The Juice Bar

Usually you can attest to the quality of an ice cream place by the amount of bodies crammed inside, or lined up outside the serving windows. In this little place in Nantucket, we were elbow to elbow and back to front!

I am an ice cream fanatic, no matter the time, season, or whether I have already had an ice cream that day. Homemade ice cream is a fine art in my book, and some day I hope to master it myself and just eat ice cream until I die from lactose intolerance. The Juice Bar had a lot of cool flavors, and they made their own waffle cones too!

 

This sign intrigued me; I never found out an island check was.

The crowd! I'm standing outside the side door.

Loved the signage- very cute! I had a mint black raspberry, very unique combination of flavor, but very delicious!

This is the perfect sort of picture for the caption: "Omm nom nom nom".

Chase Street Market & Deli

 

Sometimes you are out and about in the wilds of New Hampshire and your adventures take way longer than you thought they would and suddenly it is way past lunch and you are starving.

You are in Plymouth, and you come across the Chase Street Deli. It is a liquor store/coffee shop/deli/sandwich shop/convenience store/tiny little market. Whatever mood you're in, you can pretty much express it through food and drink in this place.

Well, lit, well decorated, and the girl who made my Waldorf Chicken sandwich was exceptionally friendly. We sat outside and munched on little round tables under the awning. If you're looking for something light, quick, and yummy, try the sandwiches from this jumbled together little store!

The Brotherhood of Thieves

To continue our food ventures in Nantucket, we went out for lunch to The Brotherhood of Thieves. (Locally known as The Brotherhood). The design and the history behind this restaurant was very cool. At night they're in the basement of an old building, with no windows or anything. During the day they put you in an outside patio area, but we got to walk by the ominous front door.

My sister Anna and Kevin, our local island guides- and the outdoor seating area.

The history here is pretty cool. "The name of this bar and ordinary, The Brotherhood of Thieves", is taken from the title of an 1844 pamphlet written on Nantucket by Stephen S. Foster. The pamphlet vigorously attacked those who continued to support the institution of slavery, even as the tide of abolition rose. Diversity and strong opinion have always found a tolerant home on this island. During the Revolutionary War, Patriots, Tories, and Quaker pacifists co-existed here and pleaded, unsuccessfully for neutrality. 

A unique spirit developed here, one based on uncompromising independence and strength of character; a potent distillation of the early American genius defined, as much as anyone, by Benjamin Franklin-Folger, the son of Abiah Folger, and Maria Mitchell, a groundbreaker for women in American science. Today, on Nantucket, the ides of rugged individualism, personal liberty, and the fostering of eccentricity still exists and continues to thrive." 

So, okay. The first paragraph was legitimate. But if you've ever been to Nantucket, I think you'd agree that rugged individualism and eccentricity is anything but fostered. And who are those people they mention? 

What I liked even more than the history was their use of local and organic products. I'm big into the small farm movement, and any restaurant that is putting in the effort to use small local producers gets a gold star from me. 

On to the food! We started with a $15 dollar local goat cheese appetizer with some fruit and 'artisan crackers'. Delicious, but smaller than my fist. I don't care if you're on an island or not, a dribble of goat cheese and a strawberry is not worth $15. 

My chicken quesadilla. Everything was deliciously melted together, and the generous servings of guac and sour cream were appreciated. Very very yummy, and actually worth the money.

Tim got a fish burrito. (partially at my urging because I wanted to try it). If you're looking for a Mexican flavor with a fish twist, I wouldn't go for this. The cod was delicious, not smelly or fishy tasting, and it paired surprisingly well with the rice and beans, but it lacked that special something that makes an authentic burrito. 

Kevin got a cisco BBQ burger with bacon and cheddar cheese, ordered medium rare, cooked medium well. Curly fries were a little underdone, but the only thing that actually bothered him was the trouble he had fitting it into his mouth!

Anna got a California burger with avocado, fried onions, pea sprouts and jack cheese. She ordered hers medium well, and it came out medium rare. Accidental order switch? Her sweet potato fries were incredible though! ($1 extra)

And we supplemented our food with beer and mixed drinks. Round one was delicious, and then I decided to try this concoction, called a Painkiller. Kevin said it was "a thing" on Nantucket. It was a mixture of coconut rum and nutmeg and a couple other weird items, essentially it tasted like a Hawaiian Christmas. Not my cup of tea.

I feel like I would really love to give a great big bear-hug type recommendation for The Brotherhood- the potential is there! The food was very tasty, the drinks were well made, they had the local flavor and a bit of history to create a cool atmosphere. 

But, the mix ups with the burgers were something that could've easily been avoided. The prices were exorbitant for some items and understandable for others, so it was hard to know what kind of value you were going to get. The atmosphere varied from interesting historic pub to bar joint with a lion mascot. (see below)

And I was genuinely unimpressed with the service. For the money they were charging and their location (Hello! Nantucket!?) there ought to have been a lot more effort put into being friendly and taking care of their guests. Our waiter never smiled at us, never asked if we needed anything else or if the food was okay (we probably wouldn't have complained about the burgers, but he didn't even give us the option!) and seemed genuinely irritated when two of us had to go leave to fetch ID's from the apartment. Looking around I noticed most of the other waiters were the same. Nary a smile to be seen. If this had been otherwise, my review probably would have been glowing. The service makes all the difference. 

The Brotherhood of Thieves

23 Broad St, Nantucket MA

Two Beers, Three Cocktails

One Appetizer

Four Entrees

$144.80

Nantucket Bake Shop

This past Friday the boyfriend and I took a day-cation to the island of Nantucket. It was our first trip to the island as cognitive adults, and even our start time of 3:45am did not lessen our excitement.


The first thing we did upon arriving was travel in search of breakfast. We were visiting my sister, who lives and works there in the summertime, and she took us to a little tiny bakery outside the center of town.

And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. It was very hot, and very loud. (They were using a bread slicing machine behind where Tim is standing. If you've ever worked in a bakery you know how obscenely obnoxious a bread slicing machine is. And if you haven't, take a moment to appreciate the trials and tribulations that go into sliced bread.)

This was not just a breakfast type bake shop. They made desserts, custom wedding cakes, and take-home dinner pies. There were baked breads, cheese puffs, and other items with questionable meal-time placement. (Jamaican meat patties looked interesting.) Self serve coffee and tea was available.

Three of us ordered donuts. I can't really come up with a witty analogy for them so I'll just let you know they were a hundred million times better than any other donuts I have ever had (except for Congdon's in Ogunquit but that's a story for another day and they were pretty damn close). 

Soft, doughy, cooked to perfection and dripping with sweet sugary goodness. My sister got a ham and cheese croissant which was flakey, buttery, and oozing cheese. I can't really rate service, as we were yelling and pointing most of the time, but a few smiles would've undoubtedly improved the experience! The donut prices were reasonable (for Nantucket), but the croissant was way, way too expensive. 

It was packed about twenty seconds after we walked in, and by the time we left, there was a line out the door, (A testament to it's popularity with the locals) ending with this man in the fabulous pink pants. Worth a visit if you ever travel to Nantucket, about five minutes walk from the main part of town!

Nantucket Bake Shop

79 Orange St, Nantucket MA

Ham and Cheese Croissant: $5.25

Donut: $1.85

Stella's Of Middle Street

This morning we traipsed down the street and around the corner to Stella's! This breakfast & lunch spot in Newburyport is not easy to find, we only happened to come across it during an exploratory walk through the neighborhood parts of town. If you're driving in, expect to park on the street.

Stella's is an order-at-the-counter resteraunt. When you come in, you grab a table and review the menu written out on chalkboards behind the counter. There's a whiteboard off the side with specials, and baked goods in cases and baskets up front. When you decide what you want, you go up to the register and place your order!

At 9am on a Monday, the place was occupied only by us, an old man sitting in the corner, and a young family with a little girl. Sinatra and fifties doo-wop came quietly from somewhere in a back corner. Our server was quite friendly, she brought us menus and explained the ordering system to us. If it were busy I suspect we wouldn't have gotten the menus, or the advice. 

The decor ranged from a pig theme up at the counter, to Floridian beach ideas hanging from the lamps, fake bugs in all the plants, and modern art paintings on a far wall.

The whole mishmash effect was, I thought, very charming. It's an old building with exposed piping, wood floors, and beautiful copper details on the walls and ceiling. All the handwritten signs just add to the adorableness, and it was very very clean.

First we ordered the fruit bowl.

This is missing one cherry, but for $2.95 I probably wouldn't recommend it.

Tim got the Stella Frittata: eggs with homemade corn beef hash, cheddar cheese, a tomato slice on top and whole wheat bread and home fries. I stuck with simple blueberry pancakes, and paid $2.00 extra to get the pure maple syrup. 

These were delicious, and we both had leftovers to take home. My pancakes were light and fluffy, without that weird box-mix taste that Bisquik or Aunt Jemima provides. Not to mention- wild blueberries! Yum! (note the maple syrup in the corner- if you are a pancake drowner, plan accordingly!)

The frittata was rich, with the hash being the strongest flavor. Crispy but not burnt, nor dry on the inside. The home fries did NOT have onions mixed in, which is a plus in my department, some of you may be of the opposite opinion! 

I'd give Stella's an 8 overall. Our meals were perfect, but the fruit bowl was sort of a pathetic little thing. For the amount they gave us, the price was pretty fair. As cute as the random decor is, they could probably make it more cohesive and therefore more visually pleasing. (I liked the pigs best.) Tim got free coffee refills, and aside from that, I'd tell Stella to clean the front windows- the outside glass was pretty dusty!

Stella's of Middle Street
Newburyport MA
Two Meals, One Appetizer
One Coffee

$16.95

First Post So I can Play with Layout

Live in the New England area? Me too! Like to eat? ME TOO!!

This blog will feature restaurants, food carts, ice cream stands and hole-in-the-wall greasy chinese food joints located throughout the beautiful and historical New England states. Includes pictures, candid reviews, and possible stomachaches.

I don't know what this is but it's displayed so beautifully that it must taste good.

more soon -r