Asparagus, Fiddleheads Make Spring Debut at This Eatery
 

This elegant Portland restaurant, a block from the Old Port District, opened in 1996 with the credo that the best food travels the shortest distance from farm to table. The menu at Fore Street plumbs the raw materials and products of Maine’s farmers, fishermen, foragers, and cheesemakers. Most of these Maine foods are organically grown or harvested at the peak of their seasons. For example, the menu in May will likely include an appearance by fiddlehead ferns, a delicacy that appears for a brief time only in the first blush of spring. Fiddleheads, named for the shape of the head of the very young fern plant, are picked when they are young and tender. They are used in salads or sautéed in vegetable medleys. This is the place and time of year to taste the real thing. Phone: 207-775-2717.

Brewpub Offers Excellent Seafood Along with the Suds
 

The Kennebunkport Brewing Company and Federal Jack's Restaurant & Brewpub were founded in 1992 with the goal of producing world-class ales in the founders’ beloved Kennebunk. Today, the restaurant and brewpub are located on the grounds of a shipyard where wooden boat builders practiced their craft since the 1800s. The surroundings are a delight to the eye and the restaurant is a joy to the taste. It offers a full menu of craft-brewed beers, ranging from Goat Island Light to Blue Fin Stout, as well as special seasonal offerings like Raspberry Wheat Ale. Menu offering delicacies like Goat Island mussels and local specialties involving haddock, salmon, and lobster. Other forms of fun to be found at Federal Jacks include outdoor dining, a game room, and weekly entertainment. Phone: 207-967-4322.

Chocolates, With a Giant Moose on the Side
 

Of course, the first thing you hear about Len Libby’s Chocolates in Scarborough is the notorious Lenny the Moose, a life-size chocolate moose sculpted form 1700 pounds of milk chocolate who stands at the entrance to greet visitors. Lenny has fans and admirers from all over the world, but the story of this business only begins with the giant maitre d’. The store opened in 1926, making fine chocolate by hand and serving it in many forms, from candies to ice cream to giant lollipops, and more. Guests are invited to tour the property and watch the chocolate-making in progress. There is a huge selection of tempting chocolate treats in the retail store for traveling and for gifts for friends back home. Phone: 207- 883-4897.

Cold River Mixed with Potatoes Builds this Maine Vodka
 

Innovative Mainers are always on the lookout for ways to add value to their staple crops. This principle was the starting point for the creation of Cold River Vodka at the Maine Distilleries in Freeport, which transforms Maine potatoes into the crystal beverage. At Cold River’s distillery, visitors are welcome to attend tours of the distillery and watch the vodka-making process as it moves the spuds through grinding, cooking, fermenting, distilling, and blending. According to a January 3, 2008 Time magazine article about small liquor distilleries across the United States, "The microdistilling industry is exactly where the microbrew industry was 20 years ago." The distillery and its gift shop are open Tuesdays through Saturdays. The gift shop is well worth a browse. It is filled with unique, beautiful items, from vodka to etched glassware to gift baskets to Maine potatoes. Phone: 207-865-4828.

Gift Baskets Fine-Tuned With Regional Delicacies
 

Gift baskets from Maine’s Pantry in Portland that are personalized by region make a great treat to take home from vacation. Baskets feature Maine’s wonderful regional specialty foods, like wild blueberry jam, maple syrup, stoneground mustard, and dozens of other delights that are made the old-fashioned way, from farmhouse recipes in small batches. Gift baskets with names like Vinalhaven Variety or Acadia Breakfast or Moose River Snack present treats with traditional connections to the region, like Bar Harbor Clam Chowder, Haven’s Salt Water Taffy, Maine-Made Maple Sugar Candy, and Wilbur’s of Maine Malted Milk Balls. Much of the business is mail-order, but the company has a walk-in retail store at 111 Commercial Street. The offerings are not only delicious, but beautifully packaged and fun to browse. It’s a natural way to take a bit of vacation home with you. Phone: 877-228-2028.

Gritty McDuff Invites You to Raise a (Really Big) Mug
 

It’s is easy to love this place based on its name alone. The newest location for Gritty McDuff’s Brew Pubs -- after Portland and Freeport -- is in Lewiston/ Auburn on the banks of the Androscogging River, where the pub is a central figure in the revitalized waterfront of this historic community. The brew pub is a warm space in the classic Gritty style, with long tavern tables, copper bar top, and traditional brick work. The deck offers the best riverfront views in town. Hearty, authentic pub fare rolls out of the kitchen year-round. When the original Gritty's Brew Pub opened in Portland in 1988 it became Maine's first brew pub since prohibition and a leader in the state's microbrew revolution. Since then, local people and visitors from around the world have been enjoying the small-batch ales brewed on-premise and old world pub atmosphere. Phone: 207-376-BREW.

Historic Diner Adds Updated Choices to Its Classic Fare
 

The town of Gardiner is home to a 1946 Worcester Lunch Car Company diner known as the A1 Diner. The A1 has been in continuous operation for six decades, serving traditional diner food made from scratch along with a newer menu of world and ethnic cuisines. In addition to the solid food and authentic setting, the A1 is a magnet for diner-philes for other reasons. Its history is told in a new book by Sarah Rolph titled "A1 Diner – Real Food, Recipes & Recollections." Also next door to the A1 is the newer A1 to Go, a grocery store / café / wine-and-cheese shop and coffee bar. The A1 has been featured on the Food Network and it appears on the 100 Best listings in the February 2008 issue of Saveur magazine. People who love diners need to place this on their must-do list. Open daily, year-round. Phone: 207-582-5586.

Kraut–Tangy and Sauer–Leads a Selection of German Foods
 

Anyone who has tasted Morse’s Sauerkraut, produced in Waldoboro since 1918 according to one simple, four-ingredient recipe, raves over the clean, tangy taste and crisp texture. Historically rooted in the local German community that dates back to the 1600s, the barrel-aged sauerkraut was first produced in 1918 by Virgil Morse for his own family. One autumn, Virgil offered a barrel to the local food store, and demand from the public has not slackened since then. The present owners make the kraut with white cabbage, sugar, salt, a little water, and time. It is never pasteurized or canned. Morse’s also sells homemade coleslaw, pickled beets, baked beans, brown bread, sour mustard pickles, cheeses, and sausages. A restaurant adjoined the food store is open six days a week and is famous for its Reuben sandwiches. Morse’s is a spicy place with a credo of fresh, authentic quality. Phone: 207-832-5569.

Luxury Inn Offers Chef-Led Classes
 

From November through May, Michael Salmon, chef and owner of the Hartstone Inn in Camden, welcomes guests to a weekend lodging package that includes cooking classes. Classes with Chef Michael cover a wide range of topics, from regional and ethnic cuisines to seasonal offerings. Classes are informative, entertaining, and filled with delicious food. Weekend packages include lodging, meals, and enrollment in the cooking class. Recent topics have included Autumn Dinner, Holiday Hors 'Oeuvres, Dim Sum, Romantic Dinner for Two, Maine Seafood, Caribbean Cuisine, and Thai Cuisine. OK, say Dim Sum or Thai or are not your special interests. There is another way. Assemble a group of friends and schedule a private cooking class with Chef Michael. Choose from over 25 courses that Michael has put together or choose individual items from his cookbook. Private classes available November through May. Phone: 800-788-4823.

Moody’s Diner Serves Good Food, Without Phony ‘Quaint’
 

Moody’s Diner, Motel, Cabins, and Gift Shop on Route 1 in Waldoboro is not a place you patronize only for its food (even though the blueberry muffins won a gold medal from the Culinary Hall of Fame). You also go to Moody’s because the place has been around forever (well, 51 years), and it is family-operated, and it simply has heart. Moody's began in 1927 when P.B. Moody built three small cabins and a small restaurant near the highway. On its website, the diner’s owners assure us that the business is the real McCoy. They write: “Moody's is not a 'quaint-on-purpose' tourist attraction. It has survived, prospered and grown because of good food, reasonable prices and quick, pleasant service. There are people who eat at Moody's everyday, and those who come in every time they travel to Maine. All are made welcome.” Phone: 207-832-7785.

New England Diners

New England diners offer no-frills food, from corned beef hash to Boston cream pie

Authentic diners and traditional diner food are alive and sizzling in every corner of New England. From the outside, diners mark their territory with their characteristic barrel roofs, neon lighting, and fringe of cars and trucks with local license tags. Inside, counter stools and booths are packed with families craving hash browns, meat loaf, home made pie and other diner staples.

New England is the birthplace of the diner. In 1872, a pressman at the Providence Journal newspaper began to sell prepared food from a horse-drawn wagon outside the Journal building. Next, companies were founded to manufacture and sell “lunch wagons” with interior seating. Then others began buying old horse-drawn streetcars and converting them to diners. By the 1930s, diners began to adopt a more streamlined, railroad-car appearance. In the 1950s, diners began to lose customers to new fast-food establishments, but a diner revival began in the late 1970s. Hot spots for diner history also include Worcester, Massachusetts, home of the prolific Worcester Lunch Car Company.

The Web site www.dinercity.com has extensive listings of diners by state. Here are some highlights in New England:

Connecticut

Collin's Diner
Route 44, RR Square
Canaan, Connecticut
Phone: 860-774-1837
Notable: National Historic Landmark built in 1941. Open 7 days a week.

Curley's Diner
62 West Park Place
Stamford, Connecticut
Phone: 203-348-2020
Notable: Open 24 hours, near university, low prices, breakfast served day and night. Specialties are cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes.

Eggs Up Diner
1462 Portland Cobalt Road
Portland, Connecticut
Phone: 860-342-4968
Notable: Southern Eggs Benedict includes sausage gravy, a biscuit, and country ham. Really good food and service.

Norm’s Diner
171 Bridge Street
Groton, Connecticut
Phone: 860-445-5026
Notable: Popular with the locals, open 24/7. Great diner authenticity.

Olympia Diner
3414 Berlin Turnpike
Newington, Connecticut
Phone: 860-666-9948
Notable: 1950’s atmosphere with great neon lights. Great meatloaf and Olympian breakfast. Open daily until midnight.

O'Rourke's
728 Main Street
Middletown, Connecticut
Phone: 860-346-6101
Notable: Special dishes are the steamed cheeseburger — a Connecticut passion — 3-way chili “Seeley style” (named for the diner’s most devoted patron), and the tuna smelt.

Parkway Diner
1066 High Ridge Road
Stamford, CT,
Phone: 203-329-9511
Notable: Platter specials with big portions.

Quaker Diner
319 Park Road
West Hartford, Connecticut
Phone: 860-232-5523
Notable: Best breakfast in the world. Friendly people and great 1930s atmosphere. Super busy on Sundays after church.

Maine

A1 Diner
3 Bridge Street
Gardiner, Maine
Phone: 207-582-5586
Notable: This Worcester Diner arrived by truck in Gardiner in 1946. Flaky biscuits, grilled sandwiches and burgers are still favorites.

Brunswick Diner
101 1/2 Pleasant Street
Brunswick, Maine
Phone: 207-729-5948
Notable: This diner was a vintage Worcester Lunch Car that has gone under many renovations but has kept its charm and originality. Hot turkey sandwiches, breakfast at any time and thick frappes (milkshakes) are all good. Step up into the booths and play the Old Elvis songs on the juke box.

Becky's Diner
390 Commercial Street
Portland, Maine
Phone: 207-773-7070
Notable: Located right on Hobson's Wharf in the Old Port in Portland. Great breakfasts every time. Open 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

Maine Diner
2265 Post Road
Wells, Maine
Phone: 207-646-4441
Notable: Served its four millionth customer in fall 2005.

Moody’s Diner
U.S. Route 1
Waldoboro, Maine
Phone: 207-832-7785
Notable: The blueberry muffins won a gold medal from the Culinary Hall of Fame and Gourmet magazine has requested the recipe for the world-famous walnut pie.

Miss Portland Diner
49 Marginal Way
Portland, Maine
Phone: 207-773-3246
Notable: The diner appeared in the Mel Gibson film “Man Without a Face.” It is an original 1949 Worcester diner filled with Art Deco influence and lots of families.

Palace Diner
18 Franklin Street
Biddeford, Maine
Phone: 207 282-6468
Notable: A landmark 15-stool diner 1926 Pollard diner where mayors and mill workers have eaten side by side for almost 80 years.

Massachusetts

Al Mac’s Diner
135 President Avenue
Fall River, Massachusetts
Phone: 508-679-5851
Notable: Slogan is "Justly Famous Since 1910." Built in 1954 by the DeRaffle Manufacturing Company of New Rochelle, New York.

Arthur's Paradise Diner
112 Bridge Street
Lowell, Massachusetts
Phone: 978-452-8647
Notable: Authentic Worcester Diner car, circa 1937. A favorite item is the Double Meat Boot Mill Sandwich, with egg, home fries, cheese and bacon on a grilled roll, is a real stick-to-your-ribs breakfast.

Agawam Diner
Route 1 and 133
Rowley, Massachusetts
Phone: 978-948-7780
Notable: Tiny chrome diner with red vinyl seats. Hamburger plates, grilled cheese sandwiches, beef stew and terrific pies. Great prices too.

Blue Bonnet Dinner
324 King Street
Northampton, Massachusetts
Phone: 413-584-3333
Notable: “Has to be one of the best diners in New England.” Daily specials.

Boulevard Diner
155 Shrewbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts
Phone: 508-791-4535
Notable: A classic Worcester Lunch Car with the wooden interior and wooden booths. Fluffy omelets, cheese steaks, and Brazilian-style hamburgers.

Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mount Auburn Street
Watertown, Massachusetts
Phone: 617-926-8400
Notable: Great breakfast. Many healthy choice meals. Classic dishes and unique desserts every day. Sweet potato pancakes with real Massachusetts maple syrup.

Morgan Square Diner
6 Myrtle Avenue
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Phone: 978-343-9549
Notable: Manufactured in 1941 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, with porcelain exterior, hardwood interior, beautiful Gothic lettering.

Miss Florence Diner
99 Main Street
Florence, Massachusetts
Phone: 413-584-3137
Notable: Classic techno-fifties diner with large portions of good food. Table juke-boxes to entertain. Pancakes are terrific.

Salem Diner
326 Canal Street
Salem, Massachusetts
Phone: 978-471-7918
Notable: This Sterling Streamliner was built by the J.B. Judkins Company in 1941 and has occupied a small lot at 326 Canal Street for nearly 60 years.

New Hampshire

Littleton Diner
145 Main Street
Littleton, New Hampshire
Phone: 603-444-3994
Notable: Traditional New England home-cooked food. Great cheeseburgers, French fries, meat loaf, and corned beef hash.

Plain Jane's Diner
Route 25
Rumney, New Hampshire
Phone: 603-786-2525
Notable: This beautiful 1954 O’Mahoney sits in the middle of nowhere, on a long stretch of mostly deserted but highly traveled mountain highway. A tasteful and tasty experience.

Peterborough Diner
10 Depot Street
Peterborough, New Hampshire
Phone: 603-924-6202
Notable: The Boston cream pie is out-of-this-world great.

Sunny Day Diner
Connector Road
Lincoln, NH
Phone: 603-745-4833
Notable: Beautifully restored diner made by the Master Company of Pequannock, NJ in 1958. The owner-chef is a Culinary Institute of America graduate. Everything is delicious and prepared from scratch. Don’t leave without having a piece of pie.

The Red Arrow Diner
61 Lowell Street
Manchester, New Hampshire
603-626-1118
Notable: Slogan: “We really serve it on a blue plate,” the diner says of its Blue Plate Specials.

The Tilt'n Diner
Exit 20 off Route 93
Tilton, New Hampshire
Phone: 603-286-2204
Notable: Slogan: “Think ‘Happy Days’ in New Hampshire”

Rhode Island

Haven Brothers
Parking space next to City Hall
Providence, Rhode Island
Notable: This historic figure is towed every night to the edge of Kennedy Plaza next to City Hall, this classic stainless-steel diner serves up food all night long to club goers, bikers, and other wanderers. Two barstool-style seats at a short counter are the only indoor seating. Outdoor annex seating is the front steps of City Hall.

Seaplane Diner
307 Allen Ave. at Mural Street
Providence, Rhode Island
Phone: 401-941-9547
Notable: A true mobile diner in every sense of the word. Many hidden surprises and nuances in their menu offerings. The service is terrific.

Jigger’s
145 Main St.
East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Phone: 401-884-5388
Notable: The best Johnny cakes (cornmeal pancakes) on the planet, according to aficionados.

Bishop's 4th Street Diner
184 Admiral Kalbfus Road
Newport, Rhode Island
401-847-2069
Notable: Thin and crispy Johnnycakes and biscuits and gravy that are not to be missed. Try the Portuguese sweet bread. Service is great and prices are what you want from a diner.

Modern Diner
364 East Ave
Pawtucket, RI 02860
Phone: 401- 726-8390
Notable: 1941 Streamliner Diner. First diner to be listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Cash only. Hearty breakfasts and great meatloaf.

Vermont

Blue Benn Diner
314 North Street
Bennington, VT
Phone: 802-442-5140
Notable: Authentic diner. Specialties include turkey hash, breakfast burritos, all sorts of pancakes and lots of vegetarian options. Local people rate it as the best diner in the country.

Chelsea Royal Diner
Route 9 West
Brattleboro, Vermont
Notable: 1938 Worcester Diner with breakfast and dinner specials and three or four blue plate dinners every day.

Farmers Diner
5573 Woodstock Road (Route 4)
Quechee, Vermont
Phone: 802-295-4600
Notable: Everything on the menu is from local farmers.

Miss Bellows Falls Diner
90 Rockingham
Bellows Falls, Vermont
Phone: 802-463-9800
Notable: Built in the 1920s by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, Vermont's only surviving barrel-roofed diner was moved here from Massachusetts in 1942. Look for part of an earlier name painted on the back.

Putney Diner
Main Street
Putney, Vermont
Phone: 802-387-5433
Notable: Serving classic Vermont cooking with a few surprises, like the Cajun Skillet Breakfast, a short, tasty trip from sugar maple forests to the Gulf Coast bayous. Also displays the work of local artists.

T.J. Buckley’s Uptown Dining
132 Elliot Street
Brattleboro, Vermont
Phone: 802-257-4922
Notable: T.J. Buckley's Uptown Dining Some say this is a Worcester from the 1920s; others claim it is a converted. Unusually tiny in size, with two seatings per night.

Yankee Diner
Quechee Village, Route 4
Quechee, Vermont
Phone: 802-296-7911
Notable: a beautifully restored 1946 Worcester Streamliner.

Diner Slang

Cup of Joe or Java -- cup of coffee
Adam and Eve on a Raft -- two eggs on toast
Soup jockey – waitress
Sun kiss -- orange juice
Baby juice -- glass of milk
Life preservers – donuts
Blowout patches with Vermont – pancakes with maple syrup
Wreck ’em -- scrambled eggs
Shingle with a shimmy and a shake -- toast with jelly
Burn the British -- toasted English muffin
Sweep the kitchen or Clean up the kitchen -- a plate of hash
Noah’s boy on bread – a ham sandwich
Cow paste – butter
Dog soup – glass of water
M.D. – Dr. Pepper
Mike and Ike – salt and pepper shakers
Sea dust – salt

And, to order a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion, your waitress may tell the cook to “burn one, drag it through the garden, and pin a rose on it.”

Web Sites

American Diner Museum

i Love Diners.com

Diner City

Diner Reading

Lost Diners and Roadside Restaurants of New England and New York, Will Anderson, 2001.

American Diner, Richard Gutman, 1979.

Diners: People and Places, Gerd Kittel, 1990.

Blue Plate Specials and Blue Ribbon Chefs: The Heart and Soul of America's Great Roadside Restaurants, Jane Stern, 2001.

Greasy Spoon. A quarterly periodical.

New England Foods

New England cookery combines the older English methods of steaming and boiling with ingredients familiar to Native Americans, like corn, game, shellfish, potatoes, cranberries, maple syrup, and cornmeal. New England has meager and rocky soil but it has a bounty of fish — especially cod — and shellfish, including clams, oysters, and lobster. Boston baked beans, which became a Saturday supper staple because of the Puritans’ Sabbath rules, cranberry dishes of all kinds, and maple syrup and candy have all found a place in the American palate through New England.

Clambake The New England clambake is both a meal and an outdoor construction project. The work begins with cooks assembling the ingredients (lobsters, whole fish, ears of corn, clams, mussels, red bliss potatoes, and onions) and cooking gear (firewood, charcoal, stones, seaweed, tarps, and shovels). The crew begins by digging a hole – preferably on the beach -- and lining it with stones, wood, and charcoal. Essentially, they are creating a below-ground bonfire and heating the rocks to create a steam bath for the food. When the wood has burned down to ash, saturated seaweed is laid over the hot rocks, creating a pit of steam. Small packets of seafood, corn, and potatoes wrapped in wet cheesecloth are laid on top of the seaweed. The food packets are covered with more seaweed, and the whole pit is covered with a tarp for up to about two hours. At the end of the cooking time, the food is unearthed and served with lots of drawn butter and compliments for the cooks.

Lobster A New England lobster feast is no place for the shy or faint of heart. It takes work and skill to bust open the exoskeleton of the bright-orange, spiny beast, but the delicate taste of the lobster meat, dipped in drawn butter, is well worth the effort. The most popular variety in the United States is the Maine lobster. It has five pairs of legs; the first pair is large, heavy claws that contain a good amount of meat. The other meat-rich portion of the animal is its tail. Boiled lobster is served with a bib, drawn butter, a cracking tool, and a narrow fork for easing the meat out of the broken shell.

Cod Cape Cod, the sand-scoured curl of land extending from Massachusetts into the Atlantic, didn’t get its name for nothing. Cod is New England’s fish, a white, lean, firm and mild-tasting meat. Cod and scrod (the name for young cod and haddock) can be baked, broiled, poached and fried. Whole fish, which can range in weight from one-and-a-half to 100 pounds, can be stuffed. Cod cheeks and tongues are a local delicacy.

Clam Chowder Clam chowder has many varieties, and each has its loyal following. One three-way division of clam chowders is New England clam chowder, with a creamy broth; Rhode Island clam chowder, with a clear broth; and Manhattan clam chowder, with a tomato-based broth. The chowders made by early settlers used salt pork and biscuits. Today chowder cooks discard the biscuits, but often sprinkle crackers on top of the chowder. Clams, hard or soft, are the basis of the most common chowders, but other types of fish are often used, depending on the season and the catch. According to “50 Chowders” by Jasper White, the oldest known fish chowder recipe in print appeared in the Boston Evening Post on September 23, 1751.

Cranberries Shiny, scarlet cranberries have a bigger job than just looking beautiful on the Thanksgiving dinner table. They grow wild but also are extensively cultivated in huge, sandy bogs, mostly in Massachusetts. The peak period to buy and use fresh cranberries is October through December. Apart from cranberry sauce, this fruit makes delicious chutneys, pies, and cobblers. Because they are sour, cranberries are best combined with other fruits, such as apples or dried apricots.

Maple Sugar The maple forests of northern New England do more than cover the hills with blankets of gold every fall. In later winter – February to March — the combination of freezing nights and warmer days causes sap in the maple trees to begin to move. The Indians collected sap by making slashes in the tree trunks. Early European settlers in New England at first copied the Indians’ sap-collection methods, but by 1800 they began harvesting the sap by drilling a small hole in the tree and inserting a tube made from a hollowed twig. In the early years, maple sap was boiled down and made into maple sugar, not syrup, because it was easier to store the dried and hardened sugar. Early makers of maple products boiled sap in iron kettles hanging over an open fire. This process evaporated water out of the sap, leaving the essential syrup. When it was thickened, the syrup was stirred until it began to crystallize, and then poured into molds. Today, during March and April, hundreds of sugar houses all over New England welcome visitors to watch the process and taste the fruits of the maple tree.

Boston Baked Beans The short definition of Boston baked beans is dried navy beans baked slowly with molasses and salt pork. The early colonists learned to cook dried beans from the American Indians, who would dig pits in the earth and slow-cook beans with maple sugar and bear fat. This dish evolved into baked beans with salt pork and molasses. It was traditionally served on Saturday nights in Colonial times. The Puritan Sabbath — when no cooking could be done — ran from sundown Saturday to sundown on Sunday. Puritan wives baked beans in brick ovens on Saturday for that night’s supper. The leftovers were still warm when the family returned from church Sunday morning.

New England Boiled Dinner This dinner, with roots in Ireland, is a one-pot meal native to New England that contains various ingredients, but primarily corned beef, cabbage, carrots, turnips, and potatoes. These ingredients, along with seasonings, are added at various times during cooking and slowly simmered together to create a hearty one-pot meal. Common condiments include horse radish, mustard, and vinegar. The dish is representative of the cultural heritage of the region, notably that of the Irish.

New England is Apple Country Apple growing has found a fertile home in rocky soils, long, hot summers, and crisp fall days of New England. The New England apple industry is still largely family-owned and orchards are an important community resource. Many growers offer pick-your-own sales and farm stands that sell homemade apple butter, applesauce, pies, and other treats. Among the other treats is apple cider -- fermented (“hard”) or non-fermented. Until the mid-1800s, hard cider was the most popular beverage in North America because apples were plentiful; it was cheap to make; and, unlike milk, it would not go bad. All the colonists, young and old, drank hard cider at all types of family and church occasions.

Simple Elegance and Fine Food Await at in Beautiful Acadia
 

Good, local, fresh seafood and other fine cuisine is only the beginning of the pleasures at the Brooklin Inn in Brooklin, a small coastal village on Eggemoggin Reach. The dinner menu is eclectic and features organic produce and Maine-raised meats and poultry. The inn’s specialty is fresh fish from nearby waters. The Irish Pub is open every day, offering shellfish, haddock sandwiches, Guinness beef stew, and more. One warning: don’t spend so much time at the groaning board that you lose the ambition to get outside and visit the town. WoodenBoat magazine and its school is headquartered in Brooklin, and Center Harbor is just a short walk away. The nearness of Eggemoggin Reach and the general well-kept flavor of the town make Brooklin a beautiful spot to visit. Also nearby are the historic communities of Blue Hill, Castine, all worthy of your time and curiosity. Phone: 207-359-2777.

Stonewall Kitchen
2 Stonewall Lane
York, ME  03909  
Toll-Free: 800-207-JAMS
Email: info@stonewallkitchen.com

Stonewall Kitchen, Creators of Specialty Foods, respected and honored for our award-winning product line since the early days at the Farmers’ Market. Walking into our Company Stores, you are taken back to a simpler time with tin ceilings, schoolhouse lights, wainscoting and the aroma of good food simmering on the stove. Browse through our Company Stores and sample our specialty foods including: preserves, mustards, dessert toppings, grille sauces and more. Also find distinctive serviceware, linens, cookware and home décor. Stonewall Kitchen, a visit that will long be remembered. Company Store Locations: South Windsor, Connecticut *Avon, Connecticut * York, Maine * Portland, Maine * Camden, Maine * Portsmouth, New Hampshire * Rochester, New Hampshire * North Conway, New Hampshire. Please visit stonewallkitchen.com for more information and store directions.