The Summer 2022 Guide to Dining on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard

MARTHA’S VINEYARD

For over 20 years, the bi-level Edgartown standby has been a local destination for decadent fare like a surf-and-turf pairing of a béarnaise-anointed filet mignon with a buttered lobster tail or a wagyu burger rounded out with horseradish aioli and Vermont cheddar on a housemade bun. However, don’t neglect their lighter takes on bistro fare, like a Jonah crab and grilled asparagus salad or pan-seared halibut with crab and pea risotto, in addition to a nationally recognized wine list and a locally famous mojito.

Reading may be the key to success, but you’re more likely to find us Behind the Bookstore. Credit the all-day hangout spot’s leafy backyard patio and a menu that starts strong with shakshuka and specialty coffees before priming up for dinner with panko-crusted oysters in a ‘nduja whiskey emulsion or slow-cooked duck confit with a stone fruit salad. Meanwhile, the outdoor Hemingway bar serves up bookish drams, including the Hunter Thompson made with mezcal, bourbon, Licor 43, and honey.

Chesca’s alternates between New England seafood classics — see clam chowder with fresh sea clams or roasted Atlantic cod accompanied by chive mashed potatoes — or stick-to-your-ribs Italian like Tuscan white bean soup or pappardelle Bolognese with veal ragu. For dessert, there’s Key lime pie or chocolate pot de crème, as well as the more Continental choice of a cheese plate featuring Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and domestic selections.

The Covington’s sixth season in business is again marked by a focus on local ingredients and simple but thoughtful preparations, yielding dishes like smoked beets with charred scallion vinaigrette, clams and chorizo with coconut milk and Calabrian chile, or yuzu-roasted halibut collar with radish and snap peas. The Edgartown restaurant also boasts one of the island’s strongest cocktail programs, with drams including Katama in the Afternoon (Tequila, strawberry, basil shrub) and the Futile Gesture (bourbon, sherry, chinato).

Chilmark Tavern carries the distinction of being located in the Vineyard’s last dry town — luckily, they’re BYOB. You bring the wine, and they’ll supply the dry-rubbed jerk-honey wings, beer-battered halibut with malt vinegar dust, porcini-rubbed New York strip steak, and other thoughtful takes on classic pub fare.

The Edgartown hangout matches a raucous live music scene to a menu evenly split between fresh New England seafood and refined pub favorites. It’s where you might sit down to Maine mussels in a coconut-curry broth or a harissa-grilled chicken sandwich with Vermont bacon and chive aioli while waiting for that weekend’s visiting band to strike up a tune.

Yes, Détente sounds dramatic, but in reality, it’s just a seasonally focused restaurant enjoying its 17th season tucked away on Nevin Square. Make the trek (with a Resy in hand) to enjoy a crab and corn salad with spiced lavash, a lamb rack served beside spiced pierogis, or black garlic charred octopus with smoked Yukon potato agnolotti. As for possible pairings, an exhaustive, globally focused wine list is at your beck and call.

NANTUCKET

Nautilus may now be joined by a sibling in Boston, but there’s no place quite like the intimately sized Nantucket original. Its free-wheeling merger of fresh seafood and pan-Asian flavors continues apace this summer, resulting in dishes like crispy monkfish bites with Vietnamese fish sauce caramel, duck fat-fried Singaporean soft-shell crab, or pan-roasted Ora King salmon with a Thai sour curry broth.

With just three seasons under its belt so far, the live music venue/Asian-influenced restaurant is a still a relative newcomer by Nantucket standards. If you haven’t yet been acquainted, make a Resy to reap the lion’s share of pork and crab dumplings in Thai Tom Ka broth, stuffed clams Rockefeller with spinach and escargot butter, or miso-broiled black cod with Chinese sausage and fried wild rice. On the entertainment side, you’ll find live music most nights, along with a Sugar Daddy (mezcal, mint, lime, cava) or Seniorita Mamacita (rum, tamarind, pineapple).

Its Greek Revival digs make Ventuno one of the most picturesque dining destinations on the island — a category that has some competition — but it’s the seriously upgraded red sauce fare that has us coming back season after season. For instance: a shrimp, squid, and halibut fritto misto with preserved lemon aioli, mafalda pasta in a porcini and mushroom button ragu, or a gloriously oversized duck egg raviolo.

The 2022 season marks 10 years of CRU’s signature on-the-water decadence, and such ambitious chilled seafood platters as the Grand Cru Plateau — stocked with two dozen oysters, 12 littlenecks, eight shrimp, blue crab, and lobster cocktails — has us wishing for 10 more. It’s not all raw, however: look to fried Ipswich clams with lemon and tartar sauce or a broiled lobster with tarragon butter crumb and asparagus vinaigrette for something more substantial.

Nantucket is a place where pedigrees matter, and Via Mare’s is impeccable. The loosely Venetian-inspired restaurant is from the powers that run Ventuno, and its whimsically nautical décor comes from a design firm responsible for the Ace Hotel New York. But enough credentialing: what matters most is what you’re eating, which in this case may be cast-iron soft-shell crab with hazelnut and brown butter or a 12-ounce bistecca with black truffle steak sauce and truffle butter. Or take a seat at the clubby cocktail lounge to nurse a barrel-aged Boulevardier or It’s Not Rhu It’s Me (rhubarb and chai syrup, Cognac, Old Tom gin, black walnut bitters).

Nantucket long-timer Dune is primarily known for three things: a thoroughly charming, covered outdoor patio; a striking quartzite bar; and a menu that seamlessly blends classic coastal New England fare with more contemporary influences. To that end, diners may encounter Rhode Island-style fried calamari with basil aioli beside a grilled heritage pork chop with lemongrass fried rice and Chinese sausage, or pan-roasted Atlantic cod in a coconut lemongrass broth next to sautéed rock shrimp with spring pea risotto.

Lola 41 has a gimmick: It deems that all items on the menu come from countries found along the 41^st parallel. We can’t tell you what those are off the top of our heads, but by following the menu, we surmise they’re the kind of places that serve lobster fried rice with garlic and ginger, hoisin-lacquered baby back ribs, and ricotta gnocchi Bolognese. Wherever they are, we want to visit them.

For reservations, call the restaurant at 508-325-4001.