More upscale than a bar, less fancy than a sit-down dining room, the Merchantman is as close to a "gastropub" (pub serving gourmet food) as there is on this island; even the nachos are gourmet. The kitchen specializes in seafood, often cooked with Cajun or Thai spices, but they cook a little of everything. Start with lobster bruschetta (yes, please), bacon-dusted scallops, the excellent chowder, local mussels or oysters, or crab cakes. You could then move on to hearty sandwiches (smoked meat on rye, steak on a baguette), island fish cakes, or a burger from the pub menu and be plenty happy. But you can also order something considerably more refined—and here's where the place separates itself widely from other drinking houses around town. Gourmet items include a pair of aged beef medallions served with a whiskey lemon butter sauce; lobster linguine; seared rainbow trout; rack of lamb in a rhubarb-wine sauce; or a piece of barbecue-roasted salmon.