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PROVINCETOWN GUIDE
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| DIRECTORY |
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Provincetown :: Monday, March 15th 2010
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Walk Over to Wabi
A New Asian Option for Provincetown
By Guy Wolf of Provincetown Magazine
June 25th, 2009
When good friends get together it is usually to celebrate an upcoming wedding or birthday and not to open a restaurant. In the case of Wabi Dumplings P-Town (206 Commercial St., Provincetown), starting a restaurant from the ground up is exactly what these five friends set out to do.
| “This is the kind of restaurant we have all wanted to do so I’m excited that people here are looking forward to the day we open.” |
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Co-owner Mark Kantrow sums it up this way: “The five of us have stayed friends for years and are very close. We are all best friends and that translates to the restaurant’s feel-good energy.”
All the food preparation is out in the open and this helps the restaurant give the customer a welcoming sense of participation in the creation of the Asian-inspired food. On the walls are watercolors of what looks like characters from either the Chinese or Japanese alphabet. The paintings on fine rice paper were created by the busy chef himself, Mike Fennelly, and they add a lot to the restaurant’s tranquil environment.
The day before Wabi Dumplings P-town opened last month, the eat-in and take-out restaurant was a hive of well-organized activity. Three of the five co-owners were present and each had a specific job to do. Fennelly (also the chef at Victor’s), folds perfect squares of dough for what will become a dumpling, while Ellen Rossi, also chef and co-owner, coordinates menu items with a “to-do” list. Standing by the counter, Mark Kantrow proudly says, “I made the cookies.”
Missing that day were owners Collette Cisco and Vicky Bailey, but that doesn’t mean they are anything like silent partners; Collette has taken charge of the accounting, and Vicky, the marketing. Each owner has worked with Chef Fennelly over the years at a number of restaurants in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Hawaii. They have a great respect for each other and for Fennelly, who seems to be the driving force behind the restaurant’s concept. Each and everyone also has a great love of Provincetown. Fennelly adds with a great deal of good humor, “We all love Provincetown. I always wanted to live here but got side-tracked for 15 years.”
Rossi, who winters in Utah and now summers in Provincetown, finds the locals and town government welcoming and helpful. She says there is a sense of curiosity and anticipation about Wabi Dumplings.
“This is the kind of restaurant we have all wanted to do so I’m excited that people here are looking forward to the day we open.”
Fennelly has a lot to say about why Wabi is a perfect concept for Provincetown. There’s take-out for the beach or on your way home from work and plenty of outdoor seating to take in the “scene” on Commercial Street and the general beauty of the town.
With a great deal of experience in Asian cuisine, Rossi brings a welcome sense of spirituality to the restaurant’s concept and eclectic menu, as well.
“There’s something about this kind of food that you feel both nourished and light. I like to think of our menu as soul-nourishing and it feels good that it is something the community wants.”
The menu offers the dumpling version of the ever-popular lobster roll, tuna spring rolls, steak and chicken satays, Wabi Wraps with shrimp and organic chicken, Wabi lobster and cod fish cakes, noodles with local scallops, and even Wabi Fries with spicy dips, a peanut sauce, or yes, even ketchup.
Wabi Dumplings also has a unique dessert menu that includes ginger cookies, a green-tea ice cream sandwich, and toasted coconut and chocolate Rice Krispie treats. Long-time Provincetown resident Steve Couch is the pastry chef and that is no small undertaking for a restaurant that prepares hundreds of dumplings a day.
Co-owner Mark Kantrow is also quick to point out that the restaurant makes every effort to buy fresh local ingredients and prepares food with organic chicken. He goes behind the counter and picks up the ever-popular brown paper take-out box. “All the materials we use in the restaurant are bio-degradable as well,” he says.
Fennelly makes it clear that vegetarian customers will never feel they have only a few choices on their menu. “If it is not already vegetarian, almost every menu item can be adapted to a vegetarian diet.”
Wabi-Dumplings P-Town is a welcome addition to the Provincetown restaurant community, serving inexpensive, tasty, and unique food.
Wabi Dumplings P-Town is located at 206 Commercial Street, Provincetown. They are open daily, from 11 a.m. on, beginning Fourth of July weekend; Thursday-Sunday only, before then. For information or takeout, call 508.413.3300 or visit www.wabidumplings.com. Also visit Provincetownmagazine.net for more articles.
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