After months of preparation, Greydon House’s fall menu will have you seeing Michelin stars.
The moment you enter the cozy restaurant at the Greydon House, you know you’re in for something different. The green walls and dark pine accents mark a complete departure from the airy aesthetic that has come to define many of Nantucket’s interiors. And that’s exactly what they were going for. “We’re dark and sexy all year round,” laughs Jeff David, the twenty-room boutique hotel’s managing partner. If the design wasn’t striking enough, Greydon House has a menu to match.
Greydon House’s menu was created by Michelin-starred chef Joseph Keller, the older brother of Thomas Keller of Per Se and French Laundry fame. Dinner begins with piping hot popovers served with both cow and goat’s milk butter. The popovers, with crunchy crusts and moist middles, could easily pass as pastries and remind you of grandma’s kitchen. Greydon House’s kitchen is helmed by executive chef Marcus Gleadow-Ware, formerly the executive chef of Aureole, a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City.
The menu is broken into categories: Raw (sushi), Aqua (fish), Terra (meat) and Next (middle course). The bluefin tuna appetizer comes out looking like succulent slices of watermelon sliced into rich red cubes without the slightest hint of sinew. On top of a generous hunk of tuna sits a delicate serving of bright orange sea urchin along with a piece of compressed pineapple. A middle course of Hudson Valley foie gras emerges from the kitchen in the form of a terrine served with thick toasted brioche. Much like the popovers, this bread is worth writing home about. No doubt Atkins would have hated this place.
The center piece of Greydon House’s menu is a roasted dry aged ribeye from Wyoming. The seventy-dollar steak is meant for two and comes with a number of accouterments in cute copper pots. As with the two prior courses, the steak is a marvel of textures. The grilled bits give way to a buttery middle that could convert a strong-willed vegetarian.
No surprise, Greydon House’s dessert delivers in full, offering a choice of peanut butter milk bar, poached peaches vacherin or lemon meringue pie. While you can do no wrong with any of the desserts, the only lingering sense of guilt you might walk away with is not having pocketed a couple of those popovers for breakfast.
