This past weekend I went with DJ to Maine. If you use the link I put on facebook, then you know the good news. I got engaged in Portland, Maine so Maine will always have a special place in my heart. As it turns out, it will always have a special place in my stomach as well. We drove up to Maine (without stopping) on Saturday morning. When we arrived in South Portland, we were starving. The Seadog Brewing Company was only minutes away from our hotel. DJ enjoys their blueberry beer so we decided to eat there. It was a nice restaurant. It was big, there were TVs around, and nice sized tables and booths. I ordered the pan blackened chicken wrap. It was very very good. It came in a sun dried tomato wrap. I loved colored food. It was seasoned, grilled chicken with fresh salsa, shredded cheese, lettuce and chipotle aioli. Delish. It came with fries and a pickle. A very satisfying lunch. To drink, I had the windjammer blonde ale. That was equally delish. DJ had the BBQ burger. It had pepper jack cheese and onion rings and BBQ sauce. He polished the burger off so it must have been good. I'm a little embarrassed to say, but he ordered the apricot beer. He said it was good and very apricotie. I was extremely happy with this place. Our first meal in Maine had been a good one.
Since we had a later lunch there was no notable dinner choice for the first night. On Sunday morning (after I was engaged) we went to a place that was on Diner, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It's a little place called Becky's Diner. It is kind of alone on this long road before you get into downtown Portland. I wasn't really a fan of Portland. It reminded me of Providence- a big eye sore. Back to the food though, Becky's Diner was a tiny diner. There were a few booths along the windows and a counter in the center of the diner. You could see the kitchen in the back and there were only a few waitresses. They had a large menu. I was tempted to order the lobster omelet (which reminded me of the episode of Seinfeld when George puts the lobster in the eggs) but then I thought maybe it was too early for lobster. I ended up getting scrambled eggs with cheese, homefries, and raisin bread. The eggs were cooked perfectly. It looked like popcorn. That's how scrambled eggs should look. I hate restaurants that serve you like a notepad-sized piece of yellow and call it scrambled eggs. The bread was also very good. I asked the waitress if the bread was homemade. She said they buy the raisin bread and that the wheat and white bread are made by a local bakery. I love local businesses helping out other local businesses. DJ ordered a western omelet with homefries and wheat toast. We both enjoyed our breakfasts. I really would have liked to go back there for dinner but it was kind of a pain to get to from our hotel. We stayed in South Portland and this was in regular Portland, so we had to go on the highway for an exit to get to regular Portland. As I mentioned earlier, Portland was not my cup of tea. I expected it to be a cute, quaint New England town, but it really wasn't. It was more industrial than I pictured. It was the strangest thing in the world; you could drive for hours through woods and then land in an ugly little city. One minute you're looking at moose crossing signs and then the next you're in between a Korean market, a Thai restaurant, and a Chinese buffet. I was surprised by all of the Asian specialty places there.
That afternoon we went to Freeport, Maine to check out the LL Bean Store. I love LL Bean and have always wanted to go to the flagship store. Now Freeport was definitely my cup of tea. This was the place I was looking for. The cute, quaint New England town. There were shops and restaurants and coffee shops everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful. Freeport even has their own app! How convenient! There are several separate LL Bean stores there, which were beautiful inside. After all of the shopping we needed to get some lunch. There were plenty of places to choose from. I was afraid I was going to pick the one dud among all of the great places. I did not. As we were walking, we saw this restaurant that had little fire pits outside on the patio. People were eating around the pits and it looked wonderful. We ate there and luckily, inside. About 10 minutes after we went in, there was a hail storm. We ate at Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen and Topside Tavern. This had been my second day in Maine and still no lobster. This is where it was going to happen. I didn't know if I should order a lobster roll, lobster mac and cheese, a lobster, or a lobster grilled cheese. I really just wanted to eat a lobster. Sometimes lobster rolls can be too buttery, or in Maine's case, too mayoee. I wanted to just get a steamed lobster but I also did not want to be sticking my newly engaged hand up a lobster. They had a perfect choice for me. On their appetizer list, they had a lobster tail pushed out of the shell. I ordered that and mussels in a white wine broth. Both were divine! The lobster was sweet and just melted in your mouth. The mussels were soft and flavorful. No chewiness at all. The mussels were served with flat bread triangles to dip in the broth. Oh man. My mouth is watering now just thinking of it. DJ had fried shrimp. He said they were good. That night we just went to Friendly's so nothing really to report. Although I may have to soon because Friendly's are disappearing in CT.
The next morning I was dying to get back home! DJ quickly ran to Mister Bagel. That's another thing disappearing- bagel places. I love bagels. My whole life, my dad would go get bagels from Lender's on Sunday. They left and now there's no where. I know about Breugger's, which I love, but who can get there all the time? It's always mobbed and I hate that Jamba Juice. I ordered my favorite bagel- a toasted pumpernickel with butter. Oh just the best. Dunkin does not have a pumpernickel bagel. What's going on here? DJ had something plain with chive cream cheese? I don't know.
To sum up: go to Freeport instead of Portland the next time you venture up to Maine. All of the places I went to were great. Lobster is a must! Until my next bite....
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