If You Know Chapoquoit Grill You Know This Must Be the Place
Driving through the villages of West Falmouth and North Falmouth, you’re treated to some of the prettiest views as you pass harbors, coves, and inlets revealed seemingly around every bend. Situated along West Falmouth Highway (Route 28A), a once trend-setting restaurant has comfortably settled into its role as a beloved destination of the Cape Cod dining scene, and it continues to thrive thirty years on: Chapoquoit Grill, or as devotees lovingly refer to it, “Chappy”.
Prior to opening Chappy, John Reid was part owner of both The Courtyard Restaurant, down the road in Cataumet, and The Nimrod Restaurant across town. After the development where The Courtyard Restaurant is located went bankrupt (bringing The Courtyard down with it), John extricated himself from The Nimrod as well. As fate would have it, the following year a property in the quiet village of West Falmouth became available. The history of the property was checkered at best, dating back to the mid 1970s. Seven different incarnations of restaurants, bars, and even one disco called 410 Route 28A home before Reid and his partners Bob Cook and Roger Warwick took over. Having bought out Warwick in the early 2000s, and losing Cook, who John refers to as his brother and friend, to melanoma some years later, Reid continues to withstand all the challenges restaurant ownership brings. His slender 75-year-old frame and quick laugh show no signs of wear.
Changing customers’ expectations can be a tough row to hoe, and that first year saw Chappy trying to do just that when it came to its menu. “When we started in ’93, everybody had a burger, a pasta dish, fish and chips, a broiled cod, and a club sandwich, “ Reid recalls. Outside of a few high-end establishments, restaurants generally offered a typical menu designed for the Cape Cod tourist. “Nobody was doing anything unique and with any imagination.” Having worked in the Cape restaurant industry since the 1970s, Reid certainly had the institutional knowledge of how things were for many years around here. The creativity we find on menus today is thanks, in large part, to restaurateurs like John who strived to offer more. “The only thing on the menu that was fried was the calamari,” he points out. “We didn’t even put a burger and fries on the menu until fifteen years ago.” He goes on to recall the issues some diners had back in those early days. “We were the first to offer à la carte salads and some people just couldn’t believe it. They were $1.75 to $2.25, and they were better than anything you’d find around.” With the cost came a superior salad that was made to order and pre-dressed. “We weren’t going to be like one of those places that made a bunch of salads at 4 o’clock, and stick ‘em in the fridge. Then, put a big plop of dressing on them, and you’d have to mix them yourself and lettuce is falling out of the bowl, and where one piece of lettuce is dry, and another is drenched,” he laughs. John remembers one woman questioning if they had fish and chips on the menu. John is still chuckling as he says, “I said, ‘unfortunately we don’t, but there are seventy-five other restaurants in town, and a great majority have fish and chips.’” Slowly, diners began to appreciate the different way Chappy was doing things. “We were the first to offer a real wine list,” he claims. “We put in a gas system that keeps the wine fresh, and we were able to offer twenty wines.” Before that, choices were simply red or white. “You’d be lucky to find a rosé,” he grins.
Today’s menu is overseen by executive chef Clancy Heicher who came on board in 2017 as only the second chef to run Chapoquoit Grill’s kitchen. “Carl Bohnert was our first chef and he had to step aside for health reasons,” John explains. Heicher brings over twenty years’ experience cheffing in kitchens from Jacksonville, Florida to Whitefish, Montana and the Cape. One stop was to help instruct tomorrow’s chefs at Upper Cape Technical High School in Bourne. Clancy’s encouraging demeanor has helped those around him grow throughout the years. “I’ve had ten sous chefs under me go on to become executive chefs,” he says. “I must be doing something right,” he adds with a laugh.
The main menu is consice and filled with favorite dishes of the loyal following Chappy enjoys. Guests can’t wait to savor them as evidenced by the line forming outside the front door before its 5 pm opening five nights a week. The evening begins with house-made breads, Italian white and focaccia, made fresh every day. The focaccia returns as part of the not-to-be-missed Warm Goat Cheese Salad where the cheese and bread are toasted in the wood-fired brick oven before being added to the balsamic and oil drizzled arugula. The salads feature locally sourced greens from Coonamessett Farms, a short drive away, when in season. The appetizer listing features the polenta-encrusted Fried Calamari, which has been a mainstay for all these years; and the Chappy Little Necks are prepared Portuguese style and served in a lightly spicy tomato sauce with white wine, onion, garlic, and ham. Familiar pasta dishes are available as appetizer and dinner portions. Shrimp Scampi and Manicotti are staples as is the Penne á la Vodka with a tomato cream sauce punched up with red pepper flakes, onion and a splash of vodka. With five additions available for the pasta dishes, the handmade meatballs, with their unique blend of flavors, including a touch of Worcestershire, soy, and yellow mustard, complete several of the pasta dishes perfectly, particularly the Penne á la Vodka. The primary use of the brick oven is to turn out thin crust, New Haven-style pizza – another long-held favorite of the crowd. The line-up of eight different combinations is augmented by the nearly thirty ingredients available to craft your own pie.
And to make decisions almost impossible, the frequently changing list of menu additions offers as many appetizers and almost as many inventive entrées as the main menu. On a recent visit, the Roasted Cauliflower with a very light lemon butter sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan and fresh herbs was a great share for the table, as was the Asian-influenced Grilled Shrimp, tossed in a peanut sauce and sesame seeds, over a crunchy Asian slaw.
The menu additions include a salad with changing ingredients that almost always include fresh greens tossed in an unusual vinaigrette along with a fruit, a nut and a cheese. On our visit, Coonamessett Farms mixed greens with Granny Smith apples, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts and Stilton blue cheese tied nicely together with a maple walnut vinaigrette. There is just something magical that happens when you pull just the right fruit(s), nut, and cheese together for a salad. It’s the thought and care a kitchen puts into their salads that lets you know you’re in good hands for the rest of your choices that evening.
The special entrées feature familiar proteins in ever-changing preparations. This night, the tuna is rubbed with a Mediterranean spice blend, seared perfectly, and served rare with lemon butter and basil oil which enhances yet never overshadows. The same can be said for the red wine demi-glace atop – and the mushroom and truffle risotto cake under – the New York Strip Steak, or the Statler Chicken Cacciatore white wine tomato sauce with mixed mushrooms and colorful peppers over fresh herbed fettuccine. All are balanced properly to let the star protein shine. As John points out, “With high quality ingredients, you don’t want or need to add a lot of flavors. Keep it simple.” The salmon is another example of this. Simply resting on a bed of celeriac purée with wilted spinach, the salmon has the most perfect crispy sear.
Dessert is the course that will leave its lasting impression, all made in-house by Chappy’s baker, Laurie Finlayson, in the morning before the rest of the staff arrives. For many, the Key Lime Pie is the finest to be found. The tartness isn’t overpowering as it’s smoothed out by the fresh dollop of whipped cream. Closely guarded family secret, perhaps? “The recipe’s on the back of every bottle of Nellie & Joe’s Key Lime Juice!” John laughs. All right, what about the irresistible chocolate cake? The dense cake which gives the illusion of being incredibly sweet is, in fact, refreshingly subtle, allowing you to enjoy the whole slice (if you didn’t have to share with others). The cake is served cold with a scoop of ice cream. Word has it that it’s John’s grandmother’s recipe. When pressed on the subject, John chuckles, “My grandparents lived in Springfield, Vermont, and we’d go visit them. She’d make this cake, keep it in the ice box, and we’d just go in and slice off a piece when we wanted it.” She got the recipe out of the Springfield Baptist Church’s cookbook from 1927. So, next time you’re relishing Chappy’s chocolate cake, remember that you’re enjoying a recipe nearly one hundred years old! The desserts and breads have become so popular, that Chapoquoit Grill offers them for purchase on their website.
The most astonishing part of the menu? You won’t find an entrée over $40. As food prices have increased considerably over the past few years, value has become more of a factor in people’s decision making when it comes to where to dine. With the quality and creativity offered, it’s quite remarkable to see such reasonable prices on a menu today.
Possibly the special sauce of the entire operation at Chapoquoit Grill, other than wonderfully crafted menus and the thoughtfully assembled wine list of approachable varietals, is the staff of Chappy itself. Heat and pressure can turn coal into diamonds over time. In the restaurant world, those two forces can turn a collection of people into a family. You can tell a great deal about an establishment by how its staff is treated. To discern the treatment, just look at the longevity. At Chappy, staff such as Sara Pratt have been working there for nearly as long as the doors have been open. “Sarah started with us in ’94,” John says. Clancy’s current core kitchen staff of eight have been working together for three years, with Dan Kingsley topping the seniority list at 27 years. Kathy McEvoy-Allen could be the most recognizable face at Chappy, as she has expertly worked the bar for twenty-eight of the thirty years the lights have been on. Customers, not even regulars mind you, can sidle up to her bar after years away, and she remembers their drinks of choice. She slides in and out of the multiple conversations happening at any time while tending to the dining and drinking needs of all. Overseeing the operation for Reid is Nicole Jacoby who deftly handles things with an unflappable way about her that puts everyone at ease. “We don’t have titles here,” John points out, and then begins to chuckle. “But she’s the boss.”
Dining at the bar is prized real estate at Chappy. For the dining room (or booths in the lounge), there are no reservations. Yet, it’s not necessarily first come, first served. In another unique twist Chappy started decades ago, they offer call ahead seating. For instance, the wait is only ten minutes and you’re a half hour away? Simple. Call back a short time later when the wait is a little longer and it should time out for you to arrive, grab a drink at the bar, then be brought right to your table.
The staff at Chappy has now gone multi-generational. Working the take-out side of the operation, Kathy’s 23-year-old daughter June states, “My mom’s been working here longer than I’ve been alive.” She then points to the lounge, “She had my baby shower right over there.” This was June’s first job at 14 years old, and she has stayed through her college career and currently as she decides on a future path. She’s not alone. “We’ve had some great, great kids come through here,” John claims. “It’s been fun to watch them grow up here, and now they’re coming back with families of their own.” The legacy of Chappy was on full display when John closed the restaurant on a Friday night to host the reception following Bob Cook’s funeral. Staff and customers from years past gathered to share stories and hugs.
For both the staff and guests alike, Chapoquoit Grill is more than a place to turn for a wonderful meal complemented by exceptional service. It’s the place we go when a celebration is in order, when we need to hold each other up in times of grief, when we’re flying solo and simply want to grab a bite at the bar, or even for the occasional surprise wedding proposal. Chappy must be the place.
Along with being co-publisher of Edible Cape Cod with his wife Cori, Larry Egan is a New England Associated Press award-winning writer and commentator and host of the talk show The Handyman Hotline on Saturdays from 1-3 pm on 95.1 WXTK-FM. He can be found most afternoons on the trails of Cape Cod being worn out by their Portuguese Water Dog, Archie.
Chapoquoit Grill
410 West Falmouth Highway (Route 28A), West Falmouth
508-540-7794
chapoquoitgrillwestfalmouth.com
