The Summer 2021 Hit List to Nantucket

Located at the end of a wharf, tony oyster bar Cru supplies unbeatable harbor views and see-and-be-seen-fare including seafood towers, Oscietra Royal caviar with crème fraiche and brioche, and a daily changing selection of island oysters. Its more substantial offerings are no less indulgent, including butter-poached lobster and a large format, 28-ounce New York strip with black garlic Bordelaise.

Keepers can be found on the outskirts of town, and serves year-round from a menu split between entrée-sized portions and sharing dishes for the table. The former category features crowd-pleasers like sweet chile-glazed salmon and grilled bistro filet with chimichurri, while the latter includes fingerling potatoes bravas and glazed brussels sprouts with cranberries and pecans.

Sushi, ceviche, poke, and oysters on the half shell — Bar Yoshi specializes in seafood of the raw variety. A typical visit might start with a lump crab California roll and shrimp ceviche with charred heirloom tomatoes, before migrating to heartier fare like wok-fried calamari and a duck leg confit rice ball.

Things don’t change much at Straight Wharf, and we wouldn’t want to experience the six-decade veteran any other way. In its current season, the Harbor Square standby is serving a two-course prix fixe that proffers the likes of hand-cut spaghetti with peekytoe crab to start and entree choices including wood-grilled swordfish with garam masala butter or Moroccan-spiced eggplant parm.

Settled within a historic 20-room hotel, Via Mare brings the cuisine of the Republic of Venice to Nantucket via shareable plates like whipped salt cod on crispy polenta, soft-shell crab with garlic and brown butter, and entrees like dry-aged bistecca in black truffle steak sauce. But on Sundays, the restaurant lets its hair down with a brunch menu that includes fried chicken and waffles, biscuits with mushroom gravy and hot scallop rolls.

Slip 14’s harborside location on the historic Old South Wharf provides the requisite New England charm, but the New American restaurant’s fare is far more interesting than the expected chowder or fish and chips. Instead, Slip 14 serves shareable plates like lamb and quinoa meatballs or fried oyster toast with house-smoked tasso ham, plus entrees including herb spaetzle in smoked chile sauce or hanger steak frites in an ancho-chile marinade.

A visit to Ventuno is like dropping by nonna’s for Sunday supper — if your nonna (1) lived in a historic Greek Revival mansion with an enviable patio; (2) served spaghetti alle vongole with ‘nduja and lemon breadcrumbs, and slow-cooked lamb coppa with heirloom polenta; (3) could also cook a perfect serves-two 33-ounce porterhouse, with smoked Calabrian passata and pickled hots. (Ours does none of these.) Pro tip: No visit is complete without the simple pleasure of their pork and beef meatballs in tomato sugo.

The Summer House Beachside Bistro is found by the dunes of Siasconset, and can claim to be the largest outdoor restaurant anywhere on the island. On its bluestone patio with clear views of the Atlantic, you’ll enjoy lobster fra diavolo, local oysters, clambake and other New England specialties, accompanied by plenty of rosé.

Found inside a century-old tea house with private dining rooms and its very own rose garden, the Chanticleer is one of the most romantic dining settings the Grey Lady has to offer. However, charm is nothing without food, and the restaurant fulfills that need with a menu of refined classics including salt cod beignets fried in ginger beer batter, Atlantic halibut à la Provençal, and New Zealand lamb and merguez sausage Bolognese braised in 29 different herbs and spices.

Dune is ensconced in downtown Nantucket, but discards ye-olde-furnishings in favor of a sleek dining room and a globally-inspired menu populated by Vietnamese shrimp and chicken cakes, housemade mozzarella, cashew-crusted heritage pork chop and more. A cocktail menu focused on house infusions and shrubs delivers drinks like the Castaway (rum, ripe banana, pineapple shrub, lime) and the Smoke Signal (mezcal, Tequila, hibiscus, pineapple shrub, clarified lemon).

A tee time isn’t required to dine at the clubhouse of Nantucket’s only public 18-hole golf course (but a Resy is recommended). Once secured, you’ll enjoy fare that subverts country club expectations: think Korean barbecue-glazed pork belly bites, swordfish picatta, and pork osso buco in porcini gravy.