.
Dinner is served in a large, airy dining room looking out over the beach and Provincetown Harbor, with the view taking on that pinkish sort of golden glow as the sun gets low in the sky. Most nights the windows are open for the breeze coming off the water. There are other menu choices available as well, with prices that are very reasonable, and your meal is served by a thoughtful waitstaff eager to please.
For the quality of the food and the outstanding price, along with that beachfront view, TheYearRounder names the Provincetown Inn's Early Bird Dinner as a Best Bite.
Order your dinner before 7 PM, have a leisurely meal looking out over the harbor, and then simply walk across the hall for great entertainment in the Mayflower Room. Forever Blonde is a concert style musical dance review updated for its third season on the Provincetown Inn stage, featuring a wonderful, high energy dance troupe and the live vocals of Darlene Van Alstyne.
That show is followed by Salcetera, a Latin dance review, at 9:30 PM, now in their second season here. It highlights eight very athletic, energetic dancers in numbers ranging from the tango to salsa to the classic paso doble. Both shows feature lively dancing in many styles, stunning acrobatics, lots of costume changes and great music. Stay for both great shows and get a discount on your admission. Enjoy the Provincetown Inn's free parking while dining or seeing the shows as well.



Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Holy Cow… Vegan Gelato!

Raspberry-blueberry, pineapple and strawberry flavors of
vegan gelato have led to truly exotic varieties like avocado.
Wow! I Dream of Gelato does it again. They've come up with the impossible… vegan gelato that is so creamy, so scrumptious, so completely satisfying that you would never know that it's made with absolutely no milk or cream.
Ricky is a genius in the kitchen. He can't help himself. He's always creating something new. Now he has worked out a recipe to blend fresh fruit with coconut milk to create a gelato so smooth and tasty, you won't be able to tell this vegan variety apart from his fabulous array of regular gelatos. You'll be ordering these new vegan style confections just to taste all the fantastic new flavors he has come up with.
He started out with a simple standard like strawberry, tinkering with the recipe until he had it absolutely perfected, and then he began to refine other fruits into this wonderful Italian ice cream. Next he branched out into chocolate, and now there's even a vegan coffee gelato. Now, every time I visit Ricky's shop, he has a new, exotic flavor for me to try. The avocado variety is nothing short of amazing!
Find I Dream of Gelato tucked away in the Aquarium Marketplace, at 209 Commercial Street. Choose a couple of flavors, and carry your guilt-free treat out to the deck on the edge of the water, where you can enjoy your sumptuous dessert along with the glorious view out over magnificent Provincetown Harbor.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Provincetown Trolley Provides Photo Ops

Flowers peek out between the slats of this old fence in Provincetown's East End.
The original Provincetown Trolley, the red one, in front of Town Hall, seems to still be the best way for folks to tour the town and the Cape Cod National Seashore, to see the sights, learn about our remarkable history, and get some amazing photos all along the way. The Trolley paused for a moment in the gallery district the other day so passengers could snap this perfect photo of flowers that had poked through this old fence and popped into bloom. Several of the best photos I've put on these pages over the years have been taken from The Trolley.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

PTown Breakfast at Connie's Bakery

Connie's Bakery makes their excellent breakfast sandwiches
on their own breads, freshly baked from scratch every day.
I got a chance the other day to get to Connie's Bakery in time for breakfast, so, naturally, I wanted to try their breakfast sandwich, which starts at just $4.50 for two eggs and your choice of cheeses, served on your choice of fresh baked breads. They had a breakfast special that morning that suited me just fine, with spinach, tomato, peppers and onions.
I ordered it with cheddar cheese, on their homemade-from-scratch herbed focaccia. I could have added bacon, ham or turkey for another $1.50, but I stuck with the meatless version, and it was great.
They blended the veggies right in with the eggs, the cheese was a good cheddar and the focaccia was tasty, tender and a little bit crusty, just the way I like it. Writing this makes me want another one.
Breakfast at Connie's also includes a different quiche every day, along with their homemade granola, served either with milk or with fruit and yogurt, and a changing variety of daily scones and muffins, with their famous blueberry muffin (clobbered with juicy blueberries) served every day. How about a warm slice of coffee cake, or toast with butter and jam, or maybe a bagel, a donut, or their huge cinnamon roll?
Grab a nice cup of coffee as well, and take your breakfast out onto the deck. There's no better way to start your day than enjoying a great breakfast while you take in that stunning view out over magnificent Provincetown Harbor.
Connie's will also make you lunch, with great sandwiches, salads, and their legendary, savory street pies, along with an endless array of desserts, cakes, pies, cookies and other sweets. In fact, the Cape Cod Times has named Connie's among the top ten bakeries anywhere on Cape Cod.
Find Connie's Bakery at 205 Commercial Street, in the Aquarium Marketplace, open daily at 7 AM in season. Call ahead at 508 487-2167 for pickup orders.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

People Watching is a Pleasant PTown Passtime

Haley enjoys a little people watching from the Town Hall benches,
along with her companions Ryan and Scott.
I met Haley on Commercial Street the other day, along with her companions Ryan and Scott. Haley is a maltipoo, a combination of Maltese and poodle, although she doesn't really acknowledge that heritage, for the same reason she eschews the dog park: it's full of dogs, and she's not really convinced that she is one. Instead, she can often be found dining on the patio at the Crown and Anchor, or on the deck at Pepe's Wharf.
Haley is a frequent visitor to Provincetown, traveling here regularly from her home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. She has a little place on Court Street, which she shares with Ryan and Scott. She's most often found taking in the sights on Commercial Street, where she enjoys an afternoon of people watching, or she can be found shopping in the local boutiques. Haley has her own clothes closet, and Ryan and Scott say that she has more outfits than Thirsty Burlington.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Ross' Grill Earns 'Best Bite' Award


The complex, delightful flavors of Executive Chef Omar Neil's
fennel bisque earn a Best Bite award for Ross' Grill, in the Whalers Wharf.
TheYearRounder's Best Bite award is given to recognize a really good dish or meal, or a restaurant that is consistently outstanding, or a genuine bargain in a Provincetown eatery. A Best Bite award goes this week to Ross' Grill for their phenomenal fennel bisque, drizzled with a little chive oil.
This velvety soup has a depth of flavors that defies description. It is simply the best thing I've tasted in PTown restaurants over the last couple of weeks. We hope to see this soup du jour appearing again on Ross' menu, soon.
It's the creation of Chef Omar Neil, in the kitchen at Ross' Grill for the past 8 years, now in his 2nd year as executive chef. Bravo!

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Happy Independence Day!

The American Flag flying at John Dowd's Commercial Street home
is one of PTown's most recognized symbols of Independence Day.
American flags are found in every corner of Provincetown as we gear up for our annual 4th of July celebration. Visitors in our little town for this annual observance, kicking off the real beginning of the busy summer season, can number more than 70,000.
We hope the rain will hold off for the parade on Commercial Street this afternoon, and for the fireworks out over the harbor this evening.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Lunch at Far Land Hits the Spot

Far Land's terrific Herring Cove sandwich is big, delicious, and only $7.
I stopped at Far Land Provisions the other day to get something to eat, and I tried their Herring Cove sandwich. It's made with a pile of tender, lean roast beef, just a bit on the rare side, tasty and perfect in a sandwich.
Next comes the roasted red pepper, then the garlic herb spread. I ordered it with the standard lettuce and tomato, and added thin-sliced red onion. All of that went between a couple of hearty slices of impeccably fresh multigrain bread, with a pickle spear on the side, and it was the best sandwich I've had in quite some time. Better still, it was just $7.
I like their Wood End sandwich, too, with grilled, marinated vegetables, sprouts and their homemade hummus rolled in a wrap. Their Head of the Meadow is no slouch, either: brie, apple, sprouts and honey mustard. Delish!
Desserts and sweets are a specialty at Far Land, made daily, from scratch.
It's hard to walk out of Far Land without something from their bakery case, too, with freshly baked muffins, cookies, bars and brownies in an endless variety. My dessert this day was made with pineapple, cashews, macadamia nuts and coconut, with a crust that was something akin to a shortbread. Did they call this a Congo Bar? I don't know, but I got the last one in the case.
I ate my lunch at a little table looking out the window onto Bradford Street, amongst a bunch of folks who had taken refuge from Wednesday's killer rain storm, but you can get your order to go, too. Check out Far Land, at 150 Bradford Street, for their award winning sandwiches and goodies, and for lunch to take with you to the beach.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Today's Cloud Buster Flooded Provincetown Streets


Bradford and Ryder streets, at Town Hall, were flooded for a short time.
Several million gallons of water fell on Provincetown this morning, with a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service to boot. A number of our streets were flooded in a monster rain storm that lasted about 90 minutes over the Outer Cape.
By 11 AM it was pretty much over, and by 1 PM things were getting back to normal, with endless lines of cars rolling into town because there's so much to see and do and taste in PTown when it's not a beach day.