Zephrus

Zephrus was a nice find on Martha's Vineyard, more sophisticated than most restaurants in a tourist area and open all year for the locals, who indeed like to eat well. The cookware shop in Vineyard Haven was enviable by any standard, and services the local population, who go into semi retirement when the tourists leave in early Fall. Seems they like to cook in their collective spare time. I can relate to that. The decor is kitchy modern, with small hand carved and painted fish hanging about from the ceiling.

I enjoyed the the way they served their bread in a paper cone even more than I enjoyed the bread. The clam chowder was creamy and tasty, but thin with few chunks, if any, so I felt obligated to add the oyster crackers just for the visual impact of the photo. I like oyster crackers, so it was not just for show, but texture too.

Pasta with mussels was a nice light dish, again with a thin but tasty sauce that I enjoyed. I did feel that more pasta would have been a good idea for this dish, since it was a main course.

The best selection of the evening had to be the crab cakes, which were more balls than cakes. They were crispy on the outside, delectable on the inside and most importantly, there were not a lot of "filler" ingredients. The crab was the star of this preparation and there were 4 "cakes" on the plate, with a generous serving of a mixed green salad. I admit that the dessert of Apple Crumble a La Mode had me swooning at the first bite and groaning at the last. That portion was just too generous and filled the soup size bowl to the brim.

9 Main St
Vineyard Haven
MA 02568
(508)-693-3416