Flav's Red Skiff

15 Mt. Pleasant St., Rockport, MA - (978) 546-7647

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Posted By Michael Stern on August 16, 2000 7:27 PM

We’ve never eaten lunch at Flav’s Red Skiff in the heart of ultra-scenic Rockport at the tip of Cape Ann, and we are told by regulars that the chowder, burgers, and fish ‘n’ chip plates are excellent. What we can say from first-hand experience is that breakfast is well worth the trip, worth even the long wait you’ll likely face any time during the crowded summer tourist season.

It is a tiny eatery with cute pastel-checked cloth covered tables and simple décor that consists of old magazine advertisements, a glowing review or two, and the paper napkin Tom Selleck signed for proprietor Victoria Flavin the day he stopped in for breakfast while filming the movie Love Letter on the streets of Rockport. We like arriving before seven in the morning when there is always an available seat and the handful of other customers are locals who carry on conversations from the short, six-stool counter through the pass-through to the kitchen.

Counter or table is a fine place to enjoy elegant, plate-wide pancakes (buttermilk, blueberry, or chocolate chip), a warm pecan roll dripping with caramel frosting, or eggs served with toast made from the New England specialty, anadama bread. It is said that Rockport is where anadama bread was created, when a fisherman grew so angry at his lazy wife Anna that he baked his own loaf of bread from wheat flour, cornmeal, and molasses … all the while muttering, “Anna, damn her.” Whatever its origins, Flav’s makes a dark, sweet, and high-flavored anadama loaf that tastes just great when toasted and buttered.

You can also get strawberry French toast made with thick slices of anadama bread, but it is our opinion that the egg dip and frying detract from the solid Yankee character of the bread itself.

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