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By Emily, July 14, 2010 1:16 pm

It’s amazing how quickly vacation can seem like it was years ago.  We’ve been home for 10 days, but that relaxed, carefree feeling that comes from not wearing make-up or having a schedule for a week is quickly disappearing.  It’s probably just as well that it took me awhile to write Part 2 of this post, maybe I can mentally return to vacation.

If you missed Part 1 of my favorite eateries in the Boothbay Region, check it out.  Part 2 is focused more on snack and dessert establishments, but who says you can’t have ice cream for lunch?

Wannawaf (Boothbay Harbor)

Above is a picture of an amazing hot dog.  It’s called “A Dog Named Jeff” and it’s got mayonnaise, stone ground mustard, caramelized onions and fresh onions…and maybe something else.  It’s hard to remember.  Anyway, the hot dogs and their respective combination (they’ve got a dozen or so creations that I’d never think of) are awesome.  But that’s not why we go to Wannwaf.   We go to Wannawaf for the ice cream. Staying with the theme from Part 1, Wannawaf is an order at the window and eat at picnic tables establishment located on the waterfront in the Harbor.  They serve ice cream sundaes over Belgian waffles.  The combinations, once again, are incredible. This time around we tried a S’more variety: waffle, vanilla ice cream, marshmallow topping, hot fudge and walnuts.  So good.

Gelato Fiasco (Brunswick)

Image from The Gelato Fiasco website

If you leave the Boothbay penninsula and head south–to go to Brunswick, Cooks Corner, or Portland, you’ll come close to or go through Brunswick.  And when my family passes through Brunswick, we stop at Gelato Fiasco pretty much every time.  My sister once went 3 times in one weekend, it’s that good.  As I’ve mentioned before, the flavor selection is creative and delicious(banana, chocolate orange, ginger, pomegranate lime, dark chocolate caramel) and the atmosphere is inviting and relaxing.  Gelato Fiasco also supplies a number of Maine and New Hampshire restaurants and stores with their product, including a recently opened gelato stand in Boothbay Harbor.

Downeast Ice Cream Factory (Boothbay Harbor)

When I worked summers in Boothbay Harbor (every summer of my high school and college careers, plus a couple summers after), I always sent people to the Downeast Ice Cream Factory for dessert.  The servings are big, the ice cream locally made and they have tons of flavors, many Maine related (maple, blueberry, whoopie pie, etc).

Coastal Maine Popcorn (Boothbay Harbor)

image from Coastal Maine Popcorn

As I mentioned last year, Coastal Maine Popcorn is one of my favorite places to grab a snack in Boothbay Harbor.  They make 34 flavors and though I’m much more into savory popcorn (salt & vinegar, buffalo wing, wasabi soy) than sweet (marshmallow, fresh peach, root beer), I’ve never had a flavor that didn’t taste exactly like what it was supposed to.  Brian and I headed home with 3 bags this trip: Tuscan Herb, White Cheddar and Parmesan Garlic.   Of course, we’re all out again, so if anyone in Boothbay wants to send some our way, we’d be eternally grateful.

Frontier Cafe (Brunswick)

If I lived in Brunswick, I’d probably spend a lot of time at the Frontier Cafe (when I wasn’t eating gelato, of course).  I reviewed them a year ago, but I needed to share the experience with Brian. The Frontier Cafe is a combination of wonderful things: good coffee, local and organic food, art, films, beer and wine. This time around, Brian and I got the French Marketplate (Black Forest Ham, Brie, House Made Pate, Fish Bowl Farm Organic Roasted Beet, Sliced Tomato, Coquillo Olives, Cornichons, Grainy Mustard, Baguette); as you can see, it’s beautiful.  It tasted beautiful, too.

Honorable Mentions:

Sarah’s Cafe (Wiscasset) – We didn’t have time to go to Sarah’s this time around, but their diverse menu and reasonable prices helped make Sarah’s one of my family’s favorites.

Kaler’s Crab and Lobster House (Boothbay Harbor) – Another one of the places I always sent tourists to, Kaler’s is my pick for cheap, fried seafood, though they have really good salads too.

Boathouse Bistro (Boothbay Harbor) – Brian’s been bugging me to try out the Boathouse Bistro’s tapas menu for years and we finally got around to it this summer.  Everything we tried was unique and yummy, as were my parents entrees.  Besides, tapas are just fun.

What Boothbay region eating establishments did I miss?

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By Emily, July 6, 2010 12:13 pm

This is a post about being on vacation.  It’s also post about “going home”.  The Boothbay region (and its restaurants) have been a part of my life since I was about 2.  Some of these places have been favorites all my life, some of them are more recent additions.  But last week, when Brian and I headed north to see my parents and enjoy the Maine coast, we ate as much as we could, taking a vacation from our usual eating habits and going home to the way I used to eat.  We’re only going to Maine once this summer, which means we had at least a summer’s worth of tourist-y eating to make up for in a week.  Don’t judge.

For those unfamiliar, Boothbay is a small town on the Maine coast.  I lived there until last summer when I got married and moved to the Berkshires.  I love the Berkshires, but its no Boothbay.  Boothbay is extremely quiet during the winter, but its popularity with tourists means the population explodes in the summer and all sorts of delicious restaurants open.

The places below are some of my favorites in and around Boothbay.  It’s not a perfect list, I don’t think there’s a local eatery I dislike.  These are the places I had to go to, my family’s favorites and where I used to send tourists when I worked retail in the Harbor.  This is my list, but I’m sure anyone else who has been there would have their own.  Establishments with websites are linked in green.

East Boothbay General Store – East Boothbay

There’s not too much in “downtown” East Boothbay.  But that doesn’t matter, because all you need is the EBGS.  We only managed to get there for (really awesome) soft serve ice cream this trip, but they have much more than ice cream.  It’s my pick for best pizza in the region and they feature great flavors like Blueberry and Gorgonzola, Asian, and Prosciutto Mozzarella.  The General Store also provides a variety of sandwiches, salads and breakfast pastries.  Oh, and its a general store, with a great selection of staples (milk, bread, eggs) and treats (fancy cheeses and crackers, wine, candy).

McSeagulls – Boothbay Harbor

I haven’t eaten at every restaurant in the harbor, but I’m pretty sure that McSeagulls has the biggest menu, coming in at 12 pages (download it if you don’t believe me!).  If you want something, they probably serve it.   They have some creative seafood dishes, if you’re tired of basic lobster or fried fish, including “Haddock McSeagulls” (pictured).  My Haddock McSeagulls was coconut and almond encrusted haddock, topped with shrimp.  Amazing.  McSeagulls also gets extra points because they did our rehearsal dinner, but that’s another story.

Dunton’s Doghouse – Boothbay Harbor

I suspect that the above picture pretty much explains what Dunton’s is.  It’s a stand on the side of the road that serves greasy food. Delicious greasy food.  The default date spot for my first boyfriend and I (and no, our breakup didn’t have anything to do with the fact that this was considered a “date”), every person (especially men) I’ve taken since then has loved it.  I put off taking Brian for a long time, thinking it wasn’t refined enough (clearly, I did not know him well then) but even he fell in love.  They have a surprisingly large menu for a place like this, including hot dogs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, sausage, fried fish and french fries (which I highly recommend).

Bet’s Fish Fry - Boothbay

If you’re in the mood for fried food from a stand and Dunton’s doesn’t do it for you, or you don’t feel like looking for a parking space in the Harbor, or you really like really big fish sandwiches, you should go to Bet’s Fish Fry.  At Bet’s you can have fish and chips, a fish sandwich, or just the fried fish (“fish in a dish”).  That’s the menu, though there are half portions available of everything.  Why half portions?  Because this is what the sandwich looks like.  Yes, that’s three fried fish filets.  And Brian and I both put away 3/4 of a sandwich and a bunch of fries.

Beth’s Farm Market – Warren

If you manage to get inland a bit, and you need to cleanse from all that fried food, find Beth’s.  Located sort of nowhere, there are tons of signs on Route 1 to help you find it.  They grow all the produce they sell, as well as pies, donuts, jams, milk and cheese.  Farm stands just make me happy (though Beth’s is more of a store than a stand);  I stop there anytime I’ve headed north on Route 1.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Snacks, Desserts and Honorable Mentions

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By Emily, June 20, 2010 4:44 pm

In case you missed the memo, I love our CSA. It makes me want to quit my job and live on a farm (not that I’m going to…).   I thought I’d attempt to explain my love by showing off some of the photos I took last week:

(Please let me know if the slideshow doesn’t work right)

As you may be able to tell from the last picture, our CSA bounty last week included assorted greens, spinach, arugula, garlic scapes (which I was super excited about), radishes, turnips. snap peas (which we picked ourselves), turnips and some fresh sage.

Stay tuned to find out what we did with all our fine produce!

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By Emily, April 21, 2010 3:45 pm

Brian and I are on a much needed break from school this week.  We decided to stick close to home and do some day trips, instead of spending our whole vacation traveling.  Ever since I discovered how close Brian lived to the Vermont border, I’ve had plans to go to Ben and Jerry’s.  Granted, Ben and Jerry’s isn’t really near the Vermont-Massachusetts border, but Brian and I decided to take the opportunity yesterday to go explore central Vermont–and get some ice cream.

The drive to Waterbury, VT was lovely.  I could drive through mountains, valleys and small towns all day.  We arrived at Ben and Jerry’s without any problems and proceeded to go on the factory tour.  The half hour tour was interesting (there’s something so mesmerizing about production lines), and the sample of Cowcolate Chip ice cream was delicious–why do I never get vanilla Ben and Jerry’s?  It’s amazing.

After the tour, Brian and I headed to the Scoop Shop (ignore the fact that, at this point, we hadn’t really had lunch).  I got a cup of Coconut Seven Layer Bar (Coconut Ice Cream with Coconut & Fudge Flakes, Walnuts and Swirls of Graham Cracker & Butterscotch) and Brian got the new Boston Cream Pie (Boston Cream Pie Ice Cream with Yellow Cake Pieces, Fudge Flakes & Swirls of Pastry Cream).  I really need to find a scoop shop near here, because the Coconut Seven Layer Bar was amazing.

After wandering up to the Flavor Graveyard and enjoying the lovely weather, we decided we needed some real food for lunch.  We headed in the general direction of Waterbury Center and stumbled upon The Center Bakery and General Store, which was exactly what we were looking for.  While munching on our sandwiches, I picked up a “Waterbury Dining and Shopping Guide” (the plan was to randomly check out other VT attractions as we stumbled upon them).  Imagine my delight when I discovered The Cabot Annex Store, Lake Champlain Chocolates and the Green Mountain Coffee Visitors Center and Cafe are all in Waterbury.  So, we checked out all of them.  Samples of cheese and chocolate were enjoyed, coffee was bought and then we headed in the direction of home.

Following the suggestion in 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die, we headed south via Route 100.  Beautiful.  In Weston we stopped at the Vermont Country Store (also in the book), which was gigantic and had so much cool stuff (and more food samples!).  I’ll definitely go back there at some point.

In short: I’m about ready to move to Waterbury.  It was beautiful and I love small towns.  Plus I love ice cream…and cheese…and chocolate…and coffee.  Despite the fact that initial searches made it look like there wasn’t much in the area besides Ben and Jerry’s, there’s actually a lot to do.  Well worth the six hours we spent in the car yesterday.

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By Emily, October 18, 2009 4:23 pm

Autumn is absolutely, hands down, my favorite season of the year.  I love the weather, the leaves changing colors, the start of school (really, I do), apples, pumpkins, cider, Thanksgiving…

My in-laws came up to visit yesterday and Brian and I decided we should check out The Apple Barn and Country Bakeshop in Bennington, Vermont.  It’d been greatly praised by friends of ours and seemed like a perfect outing for the first sunny day in a long time.

The Apple Barn was everything I’d hoped for (and a serious danger to my wallet):

The store was bigger than I’d expected and featured all the fall/Vermont/farm products I could dream of: several varieties of apples, maple syrup, jarred preserves, cider, fresh baked breads and donuts, plus a coffee shop.  Heavenly.  I ran into a friend of mine while I was there.  ”This place gives me heart palpations,” she told me.  Completely understandable.  I love places like this: local, fresh, delicious.

With full knowledge that we’ll probably head back to the Apple Barn before the season is over, Brian and I purchased the following:

Yes, those are apple cider donuts…there used to be six of them…but that’s not important now.  And yes, I have plans for all of those apples.  Did I mention we really like apples?  But I was most excited about the little box:

Single serving “tea” bags of mulling spices for cider.  Hot cider is amazing and I’m so excited that I can add spice to individual cups instead of making a whole gallon’s worth.

Clearly, if you find yourself in the Bennington region in the near future, you need to visit The Apple Barn.  If you’re as passionate about fall and fall foods as I am, you won’t be disappointed.

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By Emily, September 2, 2009 7:11 am

This weekend, while out and about, the husband and I stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts.   We’re really, really big Dunks fans.  The store we went to was carrying the new “Toffee for Your Coffee” donut.  It’s a glazed sour cream donut with heath bar bits on top.  I actually voted for this donut last year when they ran the “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest, so I needed to try it out.

This is the picture distributed by Dunkin’ Donuts:

This is what the donut actually looks like:

Not quite as appetizing, eh?  And to be honest, it tastes about as good as it looks.  It tastes like a plain Dunks donut (which is definitely not a bad thing), with really sugary glaze on top.  I’m sure it is heath bar, but it didn’t really taste like it to me.  Disappointing, to say the least.

Anyone else have experience with Toffee for Your Coffee?  Are they better looking at other locations?

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By Emily, August 19, 2009 1:19 pm

Sorry that this series of blog posts is taking so long to get done.  Yes, we’ve been back from our honeymoon for 10 days…We moved into our new apartment last weekend and it’s been really busy around here. Maybe next trip won’t be “technology free” and these posts will be more timely.  Or not.

After Philly, Brian and I headed to Delaware to check out the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine River Museum.  We stopped in Wilmington with the hopes of finding something to do and somewhere to eat.  Frankly, there didn’t seem to be much going on in downtown Wilmington, but the folks at the visitors center mentioned something about a brewery.  Brian, beer lover that he is, decided that was where we should have dinner and, after getting lost driving around the city, we found Iron Hill Brewery located on the riverfront.

He hasn’t stopped talking about it since.

We started our meal with a sampler of 8 types of beer, the 6 house beers and two seasonals of our (Brian’s) choosing:

My husband, who is far more knowledgable about these things than I, thought the beer was really great. I actually liked most of them too, and only having to have a little of each was definitely the way to go for me.   Sampling all the different kinds was a lot of fun.  It’s possible I’m starting to like beer. Who woulda thought?

We also ordered an appetizer of sweet potato fries.   Sweet potato fries aren’t usually on my radar, but they might be in the future. I think the picture speaks for itself.  Amazing.  I would’ve been content to skip the main course and just eat more fries.

For our entrees, Brian had a pulled pork sandwich:

He really liked it:

I had a “healthy selection” crab cake with tomatoes, avocado, baby arugula, and roasted tomato-jalapeño vinaigrette:

You know you’d had a lifestyle change when you order things off the “healthy selections” menu not because it’s healthy but because it sounds more appetizing than the “normal selections”.

The food was really delicious, the portions sufficient and the atmosphere was fun. Brian suggested, before the meal was even over, that we forgo looking for other restaurants and just come back to Iron Hill for the remaining evenings of our trip. I declined, but it wouldn’t have been the worst thing ever. Iron Hill Brewery has several locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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By Emily, August 13, 2009 10:23 am

Brian and I spent most of our time in Philly in the Old City.  We did a ton of walking in that area alone.  However, I couldn’t quite resist making the hike to Center City to see Reading Terminal Market.  How could I forgo checking out “the best, freshest and liveliest public market since 1893″?

In short, it was everything I hoped it would be.  Tons of vendors, amazing looking fresh food, variety, ethnic cuisine.  I very nearly decided to move to Philadelphia for the market alone.  It was a good thing we didn’t have a cooler with us or a fridge in our hotel because I would’ve spent a fortune on food.  I’ll stop rambling and just get to the photos, because they express my feelings much better:

Reading Terminal Market: definitely a Philadelphia foodie must see.

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By Emily, August 11, 2009 10:51 am

As I mentioned on Friday, my husband and I were on vacation…our belated honeymoon, actually.  We spent the first 24 hours checking out the historic sites of Philly.  We promised each other we were going to eat well.  And take pictures of  the food, of course.  Over the next couple posts, I’ll share some of the highlights.

On Wednesday night, we were in search of a nice, reasonable sit-down restaurant so we checked out Pizzicato on Market Street.  Brian enjoyed a grilled chicken, spinach, and prosciutto pizza.  Since it had so many toppings, it had a tendency to fall apart, but otherwise it was great.  I only got a bite, but it was delicious.

I had a refreshing salad.  I don’t remember what was in the dressing, but it was lemony and light and amazing.  Plus arugula, asparagus, goat cheese and artichokes.  It was wonderful.  It was also pretty big…

It’s very possible that I consumed the entire thing.

If you ever find yourself in the historic district of Philadelphia, Pizzicato seems to be a safe, yummy choice with some healthy options.

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By Emily, July 9, 2009 11:57 am

I may have just decided where all my money is going to go.

I also just had an amazing whole wheat bagel with delicious sundried tomato cream cheese.

If my Man notices in a few weeks that we’re out of money, brewhaha, in downtown North Adams, may be to blame.  It’s adorable.  It’s delicious.  And they have vegetarian/vegan offerings!  They offer loose, organic teas!   Not to mention coffee and baked goods.

If you’re in the area and looking for breakfast or lunch, I highly recommend it.

Finally leaving the house today was so worth it.