![]() They provide sweeping views of the maritime comings and goings on Frenchman Bay. The front-lawn tables at the casual Terrace Grille have the best setting in Bar Harbor. 20 WATERFRONT DINING Terrace Grille, Bar Harbor Inn, Bar Harbor But the devil is in the details: how much lemon to add to the Hellmann’s, how to cook the lobster to the perfect texture, how long to grill the bun with how much butter. The lobster roll ingredients are no secret-she published them years ago. Recently, she came full circle back to Kennebunk with this polished Maine seafood venue. Idyllic childhood summers in Kennebunkport, complete with shore dinners, inspired Rebecca Charles to open Pearl Oyster Bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. 20 UPSCALE LOBSTER ROLL Pearl Kennebunk Beach and Spat Oyster Cellar, Kennebunk Co-chefs Shelby Stevens and Chris Long build seasonal menus around superb local ingredients such as foraged spruce tips, vegetables and herbs from the inn’s gardens, and fish off their neighbors’ boats. Either or both could show up on the legendary five-course lobster tasting menu. If you think the only thing to do with Maine lobster is to dip the meat in butter, consider coconut-lobster bisque graced with a pickled pepper or a lobster salad with crunchy jicama and spicy nasturtium leaves. And the menu makes the best of the state’s signature luxe ingredient. The dining room has the elegant design hallmarks of an upscale Parisian bistro, but the sweeping view of mast-filled Camden harbor definitely anchors this night out in Maine. 20 SPECIAL-OCCASION SPLURGE Natalie’s, Camden Harbour Inn, Camden From his old-fashioned pickling of vegetables (including sea veggies) to his unrestrained use of open flame, Brown packs his plates with a symphony of strong flavors. ![]() Portland foodies will drive the extra half hour to get here, because Brown goes the extra mile to rethink Maine seafood: a local oyster graced with buttermilk snow and lemon oil, smoked monkfish with meltingly soft caramelized cabbage, kimchi-marinated mussels. Nearly a decade after scoring national attention (and a slew of James Beard Award nominations) for his work at Forage in Salt Lake City, chef Bowman Brown has made himself at home on Biddeford’s Main Street. ![]() Enjoy a cone at the picnic tables overlooking rolling pastures and the big red milking barn, then spring for a visit to the Barnyard, where small fry can meet llamas and alpacas, and pet baby goats. In all, more than 40 types are on tap, including the very New England-y Indian pudding. A pioneer of cow-to-cone farmstead ice cream, this 12th-generation family farm makes a bevy of traditional and novelty flavors using the milk from its Holstein herd. 20 ICE CREAM Smiling Hill Farm, Westbrookįew ice cream destinations offer kids as much fun as Smiling Hill. The glass-walled modernist box that houses the restaurant is an urban analog to the funky roadside original, complete with picnic tables. The double-barreled magic has transplanted perfectly to Portland’s East End. 20īest of Maine 2019 | Bob’s Clam Hut Photo Credit : Mike Urban FRIED CLAMS Bob’s Clam Hut, PortlandĪ roadside staple in Kittery since 1956, Bob’s built its fame on two styles of fried clams: “Bob’s,” which are dipped in a mix of unseasoned flours and fried to light crispness, and “Lillian’s,” which make two passes through the flours with an egg wash in between, creating a crunchier clam. Their now-famous tuna melt has the perfect angled slab of iceberg lettuce with tuna salad on grilled eggy challah bread, showing that top-quality ingredients trump fussy flourishes. Co-owners Greg Mitchell and Chad Conley understand the appeal of the honest, uncomplicated comfort food that made diners iconic. Built in 1927, this 15-seat Pollard diner served generations of Biddeford mill workers now it feeds discerning foodies. The Palace proves that everything old can be new again if you’re true to your roots. In a nod to bubbes everywhere, one dining room wall is papered with a recherché rose pattern. Rose does a booming lunch business with corned beef or egg salad on house-baked caraway-seeded rye, while couples often gravitate to the “Fishermen’s Feast for 2,” which gathers all the house-cured fishes (including lox cured with pastrami spices) onto a single platter with pickles, onions, capers, cream cheese, and fresh golden bagels. The Back Cove location doesn’t deter those with a jones for authentic New York deli fare. A can’t-miss brunch pairing here? Maine oysters with a mimosa. During warm weather, he augments dinners with a great à la carte Sunday brunch (the free-range eggs and braised greens on polenta are worth the trip alone). When it came time to open a second restaurant, he planted Ondine in Belfast, Midcoast Maine’s ground zero for farms and fishermen. Chef Evan Mallett emerged as a champion of locavore cuisine at the Black Trumpet in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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