Rolling through Maine: catching fall colors while chasing the best lobster (plus oysters, scallops and tuna)
To stay true to our goal of visiting at least one national park every year, on October 1 my friend Mandi and I board a plane from SFO to Boston. After an hour-and-a-half delay, we touch down, pick up our rental car and head north. Our destination: Maine and Acadia National Park. Besides exploring Acadia and catching the fall colors, we’re on a food mission: we plan to eat our way through Maine. Our main(e) target, no pun intended: lobster, preferably in a roll.
First stop: Portland
We arrive at our hotel late, with five minutes to spare before the kitchen closes. Flatbread, cheese and meatballs. Not the culinary start we were hoping for, but the wine is good.
After a good night’s sleep, we’re up early for a walk along the Eastern Promenade to East End Beach. By the end of it, we’re in serious need of good coffee and pastries. Standard Baking Co. has the pastries but no lattes, so we grab those at a bar next door. Armed with iced lattes and a bag of fresh baked goods, we find a spot on the waterfront. Maine is famous for its blueberries, and the blueberry scones do them justice.
Revived by coffee and sugar, we’re ready for some retail therapy. Portland is full of independent shops and boutiques. We normally travel carry-on only, but this time we checked our bags. Good call, because it turns out there’s a lot of things we “need.”
Central Provisions
Shopping works up an appetite. We couldn’t get a dinner reservation at Central Provisions, so we try our luck at lunch and score two seats at the window bar downstairs.
We’ve been craving oysters, and they’re the first thing on the menu. Unfortunately, our server tells us they come prepped in a lemon vinaigrette and can’t be served without it. Bummer, but there’s plenty more to choose from. We order the tuna crudo, the bone marrow toasties, and a flaming sheep’s milk cheese with peach and an apple glaze. The crudo is probably the best I’ve ever had, the toasties are rich and full of flavor, and the cheese makes for a lovely dessert.
The L.L.Bean village
After a little more shopping, it starts to drizzle: the perfect excuse to visit the newly opened L.L.Bean flagship store.
I didn’t grow up in the US. I’d heard of L.L.Bean but had never been in one of its stores. Mandi, however, grew up with it and is beyond excited. She’s had her Bean Boots for years.
We drive 25 minutes north to Freeport, a cute little town, and follow the signs to an enormous L.L.Bean parking lot. As we walk up, I realize this isn’t a store. It’s a village: a hunting and fishing store, the main clothing store, a home store and a bike, boat and ski store. A huge stage is going up, and signs announce a month-long program with a fall fest, concerts and other festivities.
Out front stands a giant Bean Boot. L.L.Bean was founded in Freeport in 1912 and is still a Maine institution with a fiercely loyal following. People walk out with big shopping bags, most of them carrying at least one L.L.Bean canvas tote, which you can customize in the store with pins and patches. They iron them on while you wait. We decide to come back when we return from Acadia. We regret it 3 days later when we come back: the wait to get the patched ironed on is 4 hours. We are not that patient as we have other things to do.
Street & Co.
Tonight we have reservations at Street & Co., which came highly recommended by several people. We arrive at 7:15 and are seated at the bar, a bar lined with oysters on ice. After missing out at lunch, I’m really hoping tonight is the night.
We order a glass of wine and browse the menu. It all looks amazing. Someone told me the mussels are a must, but so are the scallops. Our server confirms the oysters come with vinaigrette and lemon on the side, so we order a dozen. I go for the mussels in garlic and white wine, while Mandi has the bluefin tuna. Our neighbors’ scallops in Pernod cream sauce look amazing too. The food is great, the service and ambiance are good, and this is only day one. At this rate, we’re in for quite the food adventure.
Second stop: Wiscasset
We’re chasing lobster, and according to several sources, Red’s Eats is the world’s best lobster shack and Maine’s #1 lobster spot. We’ll have to verify that for ourselves.
A donut experiment
But first, a quick donut experiment. Maine is known for potato-based donuts, so we have to try them. At 8:45 there’s already a line out the door at The Holy Donut. We order three flavors: blueberry maple glaze, maple bacon, and blueberry with blueberry glaze, and eat them outside by the harbor. They’re good, but we agree they’re a bit dense, which drowns out the blueberry and maple flavors.
Red’s Eats
Then we leave Portland and head to Wiscasset. Red’s Eats opens at 11:30, but you need to get there early because people line up. We arrive at 11:10 and there’s already a line. We join the end and study the menu. At exactly 11:30 the shack opens and the line starts moving. It’s very efficient: people order and find a spot on the deck. Still, it takes an hour and 10 minutes before it’s our turn.
The lobster roll is $38. Steep, we agree, but this is Maine’s #1 lobster roll, many years running. So we also agree: no sharing. We each order the traditional Maine lobster roll.
When our plates come out 15 minutes later, we understand the price, and we regret not sharing. There’s so much lobster on each roll that there’s no way we can finish it. We try hard and manage about two-thirds, then pack up the rest with the optimistic idea that we’ll finish it later. (We did not as we had too many other dishes to sample).
Third stop: Rockland and Camden
After all that lobster, we need to stretch our legs. We stop in Rockland and walk out to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. It’s a beautiful walk out into the Atlantic ocean. And we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Blue skies, a little breeze and great temperature for October.
Another stop on the way to Bar Harbor is the town of Camden. A nice seaside village with cute stores and a beautiful harbor.
Fourth stop: Bar Harbor
Dinner at the Bar Harbor Inn
We arrive in Bar Harbor just in time for dinner, though we’re still full from Red’s. At the Bar Harbor Inn we manage to get a table outside, facing the harbor. It’s a cold but beautiful night. Mandi orders the clam chowder and I order the lobster bisque. Both are good, but we’re still so full that we probably don’t appreciate them as much as we should. We do however want to try the famous blueberry tart, so we order one to go for breakfast the next day.
Hiking the ocean trails
We had tried to get a vehicle reservation for sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. They go online at 10 a.m. two days in advance, and they sold out in minutes. So instead, we take the shuttle into town and switch to the Island Explorer #3 bus to Sand Beach. The woman at the bus office suggests we stay on all the way to Otter Point instead of walking from Sand Beach. Great advice: the views are better with the sun at our backs, and it’s much less crowded, since most people start walking at Sand Beach. It’s an easy and beautiful walk. We kick it off with the blueberry pie we bought the night before, eaten overlooking the ocean. The pie is good, but not as good as the huckleberry turnover we had in Glacier last year.
From Otter Point we walk to Thunder Hole. Unfortunately, it only really booms in the hours around high tide, which today is at 5:35 a.m. and 5:25 p.m., so we skip the crowds and walk on to Sand Beach. We cross to the far end of the beach and climb up to the Great Head Trail. It’s a beautiful loop with amazing views over the Atlantic. The back half takes us through the woods, where we spot the most amazing mushrooms. Back at Sand Beach, we catch the shuttle into town.
Lunch at Blaze
Four miles of walking has made us hungry, so we grab a table at Blaze. We pick up where we left off last night: soup. A cup of clam chowder for Mandi, lobster bisque for me, and this one beats the Bar Harbor Inn’s. I can’t help myself and order another lobster roll. When in the lobster capital of the world… Mandi has the salad with a crab cake.
Dinner at Table Salt
After another stroll through town, we take the shuttle back to our hotel to relax before dinner. Tonight we’re going to Table Salt, a bit fancier than last night’s casual outdoor dinner.
Everything on the menu looks delicious, from the oysters to the scallops with pork belly to the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese. Our server recommends three dishes for the two of us: the tuna, the mac ‘n’ cheese or the scallops on vermicelli, plus the Brussels sprouts. We tell him we have a different plan: we’ll start with oysters and tuna, then have both the mac ‘n’ cheese, the scallops with pork belly on vermicelli and to not exclude vegetables, we add the brussels sprouts. He looks at us like we’re crazy, but we want to try it all. The Portuguese Alvarinho he recommends is excellent, and the food is outstanding. Of course we can’t finish everything, but we happily sample it all.
Biking Acadia National Park
The next morning we have e-bikes reserved at Fat E Bike in Bar Harbor. The bus drops us in town again, and just before 9 we arrive at the rental shop. After helmets, maps and instructions, we’re off. We ride to the start of the carriage roads, just after crossing Duck Brook Bridge, and follow the carriage road along Eagle Lake. Here the fall colors are on full display: shades of yellow, orange and red that make for perfect pictures. We continue on the carriage roads along Jordan Pond until we reach the Jordan Pond House.
Popovers at Jordan Pond House
Rather than a full lunch here, we’ve decided to try the freshly baked popovers Jordan Pond House is famous for. Our timing is good: we arrive just before 11:30, and there’s already a line for the restaurant. Once it opens, we can walk past that line to the popover stand at the back of the garden. There’s a line here too, and we wait about 20 minutes to order. It’s worth it: fluffy and still warm, served with butter and homemade jam. We continue our ride with a loop around Witch Hole Pond and return the bikes after four and a half hours.
The west side and dinner at Abel’s
By now we’ve seen most of Acadia’s east side, so we drive over to the west side. Abel’s Lobster is another spot on our list. They don’t take reservations, and since we skipped lunch, we go for an early dinner. With stops at the pretty little harbors of Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor, we arrive at Abel’s. It sits right on the water of Somes Sound, a great setting. We opt for a table inside, as the host tells us rain is expected around 5.
The restaurant is already pretty full, inside and out. At several tables people are tackling whole lobsters, and it looks delicious. But we have a different plan: we order a crab roll and a lobster roll to share, plus some fish and chips, because the haddock comes battered in local Allagash beer. Our verdict: this lobster roll is a close second to Red’s Eats.
Last stop: back to Portland
It’s time to leave Acadia and head back to Portland for one more night. With stops in Boothbay Harbor and Freeport, we reach Portland in the afternoon and squeeze in a little more shopping before getting ready for our last dinner.
Douro
And not just any dinner. Mandi has scored a reservation at Douro, a highly rated Portuguese restaurant. After a short wait, we’re seated in the bar area. Everything on the menu looks so good. Mandi wants the deviled eggs with roe, and I’m eyeing the tuna crudo again after how good it was at Central Provisions. Then there’s the cataplana, a Portuguese seafood stew with shrimp, mussels and a whole lobster served over Carolina Gold rice. It’s the signature dish, so we have to try it. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is lovely and the service is impeccable. Full and happy, we head back to our hotel.
To Sum it up
We came for lobster and leaves and got plenty of both, plus more: oysters, scallops, tuna and blueberry tart. Red’s Eats lives up to the hype (just share the roll), Abel’s is a worthy runner-up, and Acadia in early October is every bit as colorful as promised. Maine, we’ll be back.
Know before you go
- Red’s Eats: arrive before opening and expect a wait of an hour or more. One roll easily feeds two.
- Cadillac Mountain sunrise: vehicle reservations are released online at 10 a.m. ET two days ahead (some earlier, months out) and sell out in minutes.
- Use the Island Explorer shuttle. Ride past Sand Beach to Otter Point and walk back for fewer crowds and the sun at your back.
- Jordan Pond House: arrive before 11:30 and head straight to the popover stand at the back.
- Abel’s doesn’t take reservations; go early.
- Standard Baking Co: take home some of the pistachio cardamom shortbread cookies
- Book dinner reservations (Central Provisions, Street & Co., Douro) well ahead.
All photography by Mandi Mena and Mariel van Tatenhove unless specified.
