Liz's Cafe Offers Dinner Bargains in Provincetown's West End

Mr. Brown's Famous Fried Chicken comes with a delicious Jamaican style coleslaw.

I had dinner last night off the beaten path, at Liz's Cafe, where they serve "comfort meals at comfortable prices." Entrées here are all $16 or under.

There are choices ranging from house made meatloaf with mac n' cheese to mussels steamed in white wine, garlic, shallots and butter, served over spaghetti.

Chicken or eggplant Parmesan are each served with spaghetti and house made marinara sauce. Sole Florentine, in a delicate white wine lemon broth, is served over a bed of spinach and cannelloni beans. The traditional spaghetti Bolognese is on my list to try, along with the burger and the fried sole sandwich, each on a toasted brioche roll and served with fries.

Candlelight at our table made this simple, tasty clam chowder look a little golden.

I started out with the clam chowder ($7) which had a rich clam flavor in a smooth, creamy base, not overly thick, with a little potato and tender bits of minced clam. The flavor was quite good.

From there I went on to my entrée, choosing Mr Brown's Famous Fried Chicken. There were three golden pieces, along with a generous serving of a Jamaican style slaw, made with slivered carrot, sweet peppers and other garden veggies joining the shredded cabbage, all in a delicious, light marinade with just a bit of sweetness to it. My dinner also came with a side of baked mac n' cheese, all for the bargain price of $16.

This gorgeous Chocolate Mousse Cake Bomb uses chocolate in four delicious ways.

The star of the meal was the chocolate mousse cake bomb, which was among four dessert choices brought over that evening from Angel Foods, the very well known neighborhood market/deli/bakery in the heart of PTown's Gallery District.

There, Liz Lovato has been serving scores of glorious pastries, decadent desserts, and other assorted treats and goodies for many years now. And, yes, this is the same Liz.

This great finish to my evening, shown above, started with a thin layer of rich, moist, dense chocolate cake, topped with a really good, velvety chocolate mousse, covered in chocolate ganache and then drizzled with a bit of white chocolate. It was garnished with whipped cream and a bit of fresh strawberry, all for $7.

It's worth finding this out-of-the-way spot, in the West End, right at the corner of Bradford and Pleasant Streets. There's even a small parking lot on site. Liz offers a great breakfast menu, and you'll find a couple of specials that are throwbacks to the old Tip for Tops'n restaurant, which occupied this spot for many years.
The lunch menu features soups, salads, wings, burgers and sandwiches, and includes the renowned Italian sandwich from Angel Foods' menu. Mr. Brown's chicken is available at lunch, too, as well as a daily Jamaican special. Mr. Brown is well known among folks seeking the best Jamaican food in Provincetown.
Find Liz's Cafe and Anybody's Bar at 31 Bradford Street. The bar features top shelf cocktails as well as beer and wine. It was named for Anybody's Market, a sort of general store that operated on this spot dating back to at least 1942.
The restaurant is open daily for breakfast and lunch, serving dinner every night except Tuesdays, when the whole staff takes the evening off.

Find Bargain PTown Meals at Governor Bradford, Before Spring Turns to Summer

Governor Bradford's Monday night slider special: BBQ Brisket, Cuban, fries, $2 each.

Enjoy PTown's great off-season restaurant specials before they come to an end. By Memorial Day, most of the winter and spring bargains in Provincetown's restaurants will be long gone.

Over the winter, the Governor Bradford bar is in full swing, while their restaurant offerings are very limited, but they offer terrific bargains on  weekday lunch and dinner specials.

For only another week, you can drop in at dinnertime for whatever meal is offered, at a remarkable price. The sliders and fries pictured above, for example, were delicious, and cost me a paltry $6 for dinner that night.
Tonight is Monday, slider night, so we all have this one last chance  to choose from three or four different sliders for $2 each, adding fries for just $2 as well. On the left, above, is tender beef brisket in BBQ sauce, topped with coleslaw. On the right is the Cuban sandwich slider, made with roast pork, grilled ham, Swiss cheese, pickle and a bit of mustard. Roast beef, burgers or other choices could pop up, too, since it's a little different each Monday night.

Tuesday is Taco Night at Governor Bradford, with a choice of fillings and hard or soft shells. Order as many as you'd like, mix and match fillings and shells, for $2 each. Every order comes with guacamole, salsa, sour cream and a bit of refried beans on the side, so you can dress up your tacos any way you'd like.
Pictured here are a beef and a chicken taco in crisp, corn tortilla shells. I think my favorite has been the BBQ beef in a soft, flour tortilla.

On Wednesday nights, the kitchen makes ribs, consisting of two barbecued pork spareribs, a mini cornbread muffin and a little coleslaw, at $3 per order. So a triple order gets you 6 tender, tasty ribs (isn't that about a half-rack of ribs?) with 3 cornbread minis and a large cup of slaw, all for just $9. This might be my favorite of all the weeknight specials.
Thursday is wing night, with an order of six pieces for $3; order more if you'd like.

The Friday night special draws quite a crowd, so get there before they run out of prime rib dinners for a mere $12.99! A salad and choice of baked potato or fries are included. If you're forgoing red meat these days, there's also a baked, stuffed shrimp dinner for the same price. Either way, you just can't beat it.
Monday through Thursday lunch specials are already done for the season, because the kitchen staff is so busy getting ready for the full reopening of the restaurant on Friday, but there's one last Friday lunch special. It's Bubbles' fish fry, and it always sells out.

Bubbles' famous fish fry offers a generous portion of golden fried fish served with lemon, tarter sauce, coleslaw and a big pile of really good French fries.

"Bubbles" came by her nickname years ago, when she worked as the shampoo girl at a local salon, but her greatest fame may have come from the amazing fish & chips lunch she has been turning out for years now, on Friday afternoons at the Governor Bradford, offered in the off season only.
Lunch specials run from 11:30 AM to maybe 2 PM or so, or not. A sell-out could easily close the kitchen early, so get there early. The same goes for dinner specials, which generally run from 5 to 8 PM, but if they sell out before you get there, you'll have only yourself to blame.

So get out for the last lunchtime fish fry of the season, the last of the weeknight dinner specials, and one last Friday prime rib or shrimp dinner, each of these meals at an unbelievable price, with the regular menu available starting Friday as well. Thanks to the governor, found in the heart of Provincetown, at 312 Commercial Street, for keeping us going over the winter, and we wish them a great 2019 season.

Japanese Snacks at Tanuki are My Favorite New Street Food in PTown

This Spicy Smoky Bluefish Onigiri is the perfect snack to take to the beach or street.

I didn't make my first visit to Tanuki, sort of a Japanese snack bar on Commercial Street, until mid-summer, but I've been a steady customer ever since.
I can't get enough of their Onigiri (say O•neeg•yeer•ee, or just ask for rice balls,) my favorite new food in PTown this summer.

Tanuki's version of the traditional Japanese rice ball is actually a very special rice, imported from Japan since it isn't readily available in the US, pressed into about a three-inch triangle to hold its shape, and stuffed with any number of savory fillings. The Spicy, Smoky Bluefish variety is pictured here, sprinkled with a bit of spice, a few black sesame seeds and sliced scallion, and it's my favorite new Commercial Street snack.

Taniko's rice balls are wrapped and ready to go, slipped into your pocket or beach bag.

Other Onigiri choices on any given day might be the Sansyo Pork, or Spicy Mackerel & Tobiko, the tasty, flying fish roe you may know if you/re a sushi fan.
A vegetarian variety is always available, too, like the Tare Tofu Onigiri, as long as it hasn't already sold out before you get there.

Selection will vary daily depending on which particular ingredients are the finest available that day. If beautiful Atlantic Salmon are swimming nearby, for example, you can bet that they'll become a featured Onigiri that afternoon. These great, triangular Rice Balls are made fresh throughout the day, so there are always several choices.

These excellent, savory snacks are best eaten at room temperature, so choose a couple of flavors from the cooler and take them with you. Let them warm up a bit, then splash on just a few drops of the ultra-premium soy sauce Tanuki provides, and munch down a delicious, healthy treat you may never have had before, all for about $4.

Healthy, vegan truffles are homemade by hand, and good for you.

Last Saturday, on a mad rush to be on time for the final performance of The Whining, I realized I needed to eat something before the show to tide me over, so I grabbed a rice ball from Tanuki, slipped it into my shirt pocket and headed across the street to the Art House.
By the time it was my turn in the box office line, my snack was the perfect temperature to maximize all of its great flavors, both bold and subtle.
I unwrapped it, dripped on a tiny bit of that special soy sauce, and gobbled up the snack I'd been craving all week. These Onigiri are  quick, nutritious, satisfying, very tasty, and inexpensive... You just can't beat a deal like that.
Tanuki makes treats for your sweet tooth as well, like their Bittersweet Red Bean Truffles, made with 70% dark chocolate and Matcha green tea, and chock-full of health and energy benefits for you. There are matcha cream puffs as well as goodies made with lemon and mascarpone, and others.They've been experimenting in the kitchen all summer, coming up with things like a "Japanese cheesecake" and other tasty innovations, each around $3.

I tried the Black Sesame flavor of Mochi Ice Cream.

Mochi Ice Cream (just $2.50 each) are small, unusual desserts made with premium ice cream in uncommon flavors. These are tasty discs of ice cream about two inches wide. Each one of these is encased in a thin, smooth coating of a confection that reminds me of the texture of a marshmallow.
You can eat them with your hands. or spear them on the end of a chopstick. They're the perfect size for when you just want a little ice cream, not a huge, expensive cone.

The full service coffee bar offers a wide variety of hot coffee drinks like espresso, caoouccino and lattes as well as hot tea specialties including Matcha and Genma Cha. Tanuki makes a variety of chilled coffee and tea beverages including a great cold brewed, iced coffee and a "Hangover Helper" that actually does seem to help. It's made with  your choice of iced Sencha or Oolong teas. There are Matcha smoothies, a Matcha Palmer (1/2 lemonade,) as well as bottled, cold drinks from Japan.

Blackboards out front list food and drink specialties, some evolving through the day.

Find Tanuki, named for a creature known in Japanese legend and mythology, at 227 Commercial Street. They're in the bright yellow building known for many years as The Little Store, in the days when it was bright red.

Tanuki made its first PTown appearance as a very popular pop-up restaurant during the annual holiday festival sponsored by The Canteen, right next door. That tremendous response in mid-winter led to launching Tanuki in a brand new space of its own this summer.
Try some of these excellent snacks, treats and beverages, bringing Commercial Street some unique new flavors and expanding the variety of international street foods found in PTown.

The Kobe Beef Burger at Vorelli's Earns TheYearRounder's 'Best Bite' Award

Vorelli's burgers may be the best in PTown, totally deserving Best Bite recognition.

Not long ago I had the Kobe Beef burger at Vorelli’s, at 226 Commercial Street, and it was the best thing I ate in that entire week, which earns them TheYearRounder’s Best Bite award for exceptional value on this excellent meal. 

This mammoth hamburger starts with a half-pound of Kobe beef, an exclusive grade of meat that’s famous for its juicy tenderness and remarkable flavor. It’s served with leafy lettuce on a bun that’s been toasted on the grill, with a mound of wedge-cut steak fries, and dill pickle chips on the side,

The Kobe burger sells for $14.95, which Is a great PTown bargain for a burger of this size and quality. For an extra 50¢ each I added cheddar cheese, a big slice of onion, and a thick slice of beefsteak tomato. Bacon was just $1.25. At Vorelli’s, they go out of their way to offer a good value for your money.

I could barely hang onto this huge burger with one hand while I shot this picture.

I spread on a little Dijon mustard and just a touch of mayo and I was in business, although it was really pretty difficult to hold onto this huge, towering burger with one hand while I took its photo with the other hand. This was definitely a two-fisted meal.

Vorelli’s is widely known for its aged, Black Angus steaks, and a couple of my favorite seafood dishes are there as well. A few pastas and Italian favorites round out the menu, along with some great lunch and dinner specials and a terrific lobster roll, again, at a great price.

Service at Vorelli’s is friendly and thoughtful, and the staff makes you feel at home in this charming old building that was once the old Five & Ten Cents Store. Much of the artwork on the walls depicts this gracious building through the eyes of a variety of artists over the years,

Lovely panels of stained glass adorn each end of the comfy bar where you’ll find Connie most nights, one of the towns most affable bartenders, who makes the infused vodkas for a couple of their unique, specialty cocktails. A selection of great desserts and after-dinner drinks finishes a memorable meal.

There are plenty of great reasons to visit Vorelli’s, and we congratulate them on garnering Best Bite recognition.

Authentic Mexican Food Hits PTown, at Rosie's Traditional Mexican Cantina

It was love at first bite when I tasted Rosie's simple, traditional Mexican flavors.

I was so excited to find actual Mexican food on Commercial Street that I didn't even think of adding a squirt of hot sauce or asking for sour cream, or any of the other stuff that a typical Americanized taco needs to give it some personality.
I actually let out a rather audible sigh of contentment upon my first bite at Rosie's Traditional Mexican Cantina, at 331 Commercial Street. I started out, of course, with a couple of tacos. From the list of available fillings I selected pastor (marinated pork) for one, and chorizo (a mildly spicy Mexican sausage) for the other.
Each had my choice of meat, sprinkled liberally with chopped, fresh cilantro and onion, nestled into a double layer of thin, fresh, lightly fried tortillas. I just drizzled each taco with a little juice from the wedge of fresh lime that came with my order, and devoured them. The flavors were bright, and, well... authentic! The food at Rosie's is the real deal.

This spicy tamale sold out twice as the special this day.

From there I moved on to a good-sized tamale, the daily special, which had already sold out, but another batch was just being freshly made from scratch, and just in time for me to get in on it.
I was surprised by this tamale on two counts (three if you count the fact that it was chicken instead of the more usual pork filling.) First, the masa harina (the corn dough) was a reddish color, fairly spicy, and, secondly, the filling wasn't just a little bit of shredded chicken, but a nice chunk of tender, juicy chicken breast rolled into the tamale's center.
I had never had a tamale like this one, and hope to find it as a special on the menu again sometime. There's a good reason why that menu is listed on a big chalkboard every day. I can't wait to see what else might pop up, for a day at a time.
Rosie's took over Burger Queen's former spot (a moment of silence, please, for the loss of some of the best burger bargains in town, not to mention those fine mac-and-cheese nuggets!) So this new little "cantina" is a walk-up, counter service joint with plenty of picnic tables, under a big awning in case of a little rain or too much sun
.

On Rosie's menu board, some items come and go all day.

 

Another PTown website erroneously reported table service here, but instead, you'll order at the window, and they'll holler your name in a few minutes when your food is ready, to eat there or to take out. I feel like they'll be hollering my name on a fairly regular basis.
Perhaps their hours are still evolving, as I couldn't find them listed anywhere, but they are open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I want to go again soon for Mexican style eggs or a breakfast burrito, or a dinner of flautas served with rice and beans. And I'll certainly need to taste the carne asada taco, and the carnitas variety, and the burritos, and enchiladas, tortas, tostadas, and with any luck, a few dishes I've never heard of.
I'm going to need more days in this short summer, so I can work my way through the menu at Rosie's Traditional Mexican Cantina. Bring on the homemade sangria!

The Coffee Pot Opens for 29th Season, Signaling Spring in Provincetown

The Coffee Pot's "Rescue Squad" breakfast sandwich is among the best in town.

One sure sign of spring in Provincetown is The Coffee Pot opening up for the new season. This will be their 29th summer serving breakfast, lunch, supper and fresh baked goods, right in the heart of PTown.
You'll find them at the edge of Lopes Square, just before MacMillan Pier, and right across from the Chamber of Commerce.
Even though their address is listed on Commercial Street, you'll find Coffee Pot by walking toward the pier and the harbor from the corner of Commercial and Standish streets. It's a Provincetown thing. They're in the center of a long, narrow building that once stretched all the way from Commercial Street to the beach, so the entire building still retains the old Commercial Street address.
Each year, as spring billows into Provincetown, The Coffee Pot is one of the first spots to open. I'm always eager to have my first breakfast sandwich after the long winter without one. I usually make my first order a Rescue Squad with cheddar. This may be the most satisfying breakfast sandwich on the cape. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest.
They take a really big sub roll and toast it on the grill while the eggs, sausage and bacon are cooking. In go three large eggs, two big sausage patties side by side, and 3 slices of bacon, cooked just right. Two slices of cheese complete the sandwich. I order mine with cheddar. I usually get the eggs cooked as a fluffy omelet, but this day I had 'em fried. I paired my breakfast with a nice, robust cup of coffee. For me, it's dark roast all the way.

Omelet-style egg, slices of grilled deli ham, cheese, of course - Breakfast # 5

Now I'm jonesing for a ham and egg and cheddar on a croissant. And a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, cheese and salsa rolled in a tortilla. Add meat if you'd like, but I kind of like it without. You can also get your basic plate of eggs, home fries and toast for $5.99. That's a PTown bargain.
Breakfast sandwiches are a natural for takeout, and if you call ahead, Nelson and Linda and the gang can have your food ready when you get there to pick it up. Call 508•487•2580. Or make it a sit-down affair in their dining room with picture windows looking out onto Lopes Square, or you can have your meal in the sun and the breeze of their open air patio, which welcomes well behaved pets.
They also make a great lunch for after your whale watch, but we'll talk about that another day.
Enjoy your meal, and have a glorious day in Provincetown!

Mojo's Still Serves Favorite Ptown Meals as New Owner "Returns" in 44th Season

There's nothing fancy about Mojo's restaurant in Provincetown, which might be part of its charm for Townies and long-time visitors who count it among their favorite spots for a quick bite or a full meal. So, naturally, I had to check it out upon hearing it had a new owner. Happily, this couldn't be a better match. More on that in a moment. First, the important stuff…  What I ate!

Mojo's new Chipotle Burger comes with cheddar cheese, bacon and their own
creamy, spicy chipotle sauce, all on a 6 ounce burger. I added their unique fries.

I just tried Mojo's new 6 ounce Chipotle Burger. It comes with bacon and cheddar cheese, topped with a delicious chipotle sauce, for a mere $7.10.

This nice, creamy, homemade sauce is quite spicy, but not overpowering. It’s just right. And my burger was cooked  medium, just the way I ordered it, which doesn’t always happen at a burger shack, so they get extra points for that. You can’t really call this fast food, although the orders roll out of the kitchen pretty quickly. But everything here is made to order, when you walk up and ask for it, or call in your order for pickup.

I added their unusual, signature fries to my order; hand-cut discs sliced from fresh potatoes, so they're a little like extra, EXTRA thick potato chips, but not so crunchy. These fries are a real specialty at Mojo's, and come in 3 sizes. I ordered the small one, which was plenty with this good-sized, great tasting burger, making a satisfying meal for not much money, and a cut above the fast food chains found in the world outside of Provincetown.

Mojo's sits in the center of Provincetown, right between the Pilgrim Monument and
MacMillan Pier. Photo from the Menuism website. Visit to see Mojo's huge menu.

I’m going to do a series of articles on burgers around PTown, the way I did on lobster rolls a couple of years ago. I’ll taste burgers all over town and describe each one, and take a photo, and tell you a little about the restaurant itself, so you can decide which ones you want to try.
It’s clear that I’ll have to make several visits to Mojo’s, since they offer 15 burgers in different sizes, shapes and motifs. I won’t have time to try each one, since there are 78 other eateries in PTown for me to get to, but I’ll eat a few of them, in a range starting at $3.95 for a plain quarter-pound hamburger, so you can add your own mustard, ketchup, onions or hot sauce and have it just the way you like it. Ask for mayo if you want it. Lettuce and tomato will set you back an extra 60 cents, cheese (four choices) will add 75 cents, and bacon is $1.25.

The counter staff at Mojo's has infinite patience as folks decide on orders
from a menu of over 170 burgers, wraps, salads, tacos, seafood, sides and more.

From there we move up to the Superburger. It's 6 ounces of ground beef served with mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickle for $6.25. Again, add condiments to your own taste.
The Angus Burger is 8 ounces, also served with mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickle, for $8.95, or served as a full meal, with fries, salad and veggies, for $13.95. Now there’s a deal! Try beating that price anywhere else.

11 other full dinners, like grilled tuna or salmon, chicken Parmesan, or steak tips range from $10.25 to $15.50, with scallops, broiled or fried, priced daily depending on the market price.

There are 9 specialty burgers, each 6 ounces, most of them at $6.75, like the chili burger with cheddar, the Texas burger with coleslaw and BBQ sauce, or the New York burger, with herbed cream cheese and its own sauce. There’s a hamburger sub, too. So, clearly, I’m going to have to try a few more for my upcoming burger series, and let you know what I find.

Mojo’s is under new ownership this year, thankfully acquired by a local woman who won’t make any drastic changes to the place or its very popular, very large menu, which includes about 170 items and meals. Courtney Hurst grew up here, graduating from Provincetown High School in 1994. Her first jobs were in shops less than 50 yards from Mojo's, so she had meals there almost daily, and would dash over for an order of cheese fries whenever she could. Finding this little PTown eatery for sale recently, she went with her heart, and immediately bought the place that held such fond memories for her, and for countless other residents and summer visitors.

Artist Bill Evaul plans to restore his outdoor mural on Mojo's patio, showing
the 1819 sighting of a sea serpent off Provincetown shores, reported by hundreds
of whalers,, fishermen and others (even newspapers!) over a period of many years.

I have a fondness for Mojo’s, too. I got the inspiration for my very first blog post while eating a guacamole taco, one of many vegetarian choices on Mojo's menu.

I was sitting on their dining patio in June of 2012, next to artist Bill Evaul’s mural, painted on the back wall of the restaurant in 1978.

It depicts the sea serpent spotted off the shoreline of Provincetown, near Race Point, in 1819. Read Public Art Meets PTown Legend, the first blog post I ever wrote, to see why I’ve come to believe most of the stories about this legendary creature. Enjoy this whimsical painting yourself while you’re having a quick bite or a favorite meal at Mojo’s, going strong in its 44^th year serving Townies and visitors some of the best bargains in Provincetown.

While just a few things might leave the menu as a couple of new additions appear, Courtney won't

 stir things up too much in her first season, which keeps us all quite happy. We welcome her back to the neighborhood, and wish her great success in her new chapter at Mojo's.