Thank you guys. Will do my best to report.
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This is what I did. This might be the busiest weekend, so success rate might be tough. Scales was a hop and skip from my hotel, so it was easy to get there a little before 4pm and be first in line. You put in your name for a spot, and then they tell you to come back at xx time when they officially let diners in. I got lucky and got in at 4:30pm for an early dinner.
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Shannon’s Unshelled by the footbridge in BBH has great lob rolls. Also the funky Karen’s Hideaway on 27 for lobster and crab rolls too. And of course Bet’s Fish Fry in Boothbay proper.
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FWIW, crab rolls are my thing when made with Maine crabmeat. Maine crabmeat is not something I find often here in MA so it’s a treat for me. Most often the roll has been made using peekytoe (rock) crab and sometimes with Jonah crab. Usually the variety hasn’t been specified on the menu.
P.S. I have even ordered a crabmeat roll expressly to use the crab in a pasta dish that I was making for dinner. It worked out because the crabmeat was good quality and very lightly dressed. Sometimes a person needs to get creative with sourcing!
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I have heard very good things about this place!
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This is the intel I need! I am more of a crab girl than lobster girl, so I would absolutely go for a crab roll.
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So glad these guys are still thriving. I follow them on Instagram and I saw that they were suspending their beer-brewing operations so I got worried if that was foreboding. We loved their beer bottles so much, we kept a bunch of them.
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Yes, as you’ll probably know better than I, Odd Alewives offers beer from others these days along with their own woodfired pizza. Looked like it remains well-loved. It was our very first visit.
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Yeah Maine crabmeat is pretty good stuff. It’s mild and sweet. I live in the mid Atlantic where blue crab is king. The best crab imho. I remember a Beat Bobby Flay show where he faced a chef from Maine on crabcakes. The Maine guy used Maine crab of course and Bobby used blue crab. Bobby won. Nothing against Maine crab which is great in crab rolls but for a crab cake you cannot beat blue crab.
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That gorgeous blue crab is my favorite too. The blue crabmeat I typically see here in New England is canned/packaged/frozen and sourced from Asia, such as this example. I miss fresh blue crab from vacations in the Outer Banks as a young adult.
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We had such a good meal at Sichuan Kitchen a few days ago that I just wanted to throw it in the mix if looking for something completely different. I’ve eaten there 3 times now as an in-transit from Farmington to visit my mom. The ants climbing a tree dish is my favorite, but everything we’ve had here has been fantastic.
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Yep unless the menu says “lump crab” and not “lump blue crab” it’s almost surely swimming crab from
Asia which produces beautiful but tasteless meat.
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Thank you so much for this intel! This place had completely fallen off my radar. The menu looks amazing!
Grew up in New England, and blue crab is my favorite too. In fact, just had some this weekend, and sliced open my thumb on those darn spikes on a claw. So worth it, even as I bleed out.
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So…The driving from NYC to Portland in the rain was pretty painful on the Friday before the long weekend. We made it to Eventide by about 6 pm. The line was there and we had to walk around for about 1 hour. Because we were very hungry we stopped at Boone’s and snacked on some oysters and crab cakes. Both were decent. By about 7:15 we grabbed a semi standing spot outdoors and were served a bunch of plates. Since we were sitting for about 7 hours prior we were OK to stand. I always liked Eventide. Last time I ate there in 2020 and loved it once again. This time they raised the bar even higher. Every plate (besides waffle/ scallop yaki) was very well thought through. The halibut ceviche was very impressive. I do not think I even ever thought about halibut as a ceviche worth fish before… The bluefin tuna sashimi was very much uplifted by the “Chinese style” ginger-scallion condiment. Lovepoint oysters - first time I had them - plump and crisp! Mini lobster rolls were overpriced, but delicious. We tried an excellent rendition of black cod with corn with pimento sauce. Very different from the typical Nobu style miso-treated one. We could not eat anymore… Would like to specially note the very humane treatment of the customers by the staff despite the very intense environment. Our waiter was excellent and extremely helpful! We were swinging by midday of next day and the line was extremely long! Remains as one of the best places to eat in Portland. Totally worth the wait!
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Looks and sounds delicious!
Sichuan Kitchen is one of our favorites, both for dine in and take out - everything is so good! They are working on opening a hot pot spot that I’m really looking forward to!
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Next time you’re in town (and if you’re willing to cross the bridge) I can recommend SoPo Seafood Market and Raw Bar. Their hours are limited but the food is great and we tend to go there when we don’t want to deal with the Old Port crowds.
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Thank you for the tip. I was looking at the place, but because of the time constraints we went along with an old favorite. South Portland is something to explore the next time. And you a right the Old Port crowd is getting ridiculous…
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Getting to Scales without the reservation was relatively painless. The most important element of it was showing up before 4. I came at 3:45. There were about 8 people after me (on a Saturday of the long weekend!). We were given a table for 4 people at 4:30 and waited at the table by the bar while having drinks. I think everyone who showed up at 4 got a table. I suspect it would be even possible to get a table for a later time. The organisational part of the restaurant works very well.
Meal-wise, we liked it very much, but the amount of salt in all the dishes was excessive. Crab fritters, deep fried clam belly, and octopus were delicious. Scallops, baked haddock and fluke. Almost every table abound us had mussels and clams in a heavy skillet. Would definitely come back. The price tag was very reasonable for the amount of food we got.
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