A Taste of Maine

Employer sponsored health insurance, paid parental leave and the ability to work remotely in New England for the month of October. That should really be the gold standard for employee benefits packages.

If you can’t tell, our recent trip reminded me just how much I love my homeland in the fall. It’s almost like the leaves timed their peak days of orange, gold and red perfection to seduce me. And it worked.

We hiked, we got all fancy for a wedding, we caught an awesome concert with my family, and we ate so much good food.

Rarely does a small town give me enough fodder to write a whole blog post about, but Camden, Maine is an exception. Or I’m just really good at finding the best places anywhere I go – it’s a little bit of that too, let’s be honest. Take me with you on your next trip and I’ll make sure you eat well.

Pretty much anytime I touch down in Maine, my first order of business is finding some good lobster. As I’m reminded every summer when I order lobster in Cape Cod, the rest of New England just can’t compete with Maine. After finding our first two destinations closed for the season, we landed at Graffam Bros. in neighboring Rockport, where we were greeted by two nearly identical and disarmingly friendly young men I can only imagine are some generation of the Graffam bros. Another customer actually asked one of them if they are always that happy. Yes they are always that happy THEY LIVE IN MAINE IN OCTOBER AND EAT LOBSTER ALL THE TIME! Checks out to me.

Anyway, at first I was kind of disappointed that my $18 lobster roll looked kind of small, but as I dug in I realized it was utterly packed with lobster. And really tasty lobster at that. It didn’t come with any sides, unless you count a map of the area and extensive recommendations on where to hike. I’ll take it.

A few other things I didn’t expect to find in Camden, Maine: a Sri Lankan stout on draft and some of the best damn Thai food I’ve had in my entire life. Both were found at Long Grain.

Beer aside, damn near everything is made in house. It’s fresh, locally sourced, and incredibly flavorful. We sat at the bar and knew immediately that it was going to be good from the steady flow of locals lined up to get takeout ( we could tell they were locals from the steady flow of matching vests – apparently Maine has a fall uniform we weren’t informed about).

Everything we ate was amazing and I really wanted to sample the whole menu. So much so that we went back the next day for post-hike, pre-wedding takeout! You can also stock up on tough-to-find ingredients at the mini-Asian grocery store connected to the intimate eatery.

If you judge a town by its coffee shop, you’re going to get a stellar impression of Rockport. We stopped into Seafolk Coffee for a little pre-hike breakfast, and were treated to this beautiful spread.

All of their breakfast sandwiches can be served atop a bed of greens, which I opted for since we’d had a bit of a noodle binge the night before. I’m always a little worried that I’ll be missing out when I try to go the healthy route and get my sandwich on mixed greens, but as you can see, I missed out on nothing here. We enjoyed our breakfast with a local family who welcomed us to join their table and shared more hiking tips. Proof that it’s a small world we live in, she used to have a store in my hometown and he began talking engineering with Courtney.

Okay, back to food. The bride and groom are huge foodies, so we knew we’d be treated to a delicious spread. But I didn’t anticipate (or photograph) the full table charcuterie spread, the raw oyster bar or the lamb. What I did photograph was the cake: an absolutely stunning croquembouche. I had two of these delicious little pastry puffs before I had to physically remove myself from the table.

The next morning Courtney woke up in search of electrolyte beverages and I woke up in search of our next meal. Although tempted to go back to Seafolk, I wanted to try something new. When I found the Red Barn Marketplace, a “bakery meets antique shop meets New England knick knacks,” I knew it was just the thing.

According to the website, “Every morning the ovens are fired up at 3:00 am to bake everything fresh for the day” – so, they got started on our baked goods around the time we were going to bed. Obviously I wanted all of them, but I settled for a monte cristo croissant, an apple strudel and Kouign-Amann. Oh, and not pictured, four cookies for the road.

Kouign-Amann (left) doesn’t look like much, but it was spectacular. Not surprising since it’s essentially layers of butter and dough. From Brittany, it has been referred to as “the fattiest pastry in all of Europe.”

Next, we were off to Portland. The ride was absolutely glorious, in part because of the unparalleled beauty of the foliage – but mostly because I got my one-time-a-year pumpkin iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. Figured my blood sugar was already through the roof, so might as well fan the flames.

After a quick stop at Shipyard Brewery for a mediocre flight of beer, we were off to a music festival with my cousin and uncle. Although we’d not yet had lunch, I couldn’t resist this New England treat from a street side food truck. The soft serve was so sooooo creamy with the subtle hint of maple.

And last but not least, you can’t leave Portland without a stop at Holy Donut for Maine’s famous potato doughnuts. Courtney and I split four doughnuts, much more reasonable than the seven we shared on our last visit. So we are like 57% more mature adults that are good at moderation and healthy eating* than we were a year ago.

*Don’t click that link. I found it when trying to remember what flavors we had and couldn’t resist. I’m all for transparency, but sometimes you just don’t want to know. Like when my brother told me that the coffee cake muffins I’d been eating for years as a “healthier” doughnut alternative were actually much, much worse. Love you Nate.

Johanna