Chatham Village Cafe, Chatham, MA USA

Ordered at the Chatham Village Cafe on Main Street in Chatham, Cape Cod Massachusetts.

We were hungry after walking around the elbow of Chatham. My first time in Cape Cod, Chatham was one of those places I had heard wonderful things about. It seemed like paradise on The Cape… that was before I went, of course. “Tourist Central” probably would be a more accurate appellation. Yes, it was beautiful, but overrun with people who looked like they spent 10-14 days maximum on The Cape each year. Where were the locals?! We were staying in Eastham, exploring mainly Wellfellt, and those two areas were closer to my heart…. But alas, only Chatham seemed to have a Club Sandwich.

After exploring the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge we headed down Main Street it search of food – which seemed like a logical choice for a lunchtime stop. Low and behold, the first spot we saw was a sandwich shop and cafe.

“Should we stop?” The car echoed.

“Let’s just grab a sandwich here and spend more time outside on the beach,” Rachel stated.

Yes, a great idea. And so we parked and walked into the Chatham Village Café.

The Chatham Village Café had a medium sized line full of people who didn’t look like the stereotypical Chatham tourist…. which felt quite promising. I was excited, and then I saw The Club… double excited. The description looked traditional and delicious. The woman at the counter recommended the roast turkey instead of roast beef – in a strong eastern European accent (Lithuanian we would find out later). Let’s do it. On a marble rye. With the standard no frills bacon, mayo, lettuce, and tomato.

We waited in chairs made out of lobster pots for our name to be called. I was hungry and ready for an injection of energy… lobster, for once, was not on my mind.

The food came, we sat at (fairly dirty; we cleaned them) picnic tables and I unwrapped my sandwich.

I took my photo and was about to bite in… but wait – what’s this – there’s no bacon in my sandwich! Sacrebleu! Could this be? I checked with everyone at the table – no one else saw bacon. I went back to the register and they confirmed my initial suspicion; woops! We had gotten our sandwiches to go – thank goodness we hadn’t left yet… the thought of getting to the beach and unwrapping my club only to find it contained no bacon… gosh, I can’t even describe what went/goes through my mind…. Anyway, I didn’t have to worry.

We sat down, again, and I dined on the Chatham Village Café Club Sandwich. Yum! The roast turkey had fantastic moisture; not soggy, and far from dry. Delicious bite one after another, I was very glad the eastern European lady had persuaded me this way. And the marble rye – wowser – just a delightfully delicious bread. I couldn’t have been happier with it. Combining these two ingredients with a perfect amount of mayonnaise, a ripe tomato, and lovely leafy lettuce, this club sandwich was simply great. And the bacon, amazingly enough that was this sandwich’s weakest ingredient. Lacking of flavor and just a bit too thin, I felt like I had stumbled upon cheap bacon. The Chatham Village Café can definitely do better than that.

Overall I was really pleased. My first decent club sandwich in way too long. The Chatham Village Café Club Sandwich was satisfying. But the side of bagged pickles and wise chips… I mean, no Cape Cod chip? Wassaup with that? I kid though – yes, Cape Cod chips would have been fun, but then again, maybe that’s a tourist thing!

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