Beulah, peel me a lobster!

[WHS]

If Bar Harbor evokes the reaction "been there, done that", and the lower coast instills claustrophobia in the summer, give Monhegan Island a look. We drove up from New Hampshire, making a quick lunch stop at Bob's Clam Shack in Kittery. Bob's has been around since the '50s and is now surrounded by outlet mall blight, but the fried clams and lobster rolls are still excellent. We spent the night in Rockland, ostensibly to catch the early ferry, but really to have dinner at Primo. Melissa Kelly’s Mediterranean-influenced cooking is enhanced by fresh vegetables and herbs from her beautiful garden. Firsts included a nicoise salad with fresh tuna poached in olive oil, and grilled grape leaves stuffed with feta. Main courses were pork tenderloin saltimbocca and grilled sea bass. The wine was a very good Damijan Collio white, recommended by the waiter. Service was professional and friendly—the staff obviously takes pride in the place. Definitely the best restaurant north of Portland.

Monhegan Island is reached by ferry from Port Clyde. The trip takes about an hour, and you are transported back 100 years. There are no paved roads, private cars, bars, or movie theaters and electricity is a recent innovation. Accommodations are B&Bs and two old Victorian inns. We stayed at the Island Inn, a wooden pile with rocking chairs on the verandah overlooking the water. Our activities were edited down to reading, taking walks, sleeping and (of course) eating. The Island Inn has a perfectly good restaurant—how can you screw up a lobster?—but Monhegan House is the place for dinner. When you consider the logistics of getting food and produce to a one square mile speck in Penobscot Bay, unloading it by hand and getting it to the kitchen, the restaurant’s offerings of hangar steak, beet gnocchi, and pumpkin risotto were impressive. They also served local scallops as big as hockey pucks, and we had a sea bass just off the boat with heirloom tomatoes.

BTW, on your return trip, stop by the Dip Net at the ferry dock in Port Clyde. The cook is from Ecuador and his batter for fried clams is top notch.

[bobmac]

Many thanks. We were looking for a place to go and just booked there.

By the way, how long did you stay? We booked for two nights, thinking there was a minimum.

Edited August 7, 2004 by bobmac (log)

[WHS]

Don't believe there is a minimum stay required, though a few days there will really get you into the rythym of the place.

[elrap]

I've stayed at Island Inn (last year) and I think they do try and enforce a two night minimum on weekends only. I also agree with your dinner assessment, but we've found this varies hugely year to year, because the restaurants constantly contract with new chefs.

We've been to Island Inn three times and the first time the food was really spectacular, much better than Monhegan House that same year. The next two times the tables had turned.

One thing that is consistent is the very interesting service at the Island Inn, usually northern or east European youngsters, very sweet and competent, but who had no idea what they were letting themselves in for in terms of isolation and entertainment.

[bobmac]

Thanks, WHS, Monhegan Island was everything you promised. There was even some excitement when lightning struck a building near the dock, starting two fires and blowing out electricity for the whole island. Fortunately, the flames were quickly extinguished and power was back amazingly fast.

Primo was, well, primo. We didn't contact the place in time to get a reservation and were prepared to sit at the bar when a table magically opened. Wonderful scallop and Gruyere appetizer, halibut (with a corn sauce) that could have been the best I ever had, a wonderfully thin pizza, and a peach thingee and three excellent cheeses for desserts.

[ghostrider]

We spent the night in Rockland, ostensibly to catch the early ferry, but really to have dinner at Primo. Melissa Kelly’s Mediterranean-influenced cooking is enhanced by fresh vegetables and herbs from her beautiful garden. Firsts included a nicoise salad with fresh tuna poached in olive oil, and grilled grape leaves stuffed with feta. Main courses were pork tenderloin saltimbocca and grilled sea bass. The wine was a very good Damijan Collio white, recommended by the waiter. Service was professional and friendly—the staff obviously takes pride in the place. Definitely the best restaurant north of Portland.

Have you been to the Robinhood Free Meeting House, on Georgetown Island, just out from Bath?

I've read many good things about Primo, but I'm wondering how the two places compare. I don't feel that I could declare Robinhood "Definitely the best... north of Portland" until I get to Primo.

[WHS]

I've never tried Robinhood Free Meetinghouse, but I just checked out their website. It looks pretty eclectic--I get nervous when I see Thai vegetable curry and wienerschnitzel on the same menu. Do they pull it off?

[CSASphinx]

It's been a couple years (at least) since I've ventured up to Robinhood Meetinghouse for a meal.

Years ago it received lots of hype and word of mouth recommendations in the Portland area as a must-go place. When we went, we had much the same impression -- that the menu was too extensive and too varied. As a result, I couldn't get a real sense of what Gagne's style is. It seemed more like he was interested in recreating a bunch of straightforward dishes from a number of different "ethnic" cuisines instead of incorporating aspects of them to put twists on traditional favorites and make them his own.

That said, my last meal there was good, but uninspired and as a result I haven't been of the mind to drive more than an hour for another visit -- especially with so many promising places to eat right here in Greater Portland.

That said. I attended a wedding about five years ago that Gagne catered and it was some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding...spicy shrimp, steaks with a variety of rubs and mustards/sauces all served in a kind of buffet style, served by his staff, or meat carved to order.