I ate at LUNE in November and have been meaning to write about it since. It’s rare to find a restaurant that excels at food, wine, hospitality, and charm. Even rarer on Cape Cod, a place where I love to eat but mostly because it consists of fried food and ice cream (Sesuit Harbor Cafe and Twin Acres, I can’t wait for May).
LUNE and a small cohort of peers (The Pheasant, CERALDI) are looking to change that, and succeeding. The 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalists were announced this morning, and LUNE in Dennis Port is nominated for Best New Restaurant. A huge and well-deserved accomplishment. This nomination means that Dennis Port is on the same short list as food cities like New York, LA, and San Francisco. Adorable. Exciting.
LUNE is owned by wife-husband team Charlotte and Mick Formichella. Charlotte runs the front of house, Mick is Chef. Charlotte is a 13th generation (!!) Cape Codder. In 2023, LUNE began operating as a pop-up at Borsari Gallery and Clean Slate Eatery. Its permanent location opened last May in Dennis Port.
For my Cape novices: Dennis Port is a popular beach town on the Nantucket Sound, about 20 mins from Hyannis, an hour from Provincetown, and an hour 30 from Boston.
I visited in November with my husband and dad and booked our reservation for à la carte. It was a Sunday, our first time at LUNE, and the tasting menu felt like a big commitment. It’s now top of my list for when they reopen in April.
We sat at the bar with a view of the open kitchen. Going out to dinner with my dad makes me nervous. He gets worked up (sometimes quite vocally) over slow service, dry meat, bad wine. Who can blame him, really. He left LUNE at the end of the night vowing to take all his friends for dinner.
The food and wine were outstanding (by city standards), the service warm and attentive, the lighting good. The green hues and checked floor are pretty. Also - white tablecloths! As I wrote in my last post - white tablecloths are back, and I’m so on board.
The man sitting to our right bought us a bottle of Pere Mata cava (coincidentally one of our favorites to buy from our local specialty wine shop) to begin our meal. I can’t promise this will happen when you visit, but I can promise you won’t regret ordering one yourself. I’ve been so deep in the martini madness (is it getting kind of boring? can someone talk with me about this?) that I forget how nice it is to begin a meal with a glass (or two) of bubbly.
I reflexively ordered the house-made sourdough with sea salt butter to start. The gut of the restaurant is in the bread. I’ve rarely had bad bread followed by a good meal. Just like I’ve rarely had a Crunchwrap at 10 PM and felt great in the morning. Not only does LUNE make their sourdough in house, they make it extremely well. A thick slice of fresh sourdough, slathered with salty butter, this is me talking dirty.
Three small plates followed: charred sprouting broccoli with Calabrian vinaigrette, black garlic, mint, and pistachio; beef cheek croquette with mornay, onion jam, and shaved celery; and roasted mushroom with parmesan fondue. Exceptionally thoughtful and well executed. Beautifully plated. Another highlight was the plates themselves: chic, antique. Photo friendly, dare I say.
Another bottle of wine, and onto the mains. We ordered one of each: marinated mussels with white wine and dijon; gnocchi with basil, roasted delicata squash, and cauliflower soubise; and duck breast 'frites' with pommes paillasson and peppercorn sauce.
The mussels were brothy, comforting, flavorful. The cherry on top was more sourdough to sop the sauce. The gnocchi was the best I’ve ever had: slightly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, a far cry from the gummy mess served in many establishments. My one concern when looking at it was that it wouldn’t be saucy enough; I was wrong. The soubise was perfect. And the duck! Cooked to my dad’s high standards, juicy and tender and served with a lovely peppercorn sauce - a real one, a Julia Child one; not the scary, creamy, Americanized version.
My favorite surprise of the night was the pommes paillasson served alongside the duck (pictured above). I expected a disappointing alternative to a French fry (why mess with perfection?), and was subsequently thrilled to discover they are essentially thick, crispy, buttery potato sticks. I could have eaten them all night. Bottomless pommes paillasson, anyone?
At this point, dessert didn’t even have to be good. We had consumed two bottles of wine and seven superb dishes. A mediocre chocolate mousse or crème brûlée would have been ok. But LUNE kept going. We learned our lesson from ordering all three entrees (i.e., do it) and proceeded to order all three desserts. Rice pudding (a serious new obsession of mine), cranberry sorbet (made with local cranberries, of course), and a Hoodsie Cup, topped with sea salt caramel and chantilly and served with a wooden spoon. A pour each of dessert wine, and we were ready to ask if we could sleep over and have them cook us breakfast in the morning.
Congratulations, LUNE. I’m prepared to fight New Yorkers (a favorite past time) for reservations all summer long.
