Phantom Gourmet: The Bog Pub In Bourne
BOURNE - In the Village of Pocasset, just over the Bourne Bridge, there's a Cape Cod restaurant that marches to the beat of a different drummer. It's called the Bog Pub, and Chef Ashley Sadler never wants it to get bogged down by tradition.
"To have a restaurant on Cape Cod, a lot of people think that you're just going to serve fried fish and chips, fried scallops, this and that. The Bog is trying to do something a little different. We try to take food and put a little bit of an American twist on it. Influences from all around the nation: Southern, Western, Northeast and we make our little place here on Cape Cod."
So, instead of fried clams and lobster rolls, The Bog offers items like Pilsner Fried Pickles and Pulled Pork in cranberry barbecue sauce. There's smoked meatloaf with tomato jam, fork-tender short ribs with crispy parsnips, even garlic sautéed frog legs.
Most customers can't wait for one weekly tradition: every Thursday night at the Bog, the sweet smell of smoke is in the air for "Free Bacon Thursdays."
"Anyone who sits at the bar gets a bucket of free bacon," General Manager Lindsey McGrath explained.
"It is absolutely fresh cooked bacon that we provide for you, and it's served in a little canister, and you can snack as you please," added Chef Ashley.
Bacon is a bit of an obsession, and the Bog's Bacon Cheeseburger is a big hit every night of the week.
"Our staple burger is an 8 ounce Pineland Farm house-ground hamburger, served with a white cheddar cheese and bacon, lettuce, tomato, on a corn-dusted hamburger roll," Ashley described. "They would never be disappointed with our hamburger. I think we have the best hamburger on Cape Cod."
They also have one of the best BLT's on the planet.
"The Bog BLT is our take on the classic BLT. For us, it's smoked eggplant aioli on sourdough bread. It has fried green tomatoes, smoky bacon, grilled Romaine lettuce," said Ashley. "The combination of that smoky, tart and sweet just melts together beautifully into a very different BLT."
If you're still not done pigging out, instead of your standard Chicken Wings, the Bog offers something called Crispy Pig Wings.
"Crispy Pig Wings are the shank bone of a pig. So no, it's not a wing, we didn't find a magical pig. When the meat is cooked, it shrinks down to look similar to a wing, and it eats very much like a rib. It's sweet and a little bit smoky," explained Ashley.
"It's so funny, people will come and one person gets it at the bar. You'll come back a minute later and all down the bar everyone has an order of Pig Wings, because everyone is like 'what are those?' People love them," added Lindsey.
In the comfort food category, you'll find boneless buttermilk fried chicken with smoked chicken gravy and mashed potatoes, plus, a surprisingly light take on Mac and Cheese.
"It's made with pureed butternut squash and fontina cheese and a little bit of thyme," Ashley shared. "Contrary to your traditional mac and cheese that's very, very heavy, this is a nice lighter version but still extremely creamy, nice and light, and it's still got that cheesy, comforty feel to it.
When it comes time for dessert, you'll have zero regrets if you order the brownie sundae.
"Big hunk of warm, gooey brownie, topped with French vanilla ice cream. Then it has marshmallows all around it, melted, graham crackers, Reese's Peanut Butter Crumbles for that peanut butter flavor," described Lindsey.
One more thing you need to know before you head out to The Bog Pub; it's a bit of a challenge to navigate your way there. In fact, their motto is, "It's worth the U-Turn".
"Route 28 is kind of a tricky road that's a one way. Many times people may have passed by us and then they see the sign on their way. There's many a U-Turn that you can take to get right on back to us," said Ashley. "It's worth the U-Turn because we are just a fun place. All of the people that we have come to call regulars really enjoy 'bogging it' as they call it. When you enter you're a customer and when you leave you're a friend."
You'll find The Bog Pub at 618 MacArthur Boulevard in Bourne, and online at thebogpubcc.com.
Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.
