A non-joke at town meeting yesterday got the biggest laugh of the evening. Wellfleet has been named to a Top-Ten-Foodie-Destinations list by Away.com. When someone at the microphone brought this up, a twitter spread across the school gymnasium, as if people were asking their neighbors, “Did he really say what I think he said?” Then, as the information sank in, a few people let our loud guffaws of incredulity. But I checked just now, and it’s true: Away.com places Wellfleet ninth on its list. I had no idea our restaurants had gained such notoriety. What surprised me was mention of The Bookstore, certainly a good place to eat year-round but hardly the eatery I would place at the front of the pack in summer, which is when the real competition revs up for diners. I sent a lot of folks to Pearl this summer, which could claim the Best View of the Marina, above, if such an award existed, and Winslow’s Tavern, the place to go for a Bloody Mary during Oysterfest.
(If we were giving awards, Mac’s Seafood would win for nighttime exterior, don’t you think?) Many Wellfleetians, feeling the pinch of hard economic times, do not eat out at restaurants, which is totally understandable, considering a meal for two people, with wine, costs $100. Perhaps this is why residents voted the increase of .75%, which will go to the town, rather than the state? Mac Hay was eloquent in explaining why he opposed this tax. Other speakers pointed out that local staff – waiters, waitresses – will be the ones to suffer because tourists will simply lower the amount left as a tip. This was why I voted against the tax. And, speaking of restaurants, I heard this week that the oven delivered to PB Boulangerie Bistro proved defective, so it was sent back. Hence, the new French restaurant and bakery will not be able to open as soon as expected… 
