Tender clam chowder to slow-cooked brisket: Dining editor's top comfort foods on Cape Cod

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, but I haven’t found that to be true in my longstanding relationship with Captain Parker’s clam chowder.

This is the time of year when my friends who are gardeners start poring through seed catalogs and dreaming of spring.

But you could also ward off the cold dark days of winter by thumbing through Cape Cod menus looking for comfort food dishes - like Captain Parker's clam chowder - that warm and delight you.

Can I make some of these dishes at home? Yep.

Will I? Let's just meet on the Cape.

Have fun making your own list. Here are a few suggestions I've collected along the way.

Captain Parker's Pub: Award-winning clam chowder

Whether it’s a cup consumed at Captain Parker’s Pub in West Yarmouth or the heat-and-eat home version Capt. Parker’s sells at local grocery stores, it is still one of my favorite comfort foods.

I’ve had fancier chowders (a deconstructed oyster chowder at the Belfry Inn and Bistro in Sandwich comes to mind) but Captain Parker’s ― retired from competition after winning 18 chowder festivals around the region ― just ticks all the boxes of what I think New England clam chowder should be.

The broth is brilliantly white and fluffy, with no aftertaste of flour or other thickeners; the clams are tender, the potatoes and onions soft but still firm at the center, and there is — real or imagined — just a hint of smoky bacon.

It is incredibly rich, making a cup more than enough.

Royal II Restaurant and Grill: Greek soup served in embrace of a family

I really like the avgolemono soup ― made with chicken, rice, egg and lemon ($6.95 cup, $9.95 a bowl) ― at Royal II Restaurant & Grill, 715 Route 6A, in Yarmouth Port. But I also like knowing that Paul Bolanos and his family were making this and dozens of other Mediterranean recipes at home before the restaurant opened in 2013.

And I like the idea of a tasting pizza kept warm on top of the oven so customers can sample it as they sit down ― and I like that the herbs used on the pizza were grown outside the restaurant and dried on that same oven. From the pages of Greek and American menu listings to the cozy blond wood kitchen sets common to many houses, Royal II exudes a sense of "Sit, eat, be welcome at our home."

At Ying's in Hyannis, try Korean stir-fry in heated stone bowl

Bibimbap at Ying’s Sushi Bar & Lounge in Hyannis is something I return to each time we dine there. It is a vegetarian Korean stir-fry with an egg on top. I like the tofu version ($18.95). As for the “exotic vegetables” listed on the menu, the most unusual thing I’ve encountered in the dish was dandelion greens.

One important note: Pay the extra couple of bucks and get it in a sizzling hot porous stone bowl: The white rice fries in the piping hot vessel, caramelizing and forming a sweet, tasty crust. Obviously, the play is to eat there (you can’t get those bowls to go) and be careful. The bowl is still cooking your bibimbap when it arrives at the table.

Barbecue and southern sides make The Alley worth trip to Orleans

Barbecued beef brisket and sides at The Alley Bowling & BBQ in Orleans. A colleague asked me recently what I considered comfort food. I replied that, for me, it was generally anything slow-cooked that I wouldn’t take the time to make at home. The Alley’s beef brisket, smoked for 14 hours, fits the bill. (Aficionados might want the brisket’s burnt ends, described as “meat candy.”)

But the truth is the Cape has a fair number of good barbecue places. What attracts me to The Alley specifically is co-owner Brook Carlson who learned Southern cooking from her grandmother and now turns out appetizers and sides including fried green tomatoes, fried pickles, corn pudding, BBQ baked beans, collard greens, cornbread and more while partner Dave Currier mans the smoker.

Decor at The Alley is upscale bowling lanes chic. If you still need more comfort after the food, sign up for a string of candlepin bowling in the lanes Currier’s family has owned for decades.

Eli's Tavern in Falmouth tempts with seafood pot pie, old-style elegance

I have always liked the casual elegance and warmth of the wood-paneled walls and brass fixtures at Eli’s Tavern at The Coonamessett Inn in Falmouth. The tavern’s name, according to its website, is a nod to a regular who came in most days for a beer and paid for two so someone who was short on money could still raise a glass. That tradition continues and many regulars will still sometimes pay it forward.

It’s nice to see Eli’s Tavern maintain such an interesting menu after the 2017 sale from the Cape Cod Restaurants group to Lark Hotels, a boutique chain.

There are two dishes at Eli’s Tavern which one might especially imagine a weary traveler tucking into at day’s end. The $36 seafood pot pie has lobster, scallop, shrimp and cod with celery, fennel and asparagus in Pernod cream sauce nestled under puff pastry. Another contender is the smoked beef bourguignon ($28) which is made with 18-hour smoked brisket, mushroom, carrot, onion and bacon, served with mashed potato and red wine beef gravy.

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts. Contact her at gfriss@capecodonline.com. Follow her or X, formerly Twitter: @dailyrecipeCCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod restaurants: Food editor lists top comfort dishes to order