We had to ditch plans for the beach when we heard the constant rain pouring down as we dozed this morning. But Jack’s Uncle Grady arrived just in time for a big lunch at Bayside, just off of Horseneck Beach. Bayside is an officially “green” restaurant certified by the Green Restaurant Association.
The greenness in evidence took the form of compostable soda straws and many local ingredients, including a range of seafood from lobster and crabs to cod and striped bass (which, around here, is called striper, and further down the East Coast, in Maryland, where we lived for a short while, is called rockfish). The local beer menu offered many choices; I had an IPA made on Martha’s Vineyard by Offshore Ale Company: it was amber and hoppy, as I like it.
IPA & chowdah
We quickly polished off a plate of fried calamari topped with spicy banana peppers. I tried the Rhode Island style, brothy quahog chowder, but remain a fan of “New England” chowder, with its cream and whole clams.
Grady and I ordered the lobster rolls, which in normative New England parlance means a warm, limp hotdog bun lined with a lettuce leaf, and a pile of lobster chunks and diced celery held together with a dollop of mayonnaise. Bayside serves a pared down version which gives the consumer more control (in the manner of the Starbucksification of to-go food consumption) and evokes the simplicity of “sustainable” eating. The bun lined with lettuce holds a generous heap of lobster meat, and a little dish of mayonnaise or melted butter sits on the side. I liked the lobster, of course, but missed the celery and mixed-up-edness of a traditional roll.
Also on the table were fried clams, a salmon-asparagus wrap, and a gingery salmon salad.
We were full of good food, but had seen the pies on our way in. The Bayside bakers make at least four kinds of pie every day. Today there was lemon meringue, blueberry, apple, and strawberry rhubarb.
We ordered “Indian Pudding”—a traditional New England custard made with milk, molasses, eggs, butter, and cornmeal, and seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, alspice, and cloves, and topped with a spoonful of melty vanilla ice cream—and one slice of strawberry rhubarb, which, curiously, was spiced with cardamom. Now we were really full.
My first move when we got back to the house, was to brew a big pot of strong Gorilla coffee, a bag of which Chris and Kate brought us from Brooklyn. I finished The City of Falling Angels, Jack watched the classic version of Winnie the Pooh, others took naps, Peggy baked banana bread…
A satisfying rainy day.
I also looked into green restaurant certification. There are seven areas of greenness in which a restaurant must qualify:
1. Water Effciency
2. Waste Reduction and Recycling
3. Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials
4. Sustainable Food
5. Energy
6. Disposables
7. Chemical and Pollution Reduction
For more information on this worthy cause, check out the Green Restaurant Association’s website.
The Roving Locavore 