Eating is both necessary and a pleasure – wherever you find it. I’ve had many great meals in the past, but the tastiest one with the greatest emotional impact was a rare steak served in an Antwerp, Belgium, restaurant. I was on the way home after nearly two years in Europe and my many months there had not always been pleasurable. So the appearance of linen tablecloth, gleaming crystal and polished silverware was unforgettable.
Restaurants and their successes are as fickle as seasonal winds on Sebago, and they come and go with predictable frequency. Many, no longer operational, left memorable marks.
Here in Maine, up and down the state, from Escort Station, as far north as you can get, to Kittery in the south, anyone you meet has at one time or the other eaten at Bangor’s Pilots Grill. Despite setbacks that would close other such layouts, the restaurant endured and prospered. With carefully prepared food from a longtime kitchen staff, the Zoidis family maintained the Route 2 establishment in much the same attention to service and detail as has the DiMillo and Reali families in Portland. Noted for their relish tray and other hors d’oeuvres, the Pilots Grill set the pace for dining amenities seldom seen in today’s restaurants.
South Portland’s Snow Squall Restaurant fell victim to the change brought about by the construction of a new Casco Bay Bridge, yet the Pilots Grill, started in 1940, endured the transformation of the nearby airport into a major military base and its eventual closure. Extension of the Maine Turnpike through Bangor knifed its way through the outer Hammond Street and Route 2 bailiwick, supposedly crippling commercial activity in the area. Yet Pilots Grill prevailed and closed only when the Zoidis family decided to do so, after more than 60 years on Route 2.
Portland’s Baker’s Table, with it’s basement dining room and exposed cooking area, offered an innovative menu in cramped surroundings and prompted us to visit there long before we moved to southern Maine. A steak and crab meat dish one evening there was very tasty.
Soon after moving to Scarborough, I met a fellow who told me of the food at the Cornforth House, on Route 1 in Saco. He cited haddock prepared here as “the best in the Portland area.” Given the diversity and good food available in these parts, that was a broad statement, but haddock at the Cornforth House was superb. The intimacy of the dining areas and the artful Thanksgiving dinners offered were outstanding and as such, are missed on the area dining scene.
Gorham Station, too small and too crowded, was another instance of choice dining. The salad bowl was creative and well received and, too, is a warm memory.
Sometimes, it’s the less noticed or less publicized dining room that is well remembered. Such is the case with the Gorham Connection, where a plate of baked stuffed shrimp was prepared with a difference. The stuffing was a smooth temptation, lifting the meal above the mundane.
A Portland restaurant, unique and very adept at food service, made the pages of a popular gourmet publication. Relatives, visiting from another state, suggested dining there, so we called for reservations – only to be told that such reservations would be held for five minutes only. We realized that we could not, on a summer Saturday evening, search for on-street parking in Portland and reach the restaurant within such a narrow time frame.
Unfortunately, it’s a popular habit among some diners to make reservations at several spots and then, at their leisure, decide on their choice. Thus, you can’t blame the restaurant for setting a timeframe. The highly competitive field of popular restaurants demands practical policies.
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