Lobster shacks, hidden gems, fine dining, and more.
Coastal Maine is one of the most beautiful spots in the United States, with great food to match. Here’s a definitive food and dining guide for the best restaurants midcoast Maine, from secret lobster shacks to special occasion restaurants, bakeries, ice cream, and everything in between. (Food guide updated spring 2021).
Dinner at the Pemaquid Seafood Co-op
Maine has always been a top American vacation spot. But Maine has become an outstanding dining destination, too. Some of the best restaurants in Maine are also the best in the country. So here is a definitive midcoast Maine dining guide to restaurants, yes, but also the little bakeries, diners, neighborhood spots, and seafood shacks that make Maine “the way life should be.”
Here are some of best food and restaurant destinations in midcoast Maine, including the hidden spots you’ll want to keep all to yourself. (Note: Check individual spots for updated details on their current Covid-19 protocols.)
The view from Shaw’s in New Harbor, Maine
Where to Eat in Portland, Maine (Bring Your Appetite!)
There have always been, and will always be, the timeless Maine spots serving honest, regional favorites like chowder, lobster rolls, anadama bread, and fried haddock. But Maine also offers modern, seasonal, and even fancy fare to meet every mood and appetite. A prime example? Portland. Portland has become a top dining destination in all of New England — and the country — for good reason. So we start our Maine dining guide here.
Portland, Maine is a small port city built of old red brick, with winding streets, waterfront views, and the occasional cobblestone street. Seagulls swoop and sound their loud calls throughout the streets, mingling with tourists, residents, pigeons, and businesspeople. But most of all: There’s the food.
1. Solo Italiano
By some great stroke of luck, Italian chef and 2008 World Pesto Champion Paolo Laboa came to live in Portland, Maine. At Solo Italiano, he crafts Italian food rooted in simplicity. Great attention has been paid to every ingredient, from the young basil leaves he grows for the pesto to the homemade pastas. Solo Italiano is one of my favorite restaurants in Maine. You want to get that award-winning, silken Ligurian pesto folded into a handkerchief pasta dish, of course. But everything is outstanding.
2. Micucci’s
An Italian store with a capital “I” — even if Italian wasn’t already a proper noun. Micucci’s is the top destination not only for Italian groceries but also takeaway food and wine. Their pasta and olive oil selections are excellent and fairly priced. Insiders know to head to the back of the store, up the stairs, and around the corner, for huge lunchtime slices of pillowy Sicilian-style pizza right out of the oven.
3. Standard Baking Co.
Standard Baking deserves a spot in the Maine dining guide for baking the best bread in Portland. Period. Standard Baking serves up crusty, artisan loaves including baguettes, crusty levain, the must-get raisin pecan bread, and lots more. Standard Baking Co.’s rustic shop with bread-making viewing window also sells an array of buttery pastries, scones, and cookies. Get the chocolate shortbread.
And here’s a tip: Place your order online to skip the out-the-door line.
4. Two Fat Cats Bakery
I love this bakery for its air of casual disorganization, where stepping into the store feels more like stepping into a home kitchen filled with pie. The charming little shop sells cakes and other small treats, but pie is the way to go.
5. Fore Street
High-end Fore Street restaurant is the spot in Portland (and beyond) for special occasion dining, but does not feel fancy or pretentious. Fore Street has won multiple awards over the years, and deservedly so. Seats with a view of the wood-burning hearth and kitchen are my favorite. I also like the bar for happy hour or a nightcap, where food is available.
6. Eventide Oyster Co.
Eventide drew fame and big crowds since its opening several years ago. People love the casual, bustling atmosphere accompanied by great cocktails, the best oysters around, and other perfect, Asian-inflected dishes like crab buns and scallop waffle yaki. Get the brown butter lobster rolls. Get the clam chowder. Get other stuff, too. Repeat.
7. J’s Oyster
J’s Oyster is everything you want in a divey seafood bar, from swarthy regulars to bad lighting and unbeatable oysters and haddock chowder. It’s right on the pier, so enjoy a stroll before or after your meal.
Maine Dining Guide: Best Food + Restaurants Further Up Coast
Continuing our Maine dining guide northward up coastal Route 1, you will find lots of charming towns, quiet and picturesque harbors, stunning ocean waves crashing against large granite rocks, and more great food.
1. Shaw’s Fish & Lobster Wharf
“Number 47!” “Number 82!” Having your number called over the megaphone at Shaw’s feels like winning the seafood lottery. Grab a seat on the outdoor deck overlooking one of the prettiest harbors in Maine and watch lobstermen return with their daily catch as you await your order of whole lobsters, fried seafood platters, beer, fries, and lots more. Head downstairs to pick out your exact lobster, if you’d like. The food is sometimes inconsistent — I don’t think they’ll be winning any culinary awards — but it sure is a nice view.
2. Dot’s Bakery
Blink and you’ll miss this wonderfully un-fancy bake shop. Dot’s Bakery in Round Pond operates from a wing of an old Victorian home. And you will feel right at home as Dot herself helps you choose homemade pies, cookies, donuts, and other sweet and savory treats. The cinnamon-sugar cake donuts are especially good.
3. Pemaquid Seafood Co-Op
Pemaquid Seafood Co-Op, located off a quiet residential street in New Harbor, offers a beautiful view of the river and harbor while serving simple seafood suppers like lobsters, clams, rolls, and fish, all served with sides like corn on the cob and slaw. The lobster rolls are particularly generous.
4. Weatherbird
A gourmet shop in downtown Damariscotta worth visiting for their heat-at-home pastas, excellent cheeses, wine, simple baked goods, and other light menu items. Weatherbird also sells a fine selection of kitchenware and dining accessories, perfect for finding a host gift or non-tacky souvenir.
5. The Cupboard Café
“Do I keep this secret, or write about the Cupboard?”
That was my internal debate before writing this, because a big part of me wants to keep this special little spot as secret as possible. But, owner MaryDee and her family deserve the recognition.
The Cupboard Café serves, hands-down, the best cinnamon and sticky buns in the country. There is no debate. As if that was not enough, this cozy, wood-paneled day kitchen serves up excellent, uncomplicated breakfasts and lunch. Their breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and haddock chowder are standouts.
6. Round Top Ice Cream
A destination ice cream parlor with dozens of flavors and a penchant for huge scoops. Strong-biceped young employees will indulge sampling as many flavors as you like. I always get the vanilla milkshake, or “frappe” in local parlance, super thick and wonderfully sweet. Sundaes are also popular.
7. Moody’s Diner
Moody’s Diner sits along Route 1: a long, rather unattractive white building with dark green piping and a big, orange neon sign. Moody’s is the famous greasy spoon diner that feels like it’s been around forever. And it basically has (well, since 1927). The fourth-generation diner serves classic, unpretentious Maine diner fare. Get whatever chowder is on the menu, served with a fluffy biscuit. The pies are also excellent.
8. The Contented Sole
A popular all-day restaurant with a quiet dock where guests can sit and take in the view, The Contented Sole is one of my favorite spots for pizza, seafood, and seasonal summer fare. Married owners Beth and Warren Busteed prepare excellent local haddock fish and chips, locally-sourced poke bowls, clam pizza, and Pemaquid oysters — just a few reasons to make The Contented Sole a must-visit.
The Contented Sole at night. [Photo via The Contented Sole / Official Facebook]
9. McLoon’s Lobster Shack
McLoon’s has been hailed as one of the top lobster shacks and lobster roll spots in Maine. We agree, and include it in our Maine dining guide. Located on little Spruce Head Island, across from the area’s oldest working lobster wharf, McLoon’s makes a perfect spot to stop for lobster, as well as chowder, homemade pie, crab cakes, and other simple seafood.
The word is out on this midcoast charmer, though, which gets more popular every year. Though Red’s Eats in Wiscasset may boast the longest lobster roll lines in Maine, I recently got a tip that McLoon’s may be giving it a run for its money soon, so fair warning.
Maine Dining Guide: Top of the Rock(land)
The small sister towns of Rockland and Rockport have an outsized ratio of good restaurants, some of the best restaurants in Maine, in fact. Neighboring (and it must be said, more touristy) Camden has some solid restaurants as well.
10. Primo
Chef Melissa Kelly helps set a national standard for casually elegant, seasonal, farm-to-table dining, and is an essential restaurant in our Maine dining guide. This upscale-casual Rockland restaurant has its own working farm out back, where guests can say hi to the chickens and see the rows and rows of fresh produce and herbs. The restaurant, in a converted Victorian mansion, serves a casually elegant menu that leans Italian. The pasta is a must, as are the zeppole (fried dough balls covered in sugar) for dessert.
Didn’t make a reservation months in advance? There is also a more casual lounge for walk-ins, but check for Covid restrictions.
11. Suzuki’s Sushi
Despite being one of the country’s leading seafood producers, Maine is notoriously short on good sushi. Thankfully, Rockland, Maine boasts jewel box restaurant Suzuki’s Restaurant. Even better, the restaurant is owned and operated by a female sushi chef — a rarity. Largely self-taught Keiko Suzuki Steinberger has been twice nominated for a James Beard award. Everything is fresh, with creative touches that still hew classic.
12. Nina June
Tiny yet increasingly trendy, upscale Rockport boasts several newish, excellent dining spots, such as 18 Central and Nina June. Nina June (pronounced NINE-ah) impresses in many ways, from the airy, chic dining room to the excellent food. Chef Sara Jenkins made a name for herself in New York City, helming standout Italian restaurants such as Porsena, before returning to her Maine roots to open Nina June. (And in between, she has also authored two excellent cookbooks.)
Locals and visitors can enjoy her lovingly-prepared pastas, famous porchetta, risotto, and more. The view from the back deck isn’t bad, either.
13. Long Grain
Award-winning Long Grain restaurant serves fresh Asian cuisine that takes its main inspiration from Thai and Vietnamese street food. Local and seasonal ingredients predominate. Try the crab fried rice and spicy night market soup.
14. Bleecker & Greer
Bleecker & Greer began as a butcher shop selling Maine-raised meats and poultry, but expanded in 2019 into a beautifully-restored 19th century schoolhouse that now includes a bakery, cafe, grocery, and deli. (You can also purchase wine and beer.) Perfect for picking up picnic provisions to take to the beach, or for grabbing a midday bite.
Ed. Note: This midcoast Maine dining guide does not include current Covid precautions/restrictions. Please check the individual websites for current hours and Covid-19 restrictions, and please practice safety. This article does not vouch for the above-listed businesses’ sanitation or adherence to current C.D.C. or other health recommended or mandated protocols.
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What do you think are the best Maine restaurants and food spots? Let us know in the comments. And below, an authentic New England fish chowder recipe, to help bring some midcoast Maine to your home kitchen.
Creamy New England Fish Chowder
Ingredients
- 3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut to a medium dice
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pound fresh haddock or cod fillets, picked over for bones
- 1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk
- ½ cup half-and-half or heavy cream
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- cold water
- fresh minced chives and oyster crackers, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Dice the potatoes and onions. PRO TIP: Keep cut potatoes from discoloring by covering them in cold water until ready for use.
- In a soup pot, melt half the butter over medium-low heat. Add the diced onions and bay leaf and cook, stirring, over medium heat until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the diced potatoes and add enough water to the pot to cover the potatoes and onions. Cover and gently boil until the potatoes are just fork tender, about 10 minutes.
- Lay the whole fish fillets on top of the potatoes and onion. Add the evaporated milk and the half-and-half or cream. Do not stir. Cover and cook at a simmer, without stirring, for about 15 minutes. Check the pot once or twice to make sure the liquid does not boil.
- Check to make sure that the potatoes have fully softened, and the fish is cooked and flakes apart easily. Add the rest of the butter, the salt, and a good dose of fresh black pepper. Stir gently to combine and break the fish apart a bit. Taste for seasoning.
- Top with fresh minced chives and serve with oyster crackers or hot biscuits.
Sharon Setz says
McLoons indeed has good food… but it is EVERY BIT as busy as Reds Eats. The traffic has RUINED our coastal community. We are overwhelmed with 300-400 extra cars a day streaming into our island. Please STOP writing about it. The first summer was great and even natives could catch a meal… now we are inundated with tourist and you can’t get near the place. Every local here wishes they never opened.
Unpeeled says
Hi, Sharon. I am so, so sorry to hear that this has happened. I hate to think that this great place has lost some of its magic, and also that its success has created such disturbance for the neighbors. I will add a disclaimer to the article, and thank you for letting me know. I’ll keep an extra eye out for alternate options this summer. All the best.
Les says
This comment is for the chowder which is delicious and was incredibly easy to make. five stars.
J. L. says
Thanks for the great recommendations!