I’ve been vacationing in Maine every year since January 2015. It was -2 degrees then, but I still fell in love with the place, especially the food. I appreciated that many places in Maine are sensitive to those of us who maintain a gluten-free diet and, as a result, we have so many more options. During that trip, I still believed I was allergic to shellfish, so Maine lobster wasn’t even on my radar screen. I learned that there is so much amazing food in Maine—beyond lobster.
Many artisan, small and innovative food enterprises in Maine utilize locally sourced, fresh and organic ingredients. They are strong supporters of Maine’s abundant agricultural products, of small businesses and, therefore, of each other. It’s a win-win situation.
I limited this post to places outside of Portland, but will talk about it in a separate post.
Bacon Street
Made with Maine wheat, the biscuits at Biscuits and Company in Biddeford are amazing. They are dense, chewy and hearty enough to stand on their own as a meal. Biscuits and Company is appropriately located on the corner of Alfred and Bacon Streets in downtown Biddeford. Speaking of which, I’m not sure what Biscuits and Company does to their bacon, but everyone should do it. We preorder bacon before the trip and the car is five pounds heavier with bacon on the trip home. I usually order the “Big Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich” on a gluten-free biscuit (which do sell out).
I Scream, We All Scream
If you’re in Kennebunkport, stop at the original Rococo Ice Cream. While there are flavors such as blueberry chipotle, strawberry basil and sweet avocado cayenne, I went for mint. It was, though, the best mint ice cream I’ve ever had and Rococo’s also has gluten-free cones. It was even better since I’ve gotten past my bias that mint ice cream has to be green to be legitimate.
Gelato Fiasco in Brunswick (there’s also a location in Portland) makes incredible all natural gelato using milk from family farms. The gelato flavors change, they let you sample as much as you want and they do sell out. We happened to be in Maine once when they did a “gelato for breakfast” event. At 10 am one Saturday, I was enjoying this maple bacon and Maine blueberry cheesecake gelato combo. Talk about “breakfast of champions”…by the way, Gelato Fiasco is available in grocery stores across the U.S.
Carbs on Carbs
Otto Pizza is a great little local chain, with a majority of locations in the Portland area. Otto offers interesting toppings such as pulled pork and mango; buffalo cauliflower, scallion and blue cheese; and sriracha chicken and avocado. Gluten-free and vegan options are also available. We stopped at the Otto in Yarmouth and had this pizza with bacon, mashed potatoes and scallions on a gluten-free crust. Yes, mashed potatoes on pizza is the most brilliant thing ever.
Clean Plate Club
We love eating at Frontier in Brunswick. This sushi rice bowl with locally made tofu was so good. On another night, “we” ordered the vegan nachos and gluten-free calamari. I say “we” because I may, or may not, have eaten the entire plates myself.
How Dairy
On a beautiful summer day, we drove out to Whitefield, Maine to check out a couple of farm stands, both using the honor system for payment. We first stopped at Fuzzy Udder Creamery for some local cheese. Fortunately, since no staff was working, they had very good descriptions of what was available that day. The owner did pop out for a minute and informed us, unfortunately, we were a day early for the handmade mozzarella.
Not far from Fuzzy Udder is the Swallow Tail Farm and Creamery farmstand. They produce a range of products including cheese, butter and skyr, an Icelandic style yogurt. It’s super thick with flavors like mocha chip, lemon and cannoli. The consistency of skyr would be as if you put a cheesecake into a blender—heavenly! I’ve stocked up on skyr at the Portland Farmers Market (it freezes really well).
Market Days
The farmers markets in Maine are wonderful. The Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets’ website has a list of all the farmers markets throughout Maine, organized by day of the week. I use it to plan our daily trips, because doesn’t everyone plan vacations around when the farmers market are?
Sure, you can get gorgeous vegetables like these carrots at the Boothbay Farmers Market, but you can also get this half gallon of maple syrup from Frontier Maple Sugarworks. It is light, flavorful and can be used in so many ways. I use it not only on pancakes, but also in my coffee and in recipes instead of sugar. There’s also an amazing bourbon barrel-aged version.
Final Thoughts
Putting this post together and organizing the photos from different trips made me really hungry. I hope you are, too, after reading it. The people behind the food in Maine—the farmers, the fisherman, the restaurants, the farmers markets, etc.—take great pride in what they’re putting out into the world and you can taste it in everything. I will certainly talk about lobster in another post, but I want you to know that there’s amazing food in Maine—beyond lobster. Enjoy it all while you’re there and leave room in the car or your suitcase to enjoy some when you get home.
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
Thanks for reading and your lovely comment!