Hello, Onions. It’s been a while. Nice to be back. Unlike some folks, I am drowning in work. So, I count myself lucky in some ways, especially since we’ve been sending Spring Onion (SO) to a day camp in Arlington for the last couple of months. Finally, a recap of our July 4 trip up to Gouldsboro, ME. Because I didn’t take copious notes, my account may be a bit revisionist. As usual, most of our meals out are lunches, dinner prepared at home. (Just wait til I finally report back on our Grand Canyon trip, back in mid-March - talk about revisionist history!) We’re heading to Block Island this Sunday, followed by a trip up to Bristol/Round Pond Maine. I am going to try to minimize work, so I may actually be able to post more useful detailed reviews. Or at least write things down.
We drove from Arlington and stopped at The Ramp in Kennebunkport for lunch. We’d been there pre-SO years ago and had a good time. The tiny outdoor space was open and sunny so we enjoyed salmon, some sort of salad, and I think a lobster roll. Food was just ok, but we were happy. We spent 2 nights in Rockland to break up the trip. Our favorite meals were at Claws, where we just beat the NY-NJ crowd for great lobster rolls and a fun hot dog kids meal for SO. I was psyched that they had real silverware (I’ll sound like a broken record, but disposables are a BIG pet peeve of mine at any lobster/clam shack). The place was busy but we never felt unsafe. Had a just an ok dinner at Waterworks. On our way out of town, we had a good, filling home-cooked breakfast at the always-busy Home Kitchen. Breakfast burrito, rice bowl, and steel-cut oats. Everywhere, we got great service. Unfortunately, CMCA was closed when we were there.
Broke the trip up with lunch in Surry at Perry’s Lobster Shack. Awesome location, and although we knew this was not going to be a traditional lobster roll, we were still a bit let-down (it was on a bulkie roll). But, hell, were we really let-down THAT much? Nope. BYOB. Onward to our fun house in Gouldsboro.
Other lunch meals were at Nor’easter in Northeast Harbor (twice!) after Acadia visits. We had such a lovely chill time there the first time on the deck for lobster rolls (CT-style, Old Bay-style) that we went back again. We loved the fun, young servers. And BIG cold Maine Co. beer and cold wine. And crazy me, I had my laptop, working the whole time for both meals. And no one batted an eye. Sadly, we never made it over to Beal’s in Southeast Harbor.
We had one meal in Bar Harbor, at Atlantic Brewing. We should have gone to the Town Hill location, which looks more our speed, but that’s water under the bridge. Neither I or B can remember what we ate. Beer was just ok.
One fun lunch at McLoon’s on Spruce Head Island. That place was hopping and we managed to eek out 2 Adirondack chairs, with SO on a picnic blanket. The grilled clams was disappointing - dried out and small. But the lobster roll was good. BYOB.
Last lunch at Chase’s in Winter Harbor. A few places we were interested in on the Schoodic peninsula were closed but Chase’s was open. We got a very hearty, delicious lunch of fish chowder, mussels, lazy lobster stew. I think there may have been salmon for SO. Friendly service.
Other food notes: Lobstore in Winter Harbor, where we got fish to grill, Ravens Nest Market where we got just-ok bread (but better than anything else) and some fun chocolate pebbles for SO.
Photos not in any order and probably upside-down.
