Straight Wharf

Reserve

Straight Wharf Review

This loftlike restaurant with harborside deck has enjoyed legendary status since the mid-'70s, when chef Marion Morash used to get a helping hand from culinary buddy Julia Child. The young couple who took over in 2006—Gabriel Frasca and Amanda Lydon—were fast-rising stars on the Boston restaurant scene, but their approach here is the antithesis of flashy. If anything, they have lent this venerable institution a more barefoot air, appropriate to the place and season—hurricane lamps lend a soft glow to well-spaced tables lined with butcher paper; dish towels serve as napkins. Intense champions of local produce and catches, Frasca and Lydon concoct stellar dishes like lobster-stuffed zucchini flowers with saffron-tomato vinaigrette, and line-caught swordfish in a vaguely Moroccan melange of golden raisins, pine nuts, and mint. Everything from cuisine to service entrances, and the price—for Nantucket—is right. If you'd like a preview, try the less costly café menu at the adjoining bar—provided you can get in.