Atlantica, Camden, ME
Last night we had an out of town friend treat us to dinner as payback for inviting her to Easter dinner! Though it was unnessesary, we never turn down a good free meal!!! Atlantica is one of the harborside restaurants on Bayview Street in Camden...the atmosphere of having boats and schooners float by while we sip our cocktails just cannot be beat. Right away, I give the place an A for location!

We started out with a couple of bottles of Austrailian Shiraz which was just lovely. The wine list is extensive and varies widely with affordable bottles as well as $125 bottles. Our server was very adept at getting the wine around the smallish table and keeping our glasses filled.

Three of us had the Atlantica salad, which was a bed of greens with walnuts, manderin oranges, blueberries, warm goat cheese, and a nice subtle dressing that did not overwhelm the salad. At $6.00 it was probably the best value on the menu. Greg had crab cakes (which turned out to be a single crab cake) He said it was wonderful, but later told me that it certainly wasn't worth getting again.

The chef appears to be a minimalist with a penchant for using his frothing machine....there were interesting sounding dishes that were served with some sort of foam on the side. Our dinner host ordered the salmon fillet with a side of Wasabi foam (wasabi whipped with cream) I think there was also a soy foam on something as well. For dinner there is not much choice for someone who doesn't eat seafood. I had the fillet of beef with carmelized onions and a bernaise butter. The dish arrived with a squirt of mashed potatos and three green beans. The dish was $23.00 and for that I think at least 10 beans should have been placed on the plate! The food was good, but the brown and orange sauces that were swirled together on the plate were pretty tasteless. Our friend Vicky had the Haddock which she said was mouthwatering and Greg had the scallops which he also said was wonderful, if a bit minimalist for the price.

We were lulled into ordering dessert by the dessert tray that kept passing by. My lemon layer cake was totally sublime and just delicious. I need to figure out how to make something with such a light lemon flavor! Vicky had lemon curd with fresh berries which was also wonderful, though I like my lemon curd better (this dessert gives me ideas for my next party though) Greg had a macademia nut torte that he loved and I thought was ok.

I would certainly recommend this wonderful restaurant, just ask for a few more beans with your dinner though.
Atmosphere A
Food A
Wine A

Enjoy,
Seth

Broadway Deli, Belfast, ME

Yesterday was wicked busy in Belfast with all sorts of art festivals and food booths set up. I went to help my friends David and Sarah at their lobster pound. We sold out of about 45 lbs of lobster in 40 minutes and cooked some for people to eat at our picnic tables. We had a load of people lined out the door for lobster when one of the lobstermen came into the dock with over 30 lbs of fresh catch for us to sell, including one that wieghed in at over 3lbs! (which we sold and cooked for a woman and her mother, who required our metal mallet to break the hard shell exterior!!! We also had a rare and elusive blue lobster! Anyway. Sarah and I don't eat lobster, so we had a break for lunch around 2:30 and I went to a new place in Belfast, the Broadway Deli on Main Street.

Great location, very nice atmosphere with show tunes (my favorite) and Broadway play posters. I thought the menu, which is designed to mimic a Broadway Playbill was very clever. The tables are small and look uncomfortable and the selection is not as extensive as one would want it to be.

When this place was being built out, I thought "great" they'll have a great selection of sandwiches and salads and other things. Well, since they only use Boar's Head products, there are really limited choices as to what to have. There are not Vegatarian subs (which is what Sarah wanted) and no salads, except pre packed potato and macaroni salads. :-( My sandwich was average. A lot of meat, but with only a measley single slice of cheese and a wilted looking tomato. Sarah ended up with a Turkey Club, which she said was pretty tasteless and not something she would order again.

We had a deli bar for dessert which appeared to be a butter crust with chocolate on top and then sprinkled with a crumb topping. The chocolate was mostly whipped egg and was really not what I was hoping for.
Atmosphere is a B+
Food is a C

Enjoy,
Seth