Beach Road | Martha’s Vineyard

While spending time on Martha’s Vineyard this summer, we checked out the newly opened Beach Road, the second restaurant by the folks that brought State Road to the island.  Islanders and visitors alike have long enjoyed the famed West Tisbury, State Road.  This summer, anticipation of their second restaurant, Beach Road in Vineyard Haven, buzzed through the island. Will this restaurant make the cut or will it settle for supporting cast member?

When you do one thing really well, the question always exists as to whether or not you should do another? There is a danger of course, that the second may pale in comparison. This is not the case for the “Road” restaurants. Beach Road opened its doors with a similar refined casual ambiance as diners have come to expect at State Road, only it stars its own play on what summer feels like on Martha’s Vineyard.

Walking into the large main room of the restaurant set the stage for each guest placing them in the dining room of their dreams, with views of the green grass and calm lagoon just beyond.  In the screened-in porch a family sized table can seat 12 beneath a stunning chandelier made of glass and rope with candles placed in sand down the center of the table, essentials for dining by the sea.

Beach Road’s menu is unexpected from the onset. There is no distinction between starters and main courses.  The options vary from schnitzel and tofu to succotash to sausage.  It’s a succinct island menu with casual items such as lobster rolls and hot dogs and more elegant selections as the seafood tower and duck terrine.  The lobster rolls are not to be missed, done two ways, “up island” (warm) and “down island” (cold) you can’t make a bad choice.  Also not to be missed are the Chilmark Oysters, the best on the island. A special note should be made that while Beach Road does not have a separate children’s menu, they were quite accomodatating with substitutions where possible to meet the particular requests kids can make.

Beyond the food menu, Beach Road has creatively mastered the wine cocktails mixing up fresh seasonal cocktails given the limitations of Vineyard Haven’s no liquor laws. Try the “Summer’s End” with sake or the “Fall in a Glass” with reisling, apple, cranbery and honey. A new trend debuting on the restaurant menus are mocktails. Beach Road’s mixologist was equally inventive with non-alcholic flavor combinations such as sour cherry, tarragon, and fevertree seltzer in the “Seventy Five & Sunny.”

Open year-round, Beach Road emulates the unparalleled feeling on the island of a haute cuisine and understated beauty and is truly a sequel well done. Bookmark this one for your next trip to Martha’s Vineyard.  79 Beach Road | Vineyard Haven, MA