Tag Archives: portland

Maine Take 2: River House in Portsmouth, NH

18 Jun

One nice thing about road tripping to Maine from the TriState area is you drive right through Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth is a beautiful town where you could probably spend a full vacation if you want to. In my family, however, it has always been a stop along the way.  We would get out of the car after about 5 hours driving up from Jersey, and as kids we went to the Children’s Museum to play before having lunch in town.

Now, as an adult, we skip right to the lunch and spend some time walking around the town. There are a number of restaurants lined up along the water, and this time we decided to try River House.  It has beautiful views and it’s great to be able to sit outside.

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And dream about the houses across the water.

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And watch the boats and the bridge. It’s really quite lovely.

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Their menu is extensive and varied.

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We started with the warm lobster artichoke dip. Lobster and artichokes are 2 of my favorite food, so I was thrilled.

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And I loved that it came with big ol’ chunks of lobster in it.

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We also tried something on a skewer.  I wish I remembered what this was… but 2 years later, it has evaporated (and we already know about the fate of the notebook I bought).

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One person in our party got The Cowboy Burger, which was dusted with Cowboy Ranch seasoning, chargrilled, topped with spicy Pepper Jack cheese on a toasted Brioche roll, finished with crisp onion straws, and a side of their house made Chipotle ketchup. He really enjoyed this burger.

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We also got a swiss burger with sweet potato fries.

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And my sister and I split The Tall Ships Plate, which was a 6 inch sweet Maine lobster roll on a grilled brioche bun with a cup of chowder and some sweet potato fries.

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The lobster roll was made the way I like it… on a roll with plenty of butter, one leaf of lettuce, and big chunks of lobster that weren’t drowning in mayo.  It was very good, but I can’t say it was the best I’ve had.

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The chowder was hearty and flavorful, but so creamy that I think we only had a few bites each.

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This is a good restaurant to satisfy a lot of different palates (they even have a gluten free menu now!) with gorgeous views and very good food. We really enjoyed ourselves here, and I’m sure that has a lot to do with the beautiful weather and views.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

Maine Take 2: DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant- Portland

15 Jun

In Portland, restaurant options are growing leaps and bounds every day (I hear it’s grown a lot in just the 2 years since I’ve been… looking forward to finding out TONIGHT!)

But one restaurant has been there as long as I can remember (Wow! 1954 according to their website): DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant.

Yes.. floating. (But only floating since 1982… Happy 30th Anniversary of floatation!)

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I’m pretty sure I have never been in this restaurant, but it looks exactly as you would think you would remember it. Somewhere between a cruise ship and lake cabin.  And we were the youngest people in the restaurant by at least 20 years.

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The menu is large, with a focus on seafood (as it should be).

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We started with an appetizer of angel hair spaghetti with scallops, shrimp, and artichokes.  This dish really just focused on the ingredients, but the ingredients were very good, so we enjoyed it.  

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We also had some burgers and a pizza.

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Both of which were fair.  Nothing special, but not too bad either.

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I also picked up this handy dandy little notebook that came with a pen. I wrote down all my notes about everywhere we dined throughout the trip, and decided to keep it with me to continue taking notes for the blog. There are always delays between dining and writing, and with my swiss cheese memory, I thought the notebook would help.  And then… in typical Sara form… I forgot where I put the notebook when I came back. Go me.

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DiMillo’s is a classic place. I wouldn’t say run there, but it’s a fine choice for a unique experience of dining, literally, on the water. You may want to wait a few years though, until your hair turns grey, so you can feel like you fit in a little better. And if you’re in Portland, I’d say hit up one of the restaurants we went to on our earlier trip like J’s Oyster or Fore Street.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

Maine Take 2: The Quarter Deck, Bar Harbor, ME

15 Jun

Somehow, in just 4 days on our August 2010 trip to Maine, we managed to stop in Portsmouth, NH, spend time in Blue Hill, explore a bit of Portland, and make our way up to Bar Harbor.  I was ambitious back then (ok… I’m still ambitious… with just four days this time around we’re flying into Portland and spending 1 night there, 1 night in Camden, then 2 nights in Boothbay Harbor. Who says vacation requires being sedentary?)

On our trip up to Bar Harbor, we stopped at a classic restaurant right on the harbor, Quarterdeck. Fine dining is not exactly the mantra of Bar Harbor, and the Quarterdeck doesn’t make any promises of being fancy.

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But it sure has some absolutely gorgeous views.

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Right there in the center is my favorite ship, the Margaret Todd, a 4 masted red sailboat that I’ve been on twice and loved every moment.

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Some menu perusal…

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We started with some cocktails, mostly of the blueberry variety.

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All were quite good!

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And one of our favorite Maine breweries: Allagash.

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We started off with the calamari, which were nice and crispy but not overly interesting.

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We also split some crab cakes, which were decent but nothing to write home about.

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I got some coconut shrimp, which I was a big fan of.  Flavorful, succulent shrimp with a crispy coconut shell.  

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We got some burgers, which were… fair.

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And a very fresh salad.

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Is the Quarterdeck a phenomenal restaurant… well no.  But the views are exceptional, the service friendly, the food good enough.

It’s a really great place to grab a drink and watch the world pass by.

Total Noms: 6.5 out of 10