Dear Onions - We are currently staying in a magical house in Gouldsboro, ME (been in Maine since July 2).
I’ve seen @GretchenS’ awesome reports on Midcoast, but there’s not much intel for this area. We have 2.5 more days here. Any must-eats? (Most places seem open/are opening.) One place that seemed right up our alley, the Pickled Wrinkle, has not re-opened. We’ve had a few nice food experiences thus far but wondering if we’re missing anything. Of course, I’ll report back (although I keep forgetting to report back on our Grand Canyon/Zion trip that we took right before the quarantine).
We may cross paths with #45, who will be in Portsmouth NH on Saturday. We had thoughts about stopping at Anju on our way home for lunch if it’s not raining cats-and-dogs but we may just avoid that whole area even if it’s not. Which makes us very sad.
Do please stop at Anju on your way home if possible. So worth the stop.
Cafe Nostimo in Portsmouth is a good too, Greek food really well done.
Beal’s Lobster Pound in South Harbor is the all time best lobster. If you are traveling to
Mt. Desert.
And did you stop at the Penobscot bridge and go up to the top?
No intel for you but have a great time and please do report! (Did you get those insane thunderstorms followed by a rainbow last night? It was crazy on the Midcoast.)
@grumpyspatient We may try Beal’s today or Friday, depending on where we are in Acadia when hunger strikes (we’ll try to be somewhere on the west side of the park so we’re closer to SW Harbor).
Re: Anju. Yes. We’ve been going there since the year they opened (the staff knows as us the “daycation” people from outside Boston - in normal times, we used to pop up to Kittery on random weekend days just to eat there).
We didn’t stop on the bridge but did go over - it IS awesome. Sadly, it’s going to be pretty rainy on the day we check out so I doubt we’ll stop on the way home.
With any luck there will be torrential downpours Saturday and the event at Pease will be canceled and you can stop at Anju.
Enjoy the rest of your stay!
Portland, ME is one of my favorite foodie cities (gasp I used the term foodie). Fore Street and their mussels are heavenly. Sadly, I’m not sure what’s been impacted by the COVID related closures, so please do double check that they are open.
If you don’t mind spending a pretty penny, I had a wonderful meal at Hugo’s. They are smaller plates (not quite as small as Tapas), and they suggest patrons order 2-3 dishes, but everything I had there was absolutely delicious and beautifully prepared. If you want something more modest, I believe the same chef runs Duckfat, their casual sandwich/salad/fries eatery. if you like duckfat fries, you have to have their duckfat fries. They even have poutine.
I had a great meal at a local Eventide pop up, and I know they now have a Boston location, but Portland is their original home so if you want more Maine seafood, certainly no harm in popping there.
If you like pies, Two Fat Cat bakery (and for other baked goods). I like cats…I like pies. This store was made for me. They actually have a few wonderful bakeries there that I would recommend popping in and grabbing something that smells good.
EDIT: Corrected name: it’s Two Fat Cats, not just Fat Cats.
Hugo’s had become my husband’s and my anniversary weekend indulgence until (sob) this past May. Hopefully back in 2021. Sitting at the bar and watching the gorgeous food prep is one of our favorite memories.
It probably wouldn’t be the most comfortable and relaxing with spring onion along, though.
Rob Evans, who owns Duckfat, sold Hugo’s to his chef there many moons ago. Th guys who now own Hugo’s are the team behind both Eventides, and the equally yummy Honey Paw. While I love Hugo’s, I miss the old day with Rob there, and the old set up with less bar and more tables. I like sitting at bars, but I don’t like that you don’t interact with the folk behind the bar, but with servers who come from behind you.
I totally get that. We don’t have any comparisons to the old Hugo’s. I think we happened to be in the bar seats that are well-located for interaction (not a ton, but enough to be fun.) We also happened to have great couples seated to either side last year We were very disappointed that we were seated at the bar the first time after having made the reservations several weeks in advance, and almost left. It was late enough that we decided it would be iffy to head elsewhere, and ended up enjoying it enough to request the same seats the following year. We must have just hit it right.
It didn’t hurt that the first year they were out of the two lower-end bottles of wines that we wanted and so bumped us up quite a bit at no cost. (Of course, we tipped the server the difference.) And my brother-in-law, who had lived in the area previously, had called to surprise us with some celebratory champagne.
I’m jealous of the time you’re spending up on that part of the coast - unfortunately I don’t get much further north than Brunswick usually. We have friends in Milbridge area but they don’t talk about the food all that often . . . .
They even have poutine.