MAINE, DAY 2

On Sunday morning we awoke to another beautiful and sunny day. I'd done some research online, and decided that we'd be having brunch at 2 Cats, a B&B and restaurant in Bar Harbor. Since we arrived early in the morning, reservations weren't necessary, but as we sat, I could see how they would be if you wanted to arrive later or were visiting when Acadia's in season. (Their season coincides with the start of summer).We took a seat in the outdoor seating area, with its mismatched chairs and tables

and what really made Tom happy, a kitty cat.

Ok, the kitty was pretty cute. And nice and well behaved. She approached us a few times and we got to pet her. The service at 2 Cats is very casual and pleasant. As we read our menus and decided on what we'd be ordering, we also watched as large parties of locals also arrived for brunch and sat at tables flanking us.

I put an order in for one of my favorite things...biscuits. And these came with a side of strawberry jam. After my experience in Hyannis, I was a little apprehensive about what'd show up, but I didn't need to be. These biscuits were delicious- flaky, buttery and wonderful with the strawberry butter. They were probably some of the best biscuits I'd ever had.

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same thing for my breakfast plate. I had ordered the Mediterranean breakfast plate because it featured pan fried sun dried tomato polenta, topped with eggs, caponata and feta cheese. It was good in theory, but in reality, the polenta was pretty tasteless. I realize that they probably wanted it to be enhanced by the caponata, but I still think the polenta itself should've been more flavorful. I ended up just eating my side of spicy homefries (yum!) and biscuits instead.

Meanwhile, I had convinced Tom to order blueberry pancakes, cause aren't you supposed to eat blueberries in Maine? He also got a side of the spicy potatoes (which he liked a lot) and spicy sausage, which he said were pretty good. The pancakes were a bit too soggy for him, but he still enjoyed them.

Overall, our breakfast was very pleasant. Sitting outdoors on a deck in beautiful weather while petting a kitty can't be too terrible, after all.

Then we started on our drive back to Boston (we shared the driving duties on the way down), but we made a stop in Portland to visit my friend, Noel, and to get some lunch. After the previous evening's dinner of lobster, we were pretty much done with seafood, so when Noel suggested Flatbread for great pizza, it sounded like a great idea. I'd actually seen Flatbread before, on previous visits to Portland, but had never tried it. When we entered, we found a huge space, decorated in a sort of rustic/industrial style. The place must have been founded by a bunch of hippies, because it's all about organic, local, clean, etc. etc. food. (not that those are bad things).

The central focus of the restaurant in this gigantic stone oven.
Initially, we were actually seated directly in front of the oven, and from 10 feet away, you could feel the heat coming off of it. We asked to move and the server obliged. We listened to Noel for tips on ordering and decided to share a salad and two small pizzas. (The large pizzas are really quite large, enough for two adults to share).

Here's their house salad with dressing and goat cheese on the side. I really liked the salad. It was tasty with it's topping of sesame seeds and kombu. It had a very Asian style dressing, too. Tom wasn't such a huge fan because it had celery in it.

Next came the pizzas. I ordered one of the pizza specials, topped with a bunch of different types of veggies like portabello mushrooms, yellow peppers, red peppers, and I don't remember much else. It was pretty good and with its whole wheat crust, reminded me a lot of the pizzas I've been making at home (if we had an oven that could burn up to 800F)But the best pizza was this three cheese pizza. The flavors of the cheese and crust were just great, and I wish I could've had more. Overall, lunch was excellent. And the price tag was great, too. With tip, it cost just $30 for the three of us.

After lunch, we ran across the street to Standard Baking Company because Noel had never been there before. (I had on a previous trips, but I don't remember getting anything.) It was clear that they had already sold out of a lot of their normal pastries, so I just bought Tom a baguette for $2. He thought it was pretty decent, but still not as great as the ones at Clear Flour. My last stop of the day was the Harbor Fish Market, located on one of the piers. Of course, this place is famous for its lobster pound and its selection of fresh seafood. Here's a pic of the shellfish area (you can see they're almost sold out. We arrive a little after 2 and they close at 3 on Sundays)And here's the one of the two fish displays.I was in the market for some fresh lump crab. Mark Bittman made a lovely crab salad with fresh peas on the Minimalist last week, and I wanted to make it for dinner sometime this week. A pound of lump crab meat was $18, which seemed kinda pricey, but it does take a lot of labor and a whole lot of crabs. This is obviously not a dish that I'll be making often, but I'm looking foward to it tomorrow.

And that was it. Our weekend in Maine was over. We had a wonderful time walk, hiking, eating and sightseeing. For you Bostonians, we live less than a two hour drive from Portland, so there's no excuse for not visiting. (you can do it as a day trip, I have.) You'll have a great time.

A TALE OF LOBSTERS

Finally, a weekend off. I've been working a lot and though it may seem like we've been taking a lot of trips, really, it's been a tiring time with friends and family visiting (and more to come.) So I was really looking foward to a weekend away from the city, up in the mountains of Maine, breathing in fresh air and eating plenty of lobster. I'd been planning this trip for sometime (it gives me something to do when I'm bored at work), so I knew where we'd be eating and what we'd be doing.

Our trip started off with a long, nearly 6 hour drive up to Maine. I wasn't feeling well, but was still determined to go, and Tom was nice enough to drive the entire trip up. When we arrived, it was late and we were exhausted, so we went to bed early, with plans for a big day in Acadia National Park. So we got up early the following day, picked up some sandwiches at a local place in Bar Harbor and drove into the park.

They have a route in the park that you can drive around and you make various stops, for hiking and picture taking, whatever you want. It takes you through all the diverse habitats in Acadia, so we started off by the ocean, taking pics of the red limestone cliffs, going on short walks and having our sandwiches while sitting and overlooking the ocean.

A little after noon, we ended up at Jordan Pond, where we went on a 1.5 hour hike around the pond. (well, we didn't make in all the way around. The trail just ended abruptly at one point, and we were too tired to figure it up and turned back). By the time we made it back to the beginning, we were tired, hot and hungry; it was a perfect time to visit the Jordan Pond House for some of their famous popovers.

When we started on our walk around the pond, we could see that the picnic tables outside the Jordan Pond House were packed, so we were lucky that many of the diners had left by the time we arrived. Still, the facility is huge and much more modern than I expected (they give off this rustic vibe on their website). Here's Tom, thrilled that we're sitting and enjoying some a/c.

We got seated very quickly. Here's a view of the dining room that we were in. There were other dining rooms, and as I mentioned earlier, an outdoor seating area, too.

It's clear that this place caters solely to tourists. (It is the only restaurant inside Acadia after all). But they have pretty reasonable prices and decent service. The service wasn't fantastic, the girl serving us had a lot of tables to handle, and a pretty diverse clientele, but she managed well enough. So the thing to get at the Jordan Pond House is the popovers. They're served with better and strawberry jam. We also ordered lemonades. (I got strawberry, Tom got regular).

When they came out, they were steaming fresh and delicious. I wolfed mine down cause I was so hungry, enjoying them with both butter and jam. Tom just liked it with butter. We also ordered some chowders. I got what the called a lobster bisque.

As you can see, it's filled with delicious chunks of lobster. I wasn't expecting it to be so creamy, though. It would've been more correctly called a chowder, but I enjoyed it anyway. Meanwhile, Tom actually did order a chowder- the seafood chowder. It was filled with various types of seafood and chunks of potatoes, and I think he also enjoyed it. Here's a view of the outdoor seating area. I don't know how these people managed to sit outside in the full sunshine and still eat. It really was quite warm.And here's a look at the view from the restaurant. Pretty impressive on a clear, sunny day, huh? (The mountains in back are euphemistically called the Bubbles) Moving on, we headed to the top of the Cadillac Mountain, and then it was time for a break. We'd been walking around all day and we were exhausted. So we went back to the hotel and watched some TV before heading out for a Maine lobster dinner.

Personally, I think the best lobsters around are in Maine. And I've basically stopped having them anywhere else. There are many lobster pounds to choose from, and most people had suggested Thurston's Lobster Pound in the Southwest Harbor, but since we were staying near Bar Harbor, I had decided early on that I wasn't going to be driving an additional 40 minutes to dinner and opted for the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound instead. It was just a 20 minute drive from our hotel .

So the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound is actually quite awesome. And I say this for these five stacks that they have out front, billowing out steam that you can see a quarter mile away. Basically, in front of each stack is a tub, where the lobster goes in. And below that is an oven that uses fire wood. They pipe in sea water and cook the lobsters in that. When we arrived at 6pm, the parking lot was packed, so we had to be a little creative in finding parking. Also, when you enter the place, it's a little disorganized and confusing. You enter this small room and you see an enormous line before you- and it's not moving. Plus more people are entering behind you. Then, you see a sign to the right, that says "Order lobster here". Is that where we should order? If so, why are all these people standing in line? But don't worry people, the guy standing in front of the cooler will help you out (as will others in line) and you go over to first order your lobsters from this guy. The cooler that he's resting against are where all the lobsters are. We ordered 2- 2 pound lobsters which were picked out and weighed and went into these mesh bags. They were then carried outside and cooked. (you can see one of those bags in the guy's left hand). Meanwhile, we were given a number and told to get back in line. After ordering my lobster, all I could think of was, that lobster didn't look very big. I should get some extra stuff to fill my tummy. So I ordered an ear of corn and potato salad. Tom also got corn, coleslaw and slice of Maine blueberry pie. There is actually a system going on here, and we were able to get to the front, put in our extra orders (butter is an additional .75, but very necessary) and headed outside to wait for our food to arrive.Like the typical lobster pound, this place was no frills. Plastic and paper everything. Just the way I like it. I gave a small cheer when our number was called, and Tom came back with our order of lobsters. I wanted to give my lobster a chance to cool, so I started on my potato salad, which was ok. Not really amazing, but it filled my tummy a little. Here's Tom eating his corn. I didn't think the corn was that great. It was a bit too starchy. But it was time for the main event- the lobsters. Tom had already started on his. And he said that the ones we had last year at Two Lights were sweeter, but these were still good. I liked how the salt water caused the meat of the lobster to become salty. I ate the tail and claws, dipping them in butter, and then...I was full. I couldn't eat any more. Damnit, I never should've had that potato salad. Instead, I sat there disassembling my lobster and making a pile of meat for Tom, but even he hit a point where he couldn't eat any more. By the time we were done, we were covered in lobster juices, and our hands smelled of lobster. I would take a lot of washing and scrubbing before that smell was finally gone. The lobsters were great, but I've satisfied that lobster craving for quite some time. Perhaps we'll take another trip to Two Light later in the summer, but I'm good for now.

You'd think we'd call it a night, but it was still early and the sun was up. So we headed in to Bar Harbor to walk around a bit. We checked out some touristy shops. I really liked this place, adorned with gigantic lobster claws. That were holding food.
We ultimately found our way to Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium, which is half chocolate shop, half ice cream shop. The place was huge and clearly quite popular, but we were here for something special I'd read about- lobster ice cream. I had told Tom about this ice cream a while ago and dared him to eat it, so he ordered up a cone. Meanwhile, I ordered a mud pie ice cream. The cone sizes our huge, which I guess compensates for their high prices ($9 for 2 cones).

Here's Tom's cone. Can you see the chunk of lobster in it?
He initially described it as a very buttery ice cream, with frozen chunks of gummy worms in it. I took a bite, and it didn't taste like much, until I let the lobster chunk melt on my tongue. At which point, it actually tasted like lobster. EEEEEEEwwww. Tom ate it fast and finished it off. He was craving more of it on our drive down.

Meanwhile, I tried to finish off my mudpie
But it was just too much. Also, the coffee ice cream didn't taste like much, so it just wasn't worth the calories.

And here's the last picture of the night, me and their ice cream eating lobster mascot. (actually, it was a chair, you could sit on his tail if you were small enough). That's all the eating I'd be doing for the day. Meanwhile, Tom still had his slice of blueberry pie back at the hotel, and he devoured it as we watched the baseball game. He liked it a lot, especially the flaky crust. And he thinks I make him fat. Ah well, more eating the next day.

TWO POUND LOBSTERS AT TWO LIGHTS LOBSTER SHACK

After lunch at the Clam Shack we continued on our Maine eating adventure, but took a break and spent the afternoon in Portland. We visited the Portland Museum of Art and walked around a bit in Old Port before heading off to Cape Elisabeth to the Two Lights Lobster Shack. The place is actually just a short drive from Portland, it probably took 20 minutes to get there. Here's a view of the sign from the parking lot. As you can see, the rain didn't stop for the entire day, and it had grown even colder when we arrive at Two Lights. It felt like a typical fall day.
So Two Lights is named and known for its view of the two lighthouses , one of whic is still in use. And a foghorn, which was definitely in use throughout our entire visit. In front of the restaurant is a lovely view of the ocean and you can climb all over the rocks. I gave up after a bit cause i wsa freezing. But Kjell made it to the water's edge.
Instead, I went running up to the actual restaurant, which was pretty packed when we entered. It was also exceedingly cute, and basically what you expect from the typical Maine lobster shack. It was warm and cozy on the instead, with everything made of wood, and filled with locals enjoying their lobster dinners. There was also a lovely view of the ocean. Actually, maybe it wasn't so bad that the weather sucked. Because we were able to order and grab a table right away. (i'd read stories about people waiting an hour for their food).
Whic wasn't to say that we didn't wait. We waited a bit for our lobsters to emerge from the steamers. But I was fine with that because it meant that they were being made fresh. I ended up order they typical lobster dinner. At Two Lights, they only serve two pound lobsters (at other places you're often allowed to pick the size of your lobster). But you can add a second lobster for $10 extra. However, I found that unnecessary. Along with my dinner below, I ordered a cup of clam chowder.
I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the chowder. It was much more watery than I like. (Yes, i know there's debate about this all over New England as to whether chowder should be thick of thin. I like my chowder thick and chunky). But I did thoroughly enjoy my dinner. Along with the lobster came a big cup of surprisingly yummy coleslaw, plus fries and 2 buttery homemade biscuits. Along with all the sides, this was basically the perfect sized meal for me. (well, I was quite hungry, so probably consumed more than i usually do). The lobster was perfectly cooked. It wasn't a softshell like I'd hoped, but the shell also wasn't terribly tough. I was able to break it fairly easily with my hands. (Huong had more problems with that, though).

All in all, it was a great gustatory trip to Maine. And a great week to start off my week of gluttony. 

LOBSTERS ON A ROLL!

Ok, sorry for the title. I've been inspired by Leah, who's very excited to see Snakes on a Plane tomorrow night. And for some reason, obvious, banal statements with an exclamation point amuse me. Like "Jeans in a store!" which Leah has written on a poster in her display.

So Sunday kicked off our week of gluttony. And spending obscene amounts of money on food. As you all know, one of my summer goals was to go to Maine to eat lobster. I don't know why, but I've always felt that eating lobsters in Maine makes the lobster taste better. It's sweeter and has a better texture...and for this trip, I decided that we'd go to two well known lobster places. After driving for nearly two hours, we arrived at the Clam Shack in Kennebunk, Maine. Which oddly enough is across a small bridge from Kennebunkport. Here's the sign that divides the two towns. Sadly, it had to be the first rainy day in like a week. Of course! On my day off and the day of my lobster-eating! You could tell that the area is really quaint and lovely. Set right on a river with a nice view. But it was raining, and kinda cold.Ok, back to the Clam Shack. Here's the view from the bridge.It's pretty much your typical seafood shack, that you'll find all along the coast of New England. But the NYTimes had said that it had one of the best lobster rolls in Maine, so that's what we tried out. You order at the outdoor window. And are asked if you want mayo or butter. We ordered butter. Here's Tom paying for our lobster rolls. (Isn't he soooo cute everyone??? He's gonna kill me for writing that).And here are the lobster rolls. They look pretty basic. Just some buns with lobster meat on them, but really, they are so much more than that. The buns were slightly toasted and then slathered with butter. Lots of butter. And the lobster meat was sooooo sweet and juicy. Simple and perfect. I liked this much more than the lobster roll I had at B&G a while back.Huong actually got a lobster dinner rather than a lobster roll. It was very reasonably priced and I think she enjoyed it. She ordered in the larger market space next to the outdoor ordering window. You could also get all types of silly lobster paraphenalia indoors. The only thing that took away from the whole experience was the rain. This place is obvious designed for outdoor dining, with benches and tables made of lobster traps to the side. But with the rain, the only place to sit was on a couple of outdoors benches which were slightly sheltered from the rain. We still got wet. Plus there wasn't enough room for all the ppl ordering and eating. So a lot of people just ended up dining in their cars. Other than that I was very satisfied with my roll and looked foward to more lobster that evening.