Home away from home...

Martha's Vineyard.

If you ever catch me aimlessly staring into space with a happy and quiet look on my face, i'm probably day dreaming about Martha's Vineyard. Every summer since i was a teenage my family has been making the (pleasant) trek from New York and New Jersey up to the Vineyard and every summer we are magically transported to our "happy place" where the biggest problem we face is should we have oysters for lunch and lobster for dinner or vice versa.

We stay in Edgartown and for those of you who haven't had the pleasure it's like Martha Stewart, J. McLaughlin and Ralph Lauren designed a street in Disney World exclusively for the Kennedy's. It's lovely and quaint and quintessentially New England...complete with white picket fences and more fresh hydrangeas than you can shake a polo shirt & docksiders at.

Anyway...let's narrow the discussion to food. And i'll try to be brief.

Atria: Atria is our favorite restaurant on the island. We like to reserve it for special occasions (isn't everyday on the vineyard?!?) but we always go at least once. The service is fantastic and the ambiance is absolutely lovely. The food is...excellent for outside of NYC. Inside of NYC, it's like Gotham Bar & Grill's slightly less good sibling. Either way, great wine list (Duckhorn Merlot yum!) and this is one of those rare occasions when I always have appetizer, entree and dessert because it's just that yummy.

Atlantic: For some reason, despite the horrible service (and believe me the service will be bad), we keep coming back here. Probably because it's so damn pleasant to sit and eat and drink and watch the boats that you don't even mind that your Russian waiter forgot to order your entree and "wait, you wanted your appetizer before dessert?"... It is just lovely sitting there and the food (when it finally comes) is pretty good. Be careful though...on weekend nights it turns into the closest thing to a night club that you're gonna get on this sleepy island. I recommend the Watermelon & Feta salad and my sister loves the Tomato soup that comes with a grilled cheese (that isn't on the menu).

Larsens/Menemsha Fish Markets: The great family rivalry has created a great dinning experience for us. We frequent the neighboring fish markets several times during our stay for lunch on the docks. And this is what I recommend: Get your lobster bisque and hot lobster roll (no mayo, just clarified butter on the side) from Menemsha and get your oysters and clams from Larsens. There isn't much to complain about when you're eating the freshest seafood only steps away from the waters it came from.

Ahhh...I'm happy just reminiscing.