Menemsha: A place for seafood and sunsets

On Wednesday, my newly arrived co-worker Anna -- just in from Ohio State University -- and I traveled to Menemsha for the afternoon. Menemsha is primarily a fishing community located on the western side of Martha's Vineyard -- in the Up-Island region -- and if you don't like the smell of fresh seafood, I would advise you to keep your distance. Lobsters, clams, shrimp, scallops, crab: They are all here and all in abundance. Your nose will tell you that as soon as you start walking around.

As you might expect, Menemsha has a couple of markets that sell these delicacies practically right off the boat. Larsen's Fish Market, which is the most celebrated of the bunch, sells the raw fish on one side of the store and has a little kitchen on the other side where they will cook your catch of the day. But there's no seating inside (with the lines Larsen's attracts, there's no room for tables or booths) and there's no traditional seating outside, either; if you want to eat on the spot, you have to sit on one of the crates or boxes that are set up just outside the store.

The situation is similar at Menemsha Fish Market, which has a sizable tank of live lobsters, as well as the omnipresent lobster rolls. Anna had not yet sampled a lobster roll, so she tried one and said it was delicious. I selected one of their stuffed clams, an actual clam shell (about the size of an average hand) that's been filled with a buttery mixture of minced clams and shrimp and baked. The salesperson also offered a sample of their lobster bisque, which was rich and silky smooth, exactly the sort of soup you'd like to have on a chilly December night. The Fish Market also has a lobster gazpacho on the menu, although they were out of it at the time of our visit; I definitely want to try it when I go back. After Anna and I got our food, the clerk mentioned there was seating out back, and he was technically correct: There were a few benches down by the docks, which was what seems to pass for "seating" in a Menemsha bistro.

Menemsha's other major attraction is a rather rocky beach, which is renowned for its magnificent sunsets. Let me quote this posting from the MV Obsession blog:

"It’s the sunsets... that draw many people to Menemsha. They are spectacular and it is by far the best place on Martha’s Vineyard to experience them. People come with chairs, blankets, wine, food and loved ones… or just a camera. Applause sometimes rings out as the sun disappears behind the cliffs of Aquinnah."

Anna and I could not stick around for the sunset, unfortunately. But we did spend some time on the beach, which did indeed look like a perfect place for sunbathing, particularly if you stay on the sand and don't walk out into the water, which was chilly enough to numb your toes in a matter of minutes. Near the waves, you will find rocks of all shapes and colors, some of them so exquisitely smooth and shiny you would think they had just come out of someone's rock tumbler.

Clinging to the boulders that extend out into the water is a thick, lush growth of kelp that sways gently in the current like leaves on a tree wave in the breeze. The color is an almost unearthly shade of green that looks artificial at first glance, almost like some sort of submerged Astroturf or plastic plants that have been dumped in the sea. But there's nothing phony about it, or about anything else in Menemsha, a place that is exactly what it looks like, nothing more and nothing less.