Mo's Lunch: homemade deliciousness
And the best deal in town!
Martha’s Vineyard is a rural island full of wealthy summer people, a lot of vacationers, and a year-round eco-system of contractors, construction workers, landscapers, farmers etc. It’s a peaceful, green island of fields and vistas and private parties, political fund raisers, author readings and the occasional pop up show featuring famous local summer residents like Amy Schumer and Seth Meyers.
Restaurants here are run by hard-working, well-intentioned islanders who work hard to eeke out a living in this seasonal economy. The restaurants are great but I have to be honest and say they are also stomach-churningly expensive and hard to get into. Simple entrees can easily run $50/person. Glasses of wine generally start at $15/glass. Dinner runs $150/person. My favorite avocado toast is $18, before tax and tip. It takes for-thought, planning and a big budget to eat out here.
Which is why Mo’s is a huge find.
Mo’s Lunch lives in the Portuguese American Club, also known as the PA club and the Holy Ghost Society. The PA club is, indeed, a club, and one that anyone can join for $75. It was founded by 6 old Portuguese men in the 1930s. You know it’s worthwhile since it’s been around for almost 100 years. It is both a social club and a benevolent society that runs a variety of events supporting islanders.
Mo’s operates daily out of the main club house. It’s a large room that resembles a community center. It has a few tables/chairs in the middle, a tv that runs a closed circuit camera monitoring a traffic corner in town, a few plants and my favorite, a scale.
Walk up to the window and you are greeted with a smile, patience and recommendations.
We ordered take-out lunch. My hungry daughter wanted to try everything so we over-ordered:
· Polenta fries
· Broccoli rabe
· Lentil curry soup (vegan)
· An Italian sandwich (definitely not vegan)
· A choco-cookie
Cost: $64.38 for two people.
This might seem like a lot of money for two people for lunch. But it was so much more than lunch. Here’s what’s happened so far:
We ate a lot for lunch and hardly put a dent in the food.
At dinner, we made a pasta dish from the broccoli rabe and some of the meat and cheese from the Italian sandwich. We cooked some pasta and sauteed the rabe and meat in olive oil. We added the pasta and cheese and voila- a delicious dinner.
For breakfast the next day, we stir-fried some broccoli rabe, left over polenta and avocado and served it with a fried egg.
For lunch on day 2, we had the soup and some more of the sandwich.
And we’ve still got ½ quart of soup and ½ cookie left over to enjoy tomorrow.
That’s the part of it that is “a deal”. Now let me tell you about the food.
The polenta: about 2 inch long, ¼’ deep “fries”. Crispy and salty on the outside, hot, gooey, cheesy on the inside. Perfect.
The rabe: well cooked, well-seasoned with garlic and nuts and hot pepper. Very green, very healthy, a hit of spice.
The sandwich: layers upon layers upon layers of various types of thinly sliced Italian meats, a few slices of cheese interspersed, and a hint of red pepper and chopped lettuce, all rolled up in a log about 3 inches thick and snuggled into a loaf of Italian bread.
The soup: deep, rich curry flavor, not too spicey, with lentils cooked down to a rice-like texture, some red pepper for color.
The cookie: huge, probably 5 inches in diameter, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. Chocolately perfection.
This place is about home-made and plentiful food. It’s a place that reminds me of Cheers, a place where everybody knows your name - or might, if you shared it with them. There’s nothing precious about the place. And the food! It’s hot, it’s delicious, it just feels great to support a small place delivering a great experience at a great price.