Hi friends, welcome to the start of my Nantucket series! When Jon and I were planning our summer vacation, we wanted something easy and relaxing without requiring a flight. We usually try to go someplace new, but we kept coming back to Nantucket. We booked a room at Seven Sea Street Inn, where we stayed in 2021, and that was essentially the extent of my trip planning along with two dinner reservations. We left on a Sunday afternoon and decided to spend the night in Hyannis (where the ferry is) so we wouldn’t have to worry about traffic delaying us. I wouldn’t recommend this, but we left NYC around 1pm and hit all the traffic. The 250 miles drive took us about six hours to complete. We stayed at the SeaCoast Inn and it was sufficient for a night and had free parking.
We had planned on getting Sally’s Apizza, a famous New Haven, CT pizza joint on our way up, but when we called the next available takeout time was for about two hours after we’d pass through. We are used to waiting for good pizza, but two hours was pretty unexpected. We cut our losses and made a plan to call early on our way home. Needless to say we arrived in Hyannis extremely hungry and craving pizza. We got takeout from Pizza Barbone which we have been to before and enjoyed. I got the Pepperoni & Hot Honey and Jon opted for the Soppressata. We ate, booked our ferry tickets for the following afternoon, and called it a night! I was very go with the flow on this trip as you can see.
About half an hour before the ferry departed, we dropped off our bags and headed for the ferry line. It’s a very low key but efficient process. The ferry takes about an hour and is a smooth journey in good weather. After disembarking and collecting our luggage, we had no more than a ten-minute walk to Seven Sea Street Inn. This time we stayed on the first floor in the main house. The rooms are all very cozy with the softest beds and the best water pressure in the shower. The location can’t be beat, it’s about a minute walk into town and two blocks from the famous ice cream shop. I’d highly recommend staying here if you’re looking for a quaint bed & breakfast.
There are two innkeepers, Matt (the owner) and Claudia, and they were both so welcoming and kind! You could tell they really cared about the inn and wanted to ensure everyone had a great stay. I was very impressed by their breakfast spread too. Usually Jon and I are up and out on vacations, but this time we slowed down and had breakfast a few days.
Now that the logistics are out of the way, I’ve got a roundup of all the Nantucket eats starting with our most frequented spot: The Juice Bar (aka the best ice cream shop on Nantucket). Jon and I went here every night and always made sure to save room for some. You just can’t beat homemade ice cream on vacation! There’s so many great flavors to choose from and on our first night we went with the special that I think was called Oreoception. It was Oreo overload in the best possible way and our favorite cone of the trip. The only bad thing about this place is that a waffle cone costs an extra $3…but they are made fresh right there. At least the scoops are generous sizes.
Second night cones: I cannot remember the flavor name because it was a special, but I think it had brownie and cookie dough chunks in it. Whatever it was we loved!!
Third night cones: toffee crunch & S’Morton Sea Monster – a delicious green s’mores cookie dough with chocolate chips and red chocolate melts (Morton is the Nantucket sea monster and this was a special collaboration with the Juice Bar so that’s why it’s green)
Final night cones: toffee crunch & peanut butter chocolate cookie dough
Our favorite spot for coffee on Nantucket is Handlebar Café. We always got some kind of latte and it was the perfect start to the morning. There’s usually not much of a wait and they have a decent amount of seating. We prefer to grab a bench on Main Street and people watch while we wake up.
Born & Bread came highly recommended by my friend and we loved it! There’s usually a line, but it’s worth it. I even saw the author Elin Hilderbrand in here getting some baked goods. We tried a few different sandwiches and they were all delicious! We didn’t even bother going to the sandwich place we loved last visit, Something Natural, because this was so good.
BB Egg Sandy: organic eggs, Vermont cheddar cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, Sriracha mayo, slice vine tomato, on house sourdough
Rachel Panini: sliced turkey, coleslaw, Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, recommended on house rye sourdough
Ham & Swiss panini: sliced ham, Swiss cheese, multigrain mustard, sliced pickle spears, on house sourdough
Candy BLT cold cut: candy bacon, lettuce, sliced vine tomato, mayonnaise
We were able to get a reservation easily at Bar Yoshi for Jon’s birthday. We got a nice table overlooking the marina and ordered family style. My favorite dishes were the Piggy Rice and Hong Kong Calamari. We also enjoyed the Beef Yakitori skewers and Dynamite Roll. We skipped the dessert menu because we wanted some ice cream.
We went to Nantaco for dinner one night because we wanted something light (to save room for ice cream) and it was ok. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, but it did the job. I went with some Carnitas Tacos and Jon got a Carnitas Bowl.
Our favorite restaurant was the Nautilus and it’s very difficult to get a reservation, but luckily we got one for our last night. Their website says the reservations are released at 10am, but I quickly learned that wasn’t true and they are released before 8am. We were intrigued by the Tempura East Coast Oyster Tacos (tempura fried local pocomo meadow oysters, nori wrap, sushi rice, chile bbq sauce, wasabi aïoli) and they were delicious! I don’t like raw oysters but they sure are good fried.
For entrees I picked the Szechuan Style DanDan Noodles and they had quite the kick! If you have a stuffy nose this would clear it in a few minutes. I have a rather low spice tolerance but I really enjoyed this dish.
Jon chose the Blue Crab Fried Rice and this seems to be a favorite on Yelp. It includes jumbo lump crab, garlic, scallion, crispy farm egg, and thai lime nam jim sauce. This was a delicious dish too!
The Pearl is another restaurant that came highly recommended to us, but we didn’t made it in. Jon and I eat out so frequently that on vacation having a big meal out every night isn’t really a priority for us. We like to have a few restaurants picked out and then eat on the go or save room for desserts. As you can see there’s no shortage of good food on Nantucket, just make sure you make your reservations in advance. Hope you enjoyed part one of my Nantucket series!
