Kalliope Chute, Alex McCullough and Bob Hazard were three of the several shuckers on hand to open 1,400 Provincetown oysters.
By Doreen Leggett
A table stretched a few hundred feet on the L-shaped end of MacMillan Pier in Provincetown, draped with white linen, set with a dazzling array of plates and wine glasses. While attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, Mike Chute held the evening’s menu above the expanse to take a picture before guests were seated.
Similar long tables, filled with hundreds of people eating local fare, have been set up at ranches in Wyoming, a winery in California, an orchard in Vermont, a museum in Maine, a World Heritage site in Mexico City.
But rarely fishing docks, never in Provincetown.
“It is a place we all find really special,” said Seth Heitzenrater, chief operating officer at Outstanding in the Field.
The curated menu featured Nantucket Sound stuffed clams with sausage and oyster mushrooms, scallop crudo with flying fish roe, pickled Jonah Crab from Sandwich, Cape Cod Bay seafood cioppino, and 1400 oysters from seven Provincetown farms. Plus, local vegetables and wine from Truro Vineyards.
“The event was an elevation of the seafood bounty that is available to us,” said Chute.
The Outstanding in the Field event was brought to fruition by Mike and Kalliope Chute from Mermaid’s Menu. Chute said they talked about having the famous roving restaurant, started in 1999, at Long Point or Hatches Harbor, maybe Herring Cove, but MacMillan Wharf was most appropriate.
Darkness was beginning to fall and guests were seated enjoying cioppino, made with monkfish from the Provincetown-based F/V Donna Marie, lobster, and clams from the F/V Nemesis.
Then fortuitously enough the blue Nemesis arrived to port with a harvest of sea clams, much to the delight of the attendees.
“It was an intervention from a Higher Power,” Chute chuckled. “I choked up.”
The evening had started with oysters for guests who bought $400 tickets, which included an oyster farm tour.
Dale Gorman of Sandy Bottom Oyster was one of the farms represented. Hundreds of oysters on the half shell were displayed toward the end of the pier, next to a wood-burning stove cooking up stuffies, across from the Truro Vineyards sign offering bushels and bubbles.
Gorman, who got his start at Cape Cod Oyster and has two intertidal acres in his hometown, was happy to be part of the event.
“It’s amazing. It’s something different,” he said.
Kalliope Chute was shucking oysters from their grant alongside Gorman and a crew from J’Oysters and Bob Hazard Oysters. Mike Chute said celebrating oysters at the Cape’s tip was a big part of the allure. He said Provincetown’s home-grown shellfish industry is small, probably a tenth the size of Wellfleet’s. But this was a chance to show off. They also were also able to pay farmers a bit more, which is always welcome.
“People are willing to pay for local,” Chute said.
He added the abundance of seafood was due in good part to Provincetown native Chris King, a boat owner, former captain, and wholesaler. King pulled together catch from boats and captains at the height of a busy summer season.
“Chris has been supporting this community for 31 years,” Chute said.
The Chutes are committed to celebrating the town, people and seafood, and have come up with a variety of ways, from educational videos to partnerships with other small businesses. They work closely with The Canteen restaurant on Commercial Street, so the menu and cooking at the event was led by the Canteen’s Chef Katherine Dufault.
“We could have brought in a Michelin chef, but we had a real opportunity to do something local,” said Chute. “My palate was beyond pleased.”
Although Outstanding in the Field had been thinking about visiting Provincetown for years, Mike Chute found out about the group more recently when they were trying to source oysters for a different event.
He told Kalliope about them, and she knew their mission of connecting diners to food origins while celebrating those who make it happen: chefs, farmers, fishermen, cheesemakers, vintners, brewers. Their concept? Rather than source ingredients for a restaurant, bring their restaurant to the sources.
Chute went to an Outstanding event last year and began the conversation. When Harbormaster Peter Whinn and Pier Manager Jamie Demetriou heard about the plan, they pushed to make it happen.
Whinn, hired earlier this year, said he was happy to support an event that highlights the industry.
“Fishermen aren’t natural organizers,” he said. “We need to support them as much as we can.”
He said that as costs of running working waterfronts increase, events that help defray costs to fishermen and celebrate the industry may play a supportive role. Although the working aspect of the pier continued during the event, public access was closed and dozens of curious onlookers stopped by to gawk and ask questions.
“It was a successful model,” Whinn said. “It is such a great location.”
There are plans to hold another next year.
The event also raised money for the Crop Swap program at Provincetown Library