Greg brought home take out from Hellen's kitchen in Northport (its attached to the Mobil Station on Rte 1) Take my advice and stay away from here! He brought home philly cheese steak sandwich and chicken tenders and I must say that I can buy better low end frozen food and cook it myself. What a horror this place is.

Be afraid, be very afraid

Seth

Greg was "rich for a day" a few days ago...thats what we call it when we're flush with cash , cause thats about how long it lasts. I was having a bad day with pot hell (ever have a cupboard in your kitchen where all the junk goes? Its where we keep the baking and springform pans as well as the storage jars and lids...always like socks, you can never find the right lid for the container) and so was yelling up one side and down the other...his solution was to bring me a dozen long stemmed roses...good boy, Greg, gooood boy! and take me to lunch on our way to town for errands.
We decided on the Summer House Cafe on rte 1 just south of Belfast. Its been reviewed here, but not in a long time and not by both of us. First, what irked me about the place the first time we went in happened again right off the bat. The first time we went in, we must have been told 9 times by passing servers and other employees "someone will be with you in a minute." We finally left and went to Dudley's for breakfast that day. A year later, two people ran past us spewing out "someone will be with you in a minute" as they flew by...what I want to know is "who is this mythical someone???" Strike 1 Anyway, the place was pretty empty for lunch and our server came to ask if we wanted to try the black angus burger with steak fries, which Greg ordered, along with extra, extra, extra, extra, extra crispy fries, his usual. I had a chai and a chicken salad sandwich on marble rye. The server ran off to put Greg's fry order in pronto so that they would be done in time for lunch...which puzzled us at first...until the burger and fries arrived. {inserting a Greg says:} "Never offer fries on the menu unless you actually have a frier. Putting potato wedges or even "steak fries" from Sysco on a baking sheet and putting them in the oven is not fries, its roasted potatoes." Strike 2 The potatoes came out seasoned, somwhat brown on one side and raw on the other...it was just too sad to see happen to a good steak fry. My chai was good, but arrived luke warm and I could tell that the water hadn't boiled before it was added to the chai (tea drinkers are constantly disappointed in restaurants where we feel we get shafted..no one pays attention to the proper way to make tea...though the restaurant may have 12 different varieties of coffee) But I digress. My chicken sandwich was perfectly fine and tasty as was Greg's burger. We weren't blown away and probably will not make this place a destination. I will say that the place is at least bright and cheery, but for the same price, there are much better places for lunch in town.

Enjoy,
Seth

Last night we went out with two friends to the Penobscot Inn and Restaurant on Rte 1 just south of Belfast. This inn has changed hands three times in the 4 years we've been here. The previous owner teamed up with Belfast celeb chef Oliver Outerbridge and opened Oliver's inside the inn. When she lost interest in the whole enterprise, she closed the restaurant, subdivided the property and sold off the ocean lot with a huge house she built on it. Now the Inn is owned by a very nice couple who are running the restaurant themselves. The have three rooms full of tables which I belive can fit up to 40 people for dinner. A bonus is their sunday brunch, which we'll have to try sometime later.

We ate on the early side and when we got the menus, what suprised us most were the prices. Every entry came with soup, salad, dessert and coffee and also included choice of vegetable and either roasted or mashed potatoes. Thats a heck of a lot of food, even for yours truly. The wine list had mostly $20ish range wines and there is a full bar...a bonus for me. With two bottles of red wine, two mixed drinks and two glasses of white, the total bill for four of us was $150.00, not too shabby.

Anyway onto the review....The first thing we all agreed upon was the lighting which was perfect; medium level, not too dim or too bright with small lamps on the tables, white christmas lights hidden behind the curtains and some over heads. We sat in the old covered porch which will be very crowded for diners come summer if all the tables are filled, but since there were only three tables open while we were there, it wasn't bad. The atmosphere was really nice and cozy. Leather couches and reading material in the hall outside, and nice prints and painted woodwork on the porch.
Three of us ordered the NY strip steak based on the recommendation of a friend who had eaten there previously and raved about the steak. Greg had the chicken schnitzle, which was a breaded and fried chicken with vegetables. We all had the lentil soup and ceasar salads and the comments after we left were that it was a good concept, all the food for one price, but because it was food service food, the quality was lacking. The lentil soup had too much onion and lacked any outstanding flavor. the ceasar salads were really weak looking but did include nicely shaved parmesan cheese on top. I would suggest salad in a bag from Hannaford with the extra cheese on top, it looks and tastes much better than what we got. The steaks were really nice cut, but probably also food service. They seemed to be fairly well brined. Greg says his chicken was thin and dry. When I had a taste I was pretty amazed that there was NO flavor to the chicken at all. It is fairly simple to add a bit of cayanne and some garlic powder to add a fantastic flavor to otherwise bland food. There were two thumbs up for the asaparagus, but I have to say how disappointed I was with the mashed potatoes, which tasted as if they were right from the box. Mashed potatoes should be lumpy, have the skins on, be mixed with chicken broth and liberally salted. ITS NOT THAT HARD!!!!
For dessert we all chose different things. Greg had cheesecake from a box with sad blueberry sauce over the top. I had the warm double fudge brownie sundae which was excellent and our friends had the rhubarb trifle which was passable and icecream which was creamy and nice. I had a very well appointed pot of tea too.
The overall thought on the place was a 6 to 7 out of 10. and the comment that if the place just concentrated on making the main courses better and more hand made while leaving out the soup and salad, and charging for better desserts, the place would be a real winner. It has potential here, but just stop with the food service food!!!!!

Enjoy,
Seth

Just a short note to say that I made a cool discovery last night when I cooked acorn squash in the oven. I filled the cavities with chicken broth, salt, pepper, and celery seed and the squash imparted a great flavor to the broth and vise versa. So much healthier than filling with butter and brown sugar!
Were going out to a new restaurant tomorrow night, so stay tuned for a rip roarin' review.

Enjoy,
Seth

I was in Portsmouth a few weeks ago with my friend Christine and her friend Ted. We were driving up from Boston to attend an auction preview and in the 45 minutes it took us to drive there, Chris received about 6 phone calls from what I like to refer to now as her entourage. Everyone wanted to know if Chris was going to the preview (this was at about 8 am on a Saturday morning). I don't get that many phone calls in a week, much less on a saturday morning! Chris is my popular friend...I feel like so cool when she lets me hang out with her.
After we got to the preview, Chris collected her entourage and they planned a lunch outing. I had over 100 lots to examine at this auction, so I thought I might not go, but then I thought...hmmmm...I need SOMETHING to write about on this site. We took off in no less than five cars bound for the Rusty Hammer in downtown Portsmouth. The Rusty Hammer is pretty much a sports bar restaurant. They have a HUGE menu and their hamburgers, known as wimpys, are famous. I think I was the only one at the table of 13 people who didn't have a wimpy. Take my advice when eating at the Rusty Hammer, have the waffle fries. I think fries taste better when they are cut in the shape of waffles. My chicken tenders were actually homemade and very good and juicy. Everyone drank, except me since I had to go back to work, and the cocktails looked bountiful.
The RH seems like a great place to meet friends, drink at the bar, or sit at the table and watch "the game" Its a very friendly place, and has a TGI FRIDAY'S type of decor and feel, yet you know its not a chain restaurant.

Enjoy,
Seth

We had a great mini vacation visiting my parents in Florida...I say mini because who can actually feel that they are on vacation when visiting their parents? We were there for four days which was just enough time. One night we wanted to explore on our own, much to my mother's chagrin since she had a pork roast all set for that night. Greg and I left in the afternoon and went shopping. When we were hungry, we both decided not to try any of the restaurants on US41, which were either huge Italian eateries in pastel stucco buildings, or big chain places like Applebees and Ruth Chris. Its hard in Sarasota to find a restaurant with some charm, but we did it. We drove through the historic Burns Arts District where there are cute bungalows with overgrown front yards and huge trees arching overhead and found a bungalow with tikki torches lit outside, white christmas lights around the windows and a warm cozy look to it, so we stopped. Keep in mind that this was Tuesday, so the place was empty...and I mean, out of 30 tables, we were the only ones in the place. It was a bit steamy outside, but otherwise a beautiful night, so we sat outside and soaked in the chaaaam. The restaurant, called Le Cafe, is on 238 South Links Ave. We were fawned over by the server who gave us all the service we wanted, but also left us alone outside for good long stretches. Greg had the tomato, basil, and mozzarella stuffed meatloaf with a red wine reduction sauce and it was fantastic. Apparently it is a favorite of regular diners. I had an osso bucco risotto that was nice, but a bit soupy, so the texture was a bit off. What was great was having a nice meal in Florida where the food is made by hand rather than by Sysco. The wine, a merlot / shiraz blend, was very smooth and quite nice.

We then walked down main street in Sarasota and popped into a gelateria and had tasty servings of gelato. We took a late night drive to Saint Armands Circle on Longboat Key to window shop. What a very nice night indeed.

Back to cold Maine

Enjoy,
Seth