Dinner for Two with an Ocean View

As innkeepers on Cape Cod, Rich and I are often asked for restaurant recommendations by our guests. Part of our job, as we see it, is to be knowledgeable about all things Cape Cod so that we can guide our guests to the best places for an authentic and memorable experience. This includes scouting out the best places to catch a sunset, off-the-beaten path spots for a hike or a picnic, and knowing where all the lighthouses are located and when they might be offering tours. It’s a challenge, but well worth the effort and much-appreciated by our guests.

The High Pointe Inn sits up on a hill overlooking the Great Salt Marsh and the dunes of Sandy Neck Beach, with Cape Cod Bay in the distance. In season, we have the distinct pleasure of serving breakfast on the 75-foot deck that spans the back of the Inn. Guests enjoy having a leisurely breakfast al fresco, listening to and watching the birds, with the scent of summer hydrangea wafting up from the cobblestone courtyard and fountain below.

Dining on or near the water adds a certain something to the experience that is hard to define. Perhaps it’s the vastness of the ocean that puts things into perspective, or the gentle ebb and flow of the sea as it washes ashore that seems to sooth the soul. Whatever it is, dinner for two with an ocean view is one of the most-requested recommendations we are asked for by our guests.

So this year it was our personal goal to seek out, and of course sample, as many restaurants with a water- or ocean-view as time and waistlines allowed. Many restaurants offer an outside dining option along with enclosed dining, but the unifying feature, whether inside or out, is a water view. Here, in no particular order, are several restaurants that meet the criteria and are well worth considering on your next trip to Cape Cod. Bon Appetit!

• Aqua Grille, Sandwich
• Boat House Restaurant, Falmouth
• Chart Room, Cataumet
• Fishmonger Café, Woods Hole
• Flying Bridge Restaurant, Falmouth
• Hemisphere, Sandwich
• Baxter’s, Hyannis
• The Black Cat, Hyannis
• Clancy’s of Dennisport
• Mattakeese Wharf, Barnstable
• Ocean House, Dennisport
• Sesuit Harbor Café, Dennis
• Spanky’s Clam Shack, Hyannis
• Swan River Restaurant, Dennisport
• Tugboats, Hyannis
• Brax Landing, Harwichport
• Captain Cass, Rock Harbor
• Orleans Inn, Orleans
• Bookstore & Restaurant, Wellfleet
• Mac’s Seafood, Wellfleet
• Mac’s Shack, Wellfleet
• Pearl, Wellfleet

At any rate, I picked up the new Shining Sea Bikeway brochure, a 4-color glossy piece with beaucoup info on the natural history and cultural heritage of Falmouth and its surrounds, plus a great trail map detailing the points of interest along the route. The new Shining Sea Bikeway is a 10.7 mile paved pathway that extends from North Falmouth to Woods Hole along Vineyard Sound via the coast of Buzzards Bay. Built along the right-of-way for the Old Colony rail line, the new bike path passes through cranberry bogs and the Sippewissett Marsh, offering views of Chapaquoit Beach. Named for Katharine Lee Bates, the Falmouth woman who wrote the poem that became the song “America the Beautiful”, the path is a multi-use all-season trail for cycling, walking, jogging, in-line skating, and cross country skiing.

When Rich suggested we buy bikes some years ago so that we could enjoy the many bike trails throughout the region, I was picturing my favorite scene in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Do you recall the montage of Paul Newman riding a bike through the pasture trying to charm Katherine Ross, with Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” playing in the background? Call me crazy, but I would have fallen for the impish Newman character over Robert Redford’s rakish Sundance any day. At any rate when Rich mentioned bike riding, I was envisioning lazy afternoons meandering through the countryside, picnic basket in hand, all choreographed to show tunes.

Needless to say, things didn’t exactly turn out as I had envisioned. But, I’m happy to report, we have found much joy in our bike riding adventures and especially along the Shining Sea Bikeway. We usually park at the lot on Old Dock Road near scenic West Falmouth Harbor. From that point it’s an easy 7-mile ride into Woods Hole. We stash the bikes at the parking lot adjacent to the Martha’s Vineyard ferry dock and stroll into town for lunch at our favorite watering hole overlooking the draw bridge entrance to Eel Pond, the Fishmonger. Properly sated with something fried for Rich and a salad for moi, we strap on the helmets and peddle back. All told, it’s a 4-5 hour journey round trip to and from the Inn, but a vacation in itself for leisure-strapped innkeepers on Cape Cod in the summer.

Ending a bike ride at the Fishmonger Cafe in Falmouth, MA