Serious Eats
Straight Wharf Fish Store: Nantucket's Best-Kept Lunch Secret
So often, the key to the perfect meal is simplicity.
On Nantucket Island, the Straight Wharf Fish Store is a local's one-stop shop for all things aquatic: lobsters, scallops, and cod just out of the waters outside. Resident fishmaster Walter (with a Red Sox cap on and a matching accent) supplies the freshest of the day’s catch to professional and amateur chefs alike. But he doesn’t just sell by the pound—he’ll fry you lunch right there on the dock.
Soft shell crab sandwich; fish sandwich.
The soft shell crab sandwich:
1. Procure crab. 2. Fry in pan. 3. Put on bun.
Or the radically different fish sandwich:
1. Fillet fish, usually cod. 2. Fry in pan. 3. Put on bun.
Tuna sandwich, swordfish sandwich—you get the idea. On a butter-toasted roll, with a glob of homemade tartar sauce and a few salty chips, it’s the best lunch in town. Especially when enjoyed on the dockside picnic tables right out the door. Just watch out for the seagulls. (They get mean when jealous.)
Straight Wharf Fish Store
4 Harbor Square, Nantucket MA 02554 (map)
508-228-1095