Best Lobster Roll in Woods Hole

Quick's Hole is known for its wicked fresh lobster roll, burritos and tacos. The newest restaurant entry in busy Woods Hole, this spot is committed to serving great food made with local ingredients -- seasonal, family-farmed, fresh from local waters, all natural, healthy and green.

Park your bike at the end of the Shining Sea bike path and enjoy a Cape Cod burrito and beer combo. Come at night for our seasonally-inspired Tapas menu paired with organic wines selected by our award-winning chef. Grab a Yellowfin Tuna BLT burrito with a sangria and homemade pico de gallo with hot chips. Sit on the deck and watch the sunset over Woods Hole harbor.

We opened late last season as it took longer than expected to make the changes we planned to the old "Naked Lobster." This year we flew in the face of the recession and expanded again, adding room for actual tables. We will be open starting next weekend for the summer season.

What does "wicked fresh" mean to us? Live, Love, Laugh and Eat Local! Learn more at www.quicksholewickedfresh.com.

The Landfall

I love the Landfall Restaurant.

Perched right on the edge of the Atlantic with french doors across the front, it sits like a dock on the cusp of Woods Hole harbor. From here, the ferries come and go like stately matrons marching back and forth across Vineyard Sound. Watch the gulls, hear the tinkle of a child's laughter as the boat pulls away, sit back with a cold brew as the crowds fight their way onto the Vineyard.

You see, the locals know that there is no rush to get out there. That half the fun is the process and if you miss this boat, another one leaves in a half hour so why not enjoy the breeze for a few extra minutes? The room is littered with lobster pots hung from the rafters and staffed by the college kid you wish you once were -- bright-eyed, optimistic and efficient.

The Landfall is such an institution that they hold reunions of their summer staff each year and scores of former employees now masters-of-the-universe show up for one more Cape Codder on the edge of the world. This is one of the few spots on the East Coast where the sun sets over the water (think about it, setting in the west usually means over land if you are on the Atlantic).

When hurricanes come, the owners just take the french doors off, clear everything out and wait for the tidal surge to wash through the restaurant. That's how close this place is to the water.

There is a webcam at the end of the dock here, looking out at Nonamesset Island. In the spring there's a banner announcing the restaurant's opening day. I like to log on just to see if it's raining, or if the ferry is pulling out. Or some brave spring fisherman is heading out from the Eel Pond. Or a new vessel has docked at WHOI. For me it's a rite of spring to start thinking about what is happening in WoHo, who is there, what's going on and when will I get to the Landfall for the baked scrod and a pinot grigio?

Somehow, I suspect, I am not the only one who counts on this webcam to bridge me to the actual summer. Check it out on www.woodshole.com.

WoHo's Colorful History

This little town is completely surrounded by water.

Woods Hole is one of the few good harbors on Cape Cod -- it was a whaling port like Nantucket back in Melville's time. In the 1860s, the peninsula was developed as a fertilizer factory. Shipping merchants from Boston were looking for a commodity to fill empty ships on the journey back from China. They settled on bird dung from a South Pacific island. When mixed with fish scraps, I guess the lime was an effective agricultural aid (is that organic?). This fine brew was shipped by railroad out of Woods Hole. I bet that smelled great on hot days.

Anyway, eventually the company literally emptied all the bird guano from their island, and the Woods Hole site was abandoned in 1889. So what happens to old factory land in America? Build a resort, of course! The thin strip was renamed "Penzance Point" (that sounds better than, say, Former Guano Factory:) Smack in the middle of the Gilded Age, (think "Gatsby"), up went Newport-style mansions. Most of these shingle-style cottages are still here, behemoths perched on the edge of the sea with spectacular water views with the great grandkids of their builders still racing to Hadley Harbor in 12-footers.

Around this time, a strong-minded local decided to improve the sound of things by renaming the town, "Woods Holl." This had "a sylvan and romantic flavor...suggest(ing) moonlit glades and flowery dells" according to the New York Times in 1899 -- and was better than the somewhat crass "Hole," I guess. Perhaps the locals were hoping to disassociate themselves with the memory of a factory town that smelled like bird *@#%. But whatever the reason, the affectation did not stick for long. People couldn't spell it or say it, letters to the post office were lost and with little fanfare, the name was changed back.

So here we are now, living in this little slice of heaven that I call WoHo. It's like SoHo, only cooler (literally -- there is always a breeze). I wonder what it would take to get that name on the post office door...

Spring has come to WoHo

I like to call it WoHo. And when spring actually arrives, watch out 'cause it's really gorgeous. When you glide into the ferry landing from Martha's Vineyard, you can see the inn commanding the harbor in all her grey-blue shingled glory. Water views! I love being in the middle of everything but also able to meditate on the water from my room.

In WoHo this time of year, everyone is sweeping their stoops and shaking off the winter blues to get ready for the summer season. I saw Donny Estes of the famous Landfall Restaurant -- he opened a few weeks ago offering customers the best waterfront view in town. And my friend Erik Gura who runs "Pie in the Sky" was puttering behind the counter even though he sliced his hand fixing his expresso machine last week.

At the inn, we have been closed for a few weeks to finish some construction on the ground floor. Our incredible construction partners (Lauren, Dan, Kat you rock) have been hustling to get it all done. We put in a new sprinkler system and upgraded all the walls and ceilings to "2-hour fire ratings" which means our old Victorian is now updated to current building code which is pretty darn cool. Born in 1878, made modern in 2008.

We have a new T-shirt shop (Cape Cod Sweats) opening on the ground floor in a few days, and we are rushing to get our burrito bar/restaurant called "Quick's Hole, wicked fresh" open by Memorial Day. More to come on that subject.

But the weather! Can I wax rhapsodic for a minute? It's sunny, not too hot, gentle breeze off the still wintery waters. So crisp and clear, it looks like you can reach out and grab the Vineyard. Like, who-needs-the-ferry-I'll-swim, kinda clear.

I took my bike out of the basement and rolled up the Shining Sea bike path to where the woods melt behind you and Surf Beach yawns out like a crescent. I had to stop and just gape, it was so gorgeous. I turned back and cycled straight to "Pie" -- in WoHo, a 20 minute ride earns a latte and popover.