As temperatures remain stubbornly and uncomfortably high, I thought it would be a good time to reminisce about our trip to Portland, Maine we took earlier this summer where the high today is a pleasant 75.

As I wrote previously about Portland, it is a foodie city. They have been living the local movement for years not for trend, but by necessity. Although a small city, downtown Portland has an incredible amount of local establishments and almost no national chains. I don’t believe I saw any fast food chains downtown, a fantastic departure from the norm. Additionally, what I really liked about Portland was their community attitude. Everyone seemed interested in helping everyone succeed in their small city.

We stayed Morrill Mansion, a lovely bed and breakfast that most importantly had great breakfasts. The owner/chef David cooked up fantastic specialties such as lobster soufflé, berry pana cotta and scones. These breakfasts were a great start to the day. As an added bonus in the parlor room, there were always fresh baked goods.

You may not know, the whoopie pie is  Maine’s official state treat (blueberry pie and whoopee pie fought a bitter battle earlier this year with blueberry pie winning the honor of Maine’s state dessert from the State’s legislature). We tried several variations and by far our favorite was from local Portland baker Two Fat Cats. On the other hand, stay far, far away from Wicked Whoopie Pies. They are the McDonald’s of whoopie pies.

We couldn’t resist a place called Duck Fat. Obviously not for those on a diet. Duck Fat is known for two things: their frites and churros. We of course got both. The frites were good enough, we were expecting Belgian style frites and it is always disappointing when they don’t arrive at the table. However, the choices of unique dipping sauces such as truffle ketchup and Thai chili mayo helped us get over our disappointment. The real star were the churros. They were light and crispy as they should be and served with a delicious spicy chocolate sauce. They were fantastic. Duck Fat also sells beignets, which I am sure are equally fantastic, but since we still wanted to fit in our pants, we decided to pass them up.

Everyone we met talked up the Portland Farmer’s Market. We were expecting a mix of food stalls as well as fresh produce and such, similar to the Portland, OR Farmer’s Market. Although the fresh produce looked amazing, there really was no reason for a tourist to make the trek out on a Saturday morning unless you are planning to cook.

You wouldn’t think a city as small as Portland wouldn’t have great sushi, but they do! On the advice of our BnB proprietor we went to Miyake and had some of the best sushi we ever had. Amazingly all of Miyake’s fish is local and they also feature local ingredients. The tuna 3-way appetizer was one of the most memorable dishes I have ever had and certainly the best prepared tuna. It’s a little pricey, but if you want to splurge this is a place to do it.

We are generally skeptical of over stylized hipster places, but after a long wait at a seafood place to only find out they were out of oysters, we decided to try Boda. Despite the thumping music, minimal interior and dim lighting that usually screams you are here for atmosphere, not food, Boda was surprisingly good. Boda serves Thai street food and traditional dishes. My favorite item was the bacon wrapped dates. I could have just eaten those for dinner, but the lamb curry we got was pretty tasty too.

Of course you can’t go to Maine without eating a lobster. So here is my requisite lobster from Five Islands Lobster Company eaten seaside in Bath.

Have you been to Portland, Maine? Where did you eat?

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