In This Issue

Brant Point Grill -
A Feast for All the Senses

The gentle touch of a sea breeze...faint harbor sounds mixing with quiet conversation...beautiful views of the boats bobbing in the blue harbor waters...enticing aromas of seafood and steaks and rich sauces and seasonings...the anticipation of a tasty meal in a gorgeous setting...dinner at the Brant Point Grill is a feast for the senses!

Tucked behind the White Elephant Hotel on Easton Street (on the side overlooking the harbor!), The Brant Point Grill offers three distinctly different and appealing options.  The indoor dining room is spacious with an old-style elegance and wall of windows that affords a sensational view of the harbor in air-conditioned comfort.  It’s a beautiful room for celebrations and is popular for special occasions.  The Brant Point Grill Lounge is a terrific spot to meet for cocktails (try their Easton Street Martini or their Red Rob Roy).  Cozy and clubby yet roomy enough for all your friends, this is a favorite among residents and visitors.  They serve a bar menu from 3 to 11 pm featuring appetizers, seafood, salads, and burgers, and Sunday and Monday evenings from 8 to 10:30 pm, The Bob Lehman Trio performs. 

Our Brant Point Grill favorite is their Harborside Terrace.  Sheltered from unexpected weather, the wide deck provides a stunning setting for fine alfresco dining.  This season they’ve replaced the white linen with placemats, giving the terrace a more casual ambiance.  We look forward to Friday afternoons from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, when Spanky’s Raw Bar is a featured event.

Frederick Bisaillon is back for his second season as executive chef, and we’re pleased to report that he’s kept up his high standards and has added to the “Creativities” section of his menu.  Chef Bisaillon spent time this winter refining some preparations, testing new recipes, and experimenting.  The three types of sausage that appear on the menus (breakfast, brunch, lunch, bar, and dinner) are made in-house, as are the fresh pastas.  Freshness is key at Brant Point Grill—Chef Bisaillon demands it and it is a hallmark of the top notch dishes he prepares and serves. 

The waitstaff is liaison between the guests and the kitchen, and staff at the Brant Point Grill do their jobs with relaxed assurance and expertise.  They work together to provide attentive service without hovering.  Count yourself particularly lucky if you have Christina or Larry as your server.  Sommelier Jordan Bertram completes the team, offering wine pairings to enhance your enjoyment of Chef Bisaillon’s cuisine.

Our recent dinner began with an assortment of freshly baked breads—jalapeno corn bread, herb focaccia, and lavash—that were so good they briefly distracted us from the task at hand. 
The summer dinner selections at Brant Point Grill offer a delightful range of appetizers:  meats and seafood, chowder and salads, some hot and most chilled. 

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	We cannot give enough praise to Bisaillon’s Crisp Fried Calamari—even our team member who often refers to calamari as “bait” came back for more.  The calamari is very tender and the breading crisp, as promised, but also light and not at all greasy.  Tossed in with the calamari are battered and fried rings of hot cherry peppers and slices of zucchini.  The final crowning touch is a delicious citrus aioli provided for dipping.  (Suggested wine pairing: Botani Muscatel Seco – Almachar, Spain)
	We were also delighted with the exquisite Wagyu Beef Carpaccio.  The beef is beautifully presented, sliced thick enough to taste and thin enough to be delicate.  The temperature was ideal and tasty caper lemon oil and grilled marinated artichoke hearts joined the standard accompaniments of capers, red onion, and shaved romano.   (Suggested wine pairing: Billecart Salmon Brut Rose – Champagne, France)
	The seafood counterpart to the carpaccio is Chef Bisaillon’s bracingly fresh Ahi Tuna Tartar.  A few flecks of sea salt and a touch of citrus are all the chef adds to the tuna and all that it needs, though we did enjoy the very thin potato crisps served alongside.  (Suggested wine pairing: Dagueneau, Pur Sang - Pouilly Fume, France)
	We were delighted to discover Chef Bisaillon’s New England Clam Chowder is still on the menu, and it is still the best we’ve had!  Creamy but not too thick, his chowder has an impressive depth of flavor.  It’s full of clams, potato, onion, celery, and bacon, all diced very small so no single ingredient dominates.  A single fried whole belly clam is the crunchy garnish.
	To really savor summer sunshine, order the Heirloom Tomatoes.  Sliced from a “toy box” mix, each refreshing salad is likely to include a slightly different assortment:  zebra tomatoes, yellow, dark red, green, or orange.  Each slice has a subtly different flavor, and all consort well with the paper-thin slices of red onion, fresh mozzarella, drizzles of pesto, and artichoke hearts.   (Suggested wine pairing: Joh. Jos. Prüm Rielsing Spätlese - Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany)
You would expect the island’s premier steakhouse to have an impressive selection of steaks, and The Brant Point Grill won’t let you down!  Come hungry, because everything you’ve heard about the generous portions is true, from their 12-ounce Prime New York Strip to their 16-ounce FireCone Chicken Breast Chop.
	We started out with the Rocky Mountain Lamb, four beautifully tender chops, deliciously charred on the edges and a perfect medium rare inside.  Presentation is simple: a bright smear of roasted red pepper puree, mellow roasted elephant garlic, and a marrow gratin.  (Suggested wine pairing: Jack Larkin Merlot - Napa, California)
	Chef Bisaillon has managed to create a dish that excites all five senses with his Balsamic Sizzling Skirt Steak: you hear the sizzle as it’s brought to table, see the lucious platter of food and inhale the aromas, and at last you enjoy the taste and mouthfeel of the steak with its amazing sauce of fig, red wine, and balsamic vinegar that actually finishes reducing on the hot platter in front of you.  The sweet and tangy sauce highlights the savory beef and the roasted cabbage and asparagus are ideal accompaniments.  (Suggested wine pairing: Lost Highway Project Shiraz - Mclaren Vale, Australia)
	You can embellish any of the entrees from a list of eight sauces and eight side dishes.  The Brandy Peppercorn sauce is tasty, and we found the Mango Mint Chutney to be particularly good with the lamb, but none of the other sauces quite lived up to the sensational Roasted Tomato Bearnaise!  We tried it on everything and loved every bite. We were disappointed to see the Forrest Mushrooms are no longer offered as a side dish, but one bite of the Artichoke Gratin and we forgot our former favorite!  The Onion Rings and the Crispy Fries are classic, as are the Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  We very much enjoyed the BPG Baked Beans, which the chef created for Stephen Karp based on a dish his grandmother made that he remembered with great fondness.  “It took three tries to get it just right,” he recounted.
	Brant Point Grill serves an eye-popping Two Pound Lobster, boiled or grilled (opt for the grilled!), but we sampled and were delighted with Chef Bisaillon’s Free Form Lobster Ravioli.  Sheets of housemade pasta are layered with moist lobster meat, sweet parsnip puree, the same intensely flavored (and intensely good) lobster bisque that we adored on the halibut, and a bit of gremolta to brighten the mix.  This is a dish of vivid and well balanced flavor and a superb way to enjoy lobster!  (Suggested wine pairing: Gaja, Rossj Bass Chardonnay – Langhe, Italy)
	Halibut is not a sexy fish, but prepared as Chef Bisaillon does it, the Pan Seared Halibut is the star of the menu.  The huge halibut steak is perfectly seasoned and finished in the oven after the exterior is seared golden brown.  The fish is presented on a bed of saffron scented orzo studded with bits of lobster and chunks of artichoke and is surrounded by a luscious pool of rich lobster bisque with four succulent lobster claws.  Halibut never had it so good!    (Suggested wine pairing: Peter Michael, Belle Cote Chardonnay - Knights Valley California)
	You might want to make reservations to spend two evenings at Brant Point Grill:  one for dinner and one for dessert.  The desserts by Pastry Chef Marcia Bruce are well worth the extra trip (not to mention the array of after dinner drinks, cognacs, port, sherry, espresso, and cappuccino).  Bruce’s desserts are comfort food with sophisticated twists.  Our favorite is Chef Bruce’s Cinnamon Pull-a-Part—an extra large sticky bun, served warm with cinnamon ice cream melting lusciously over the top.
	There’s a sensational Peach Melba Cobbler topped with a crunchy topping, raspberry coulis, and vanilla ice cream.
	The Steakhouse Chocolate Cake is three layers of incredibly moist dark chocolate cake and creamy milk chocolate icing served in a slice so large it was daunting (somehow we managed to polish it off).
	There is a trio of bite-sized Whoopie Pies in very grown-up flavors: red velvet, vanilla caramel, and chocolate.

Any day now Chef Bisaillon is expecting to add to his menu a 22-ounce prime dry aged ribeye from Allen Brothers.  We’re as excited as he is (almost) and we’re already planning our next visit to Brant Point Grill!

Brant Point Grill at the White Elephant - Easton Street

www.BrantPointGrill.com
Reservations suggested:  508-325-1320
Breakfast served 8 to 11 a.m. • Sunday Brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Lunch daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.  •  Bar Menu served from 3 to 11 p.m.
Dinner nightly from 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Dinner entrees range in price from $15 to $39
Full Bar  •  Indoor & Outdoor Dining  •  Handicap Access  •  Major Credit Cards