Chatham Restaurants-Del Mar

Paula & Tim Miller
The Carriage House Inn

Restaurant Review – Great Deal and Good Food at Del Mar Restaurant, formerly Roo Bar’s of Chatham

Housed in a former Friendly’s building on Main Street in Chatham, Del Mar is the newest restaurant incarnation at this convenient location. Just a 5 minute drive from the Carriage House Inn, Del Mar offers up a wonderfully eclectic menu and contemporary atmosphere. The main part of the restaurant has a comfortable bar to eat and /or have a beverage. The front part of the space is all big comfortable half round booths. There is also table seating opposite the booths. In the summer they have a large covered area which probably doubles the size of the restaurant and is great for large parties.

We have loved the fabulous selection of appetizers and wood fired pizzas for a quick delicious meal for months. Our all time favorite appetizer is the Oysters Rockefeller-fire roasted with bacon, spinach and Sambuca cream sauce- I think it’s the Sambucca cream sauce that makes them taste so great! What brought us here this time is the remarkable prix fixe deal they have going on now. For 18.00 – 20.00 you get a 3 course meal with a choice of soup or one of the several salads, entrée and dessert. This menu features nice selections such as Pan Roasted Salmon, Seared Tuna Au Poivre and Herb Roasted Chicken, and the entrees changes nightly.

We tried the white bean and escarole soup and Caesar Salad for starters. Both were very good and a good size. For entrées we chose the Mac and Cheese with pancetta and grape tomatoes. This was made with orrechiette pasta, fresh herbs and a nice amount of toasted breadcrumbs. It was homey, comforting and delicious. Paula had the pan roasted salmon on top of a grilled vegetable Israeli cous cous salad with arugula and lemon vinaigrette. For dessert we had a chocolate torte with raspberry sauce and the chocolate chip cannoli both were delicious and rich. All in all Del Mar is wonderful food for an even better price, and it’s currently open 7 days a week for dinner.

Cape Cod's Secret Beach

Paula & Tim Miller
The Carriage House Inn

Bound Brook – Wellfleet’s Secret Beach

After reading an article in Coastal Living Magazine on secret beaches around the US, we began telling our adventurous guests about this spot. The few souls who found it would come back expounding on how beautiful the beach and dunes are. We did not have a chance to find the beach for ourselves until this week (October) and boy what an unbelievable slice of the Cape. Located down almost a mile of dirt and sand road on the Cape Cod Bay side of Wellfleet, Bound Brook beach is not as convenient as the other National Seashore beaches but so worth the trip due to the natural beauty, isolation, and it’s free!

It isn’t marked by the large brown and cream signs of the other beaches in the National Seashore so you definitely need a good map-we can supply one. The only sign is a small one pointing the way to the Atwood Higgins House. It looks as if you are going down a private road but you are not, just stay the course until you get to a small sand parking lot with room for about 5 or 6 cars.

Looming in front of you are 50 foot high dunes. You can hear the distant sound of waves. Hike up over the two hundred yard stretch of dunes, and from the top of the dunes and the view is deep blue sea, dunes and beach that stretches for what seems like miles. You get a great view of Provincetown to the North miles off in the distance with the spire of the Pilgrim Monument. We settled down in one of the hollows of the dunes, slightly protected from the breeze but still a fabulous view of beach and water and we dozed and read books for the entire afternoon. There are few footprints in the sand just the circular etchings of the dune grass and the clean smell of an ocean breeze. The entire time we were there we never spied another human being. When you get hungry you can head to Wellfleet and eat at some of the best restaurants on the Cape, the Wicked Oyster and Mac’s on the harbor! If this Secret Beach is of interest to you ask us when you arrive and we will show you just how to find beach paradise!