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Bar Harbor/ Havana Innovative, Latin-inspired fare is served in stylish surroundings at this sophisticated newcomer, where white-clothed tables tone down mandarin red walls that glow in the candlelight. The chef changes the menu daily. Typical appetizers are shrimp stuffed with jícama and coconut and a succulent crab and roasted corn. Winning main dishes include shrimp with jalapenos and pablano peppers in a ginger-coconut sauce, served over white beans and rice, and pork medallions sautéed in bourbon and served with saffron rice and grilled zucchini. Sweet endings are guava mousse in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone, mango and tuaca chocolate truffle torte, and pecan tart with cinnamon gelato. (207) 288-2822. Entrées, $14 to $272. Dinner nightly, from 5:30. The Burning Tree A summer-cottage setting off the beaten path is the backdrop for inspired "gourmet seafood" offered by chef-owners Allison Martin and Elmer Beal Jr. There are tables on the long front porch and two small dining rooms, cheerfully outfitted in pinks and blues with colorful paintings by local artists on the walls. The summer-cottage setting is the backdrop for inspired "gourmet seafood" offered by chef-owners Allison Martin and Elmer Beal Jr. A couple of chicken dishes are the only meats listed among entrées ranging from baked codfish with black bean sauce to curried pecan flounder served over a dried apricot, currant and pistachio couscous. Vegetarians hail offerings like a the cashew, brown rice and gruyère terrine and spring risotto with artichokes, peas, spinach and hazelnuts. Our party was quite delighted with such appetizers as mussels with mustard sauce, grilled scallops and an excellent vegetarian sushi. The cioppino came so highly touted that two of us ordered it, and the choice measured up. The others enjoyed grilled monkfish with a spicy tomato coulis, served with creamy potatoes with cheese and sautéed zucchini and peppers, and baked sole with crab and leek mousse. A couple of bottles of Chilean sauvignon blanc accompanied. Fresh strawberry pie, nectarine mousse cake and a rich chocolate kahlua cheesecake finished off an entirely satisfying meal. (207) 288-9331. Entrées, $16.50 to $21.50. Dinner nightly except Tuesday, 5 to 10. Open June to mid-October. Red
Sky Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning…“we don’t serve breakfast.” So says James Lindquist, owner of this new restaurant that shines at night. He summered as a child at nearby Seal Harbor and returned after working for restaurants in Mystic, New York City and Aspen to help open the Havana restaurant in Bar Harbor. In 2003, he took over the former Preble Grill with his wife Elizabeth and niece as partners. They gutted the interior to produce a warm dining room in yellow and deep burgundy. The handsome bar of white pine and mahogany was made by his brother-in-law from a tree in Camden. The bar is as deep as a table so it serves as a supper bar as well. Folks sit at the bar or at white-clothed tables to enjoy a panoply of changing contemporary treats. You might start with an appetizer like Maine shrimp dumplings with tamari-ginger sauce, roasted quail stuffed with quinoa and almonds, or house-made duck and pork sausage with cranberry-pear relish. Salads take equal billing, among them one of crabmeat with a light citrus riesling dressing atop bibb lettuce and another of spinach with feta cheese and toasted pinenuts, served in a crispy phyllo bowl. Typical main courses run from panko-crusted halibut and grilled scallops with a chile-molasses glaze to pan-roasted duck breast with a plum wine demi-glace and plum salsa or grilled New York strip steak topped with blue cheese and served over red wine-caramelized onions. Lobster risotto with asparagus and wild mushrooms is a menu fixture. Finish with a cheese course, four types served with fruit. Or sample innovative desserts such as belgian bittersweet chocolate pudding, sour lemon tart with strawberry sauce and raspberries, or the Red Sky’s ice cream sandwich with belgian chocolate and madagascar vanilla bean ice cream. (207) 244-0476. www.redskyrestaurant.com. Entrées, $21 to $30. Dinner, Monday-Saturday 5:30 to 10, Wednesday-Saturday 5:30 to 9 in off-season. Closed January to mid-February. Fiddlers’ Green Chef Derek Wilber, son of a local boat builder, and his fiancee Sarah O’Neil opened this stylish restaurant to rave reviews in 1999. They gutted the old Spinnakers family restaurant and created two simple but sophisticated dining areas. One, all in yellow, has windows onto the ocean and a side deck. The other is smaller with rag-rolled walls of burnt orange. A statue of Neptune and a fountain is situated beside the hostess station, where Sarah greets diners. A downstairs wine vault holds more than 160 labels, including rare vintages. A short menu itemizes changing choices in the new regional American idiom. Expect starters like crab cakes with a three-chile honey-mango sauce, mussels steamed in Guinness with shallots, grilled venison sausage with an onion sauté, and house-smoked scallops and mussels in a baked brie and walnut pastry basket. Main courses, served with a house salad, could be seared yellowfin tuna with a tamari-mirin sauce, grilled swordfish with a pineapple-ancho salsa, roast duck breast with a pomegranate glaze, beef medallions with a brandied apricot demi-glace and veal stuffed with crab and red pepper and topped with marsala wine. Typical desserts are honey-mango creme brulee, cream puffs and maple-nut tart. (207) 244-9416. Entrées, $17.25 to $19.95. Dinner nightly except Wednesday, 5:30 to 10; Thursday-Saturday in off-season, 5:30 to 9. Closed January-March. XYZ Restaurant The letters stand for A trip for dinner here is not unlike visiting a ranch
in Inside, all is colorful and cheery. And the cooking
aromas are seductive, thanks to Robert, who’s traveled in We could easily become nuts for his food, too, after a couple of dinners here. Everything, as Robert says, is “real,” from the smoked jalapeño and tomatillo sauces served with the opening tortillas to the fine tequila he offered with dessert as a digestive. Busy hostess Janet recommended we try her partner’s sampler plate ($21 each): two chiles rellenos and a chicken dish with mashed potato and pickled cucumber. Thoroughly smitten, we returned another time to enjoy the pollo deshebrada (shredded chicken in a rustic sauce of chiles with cilantro and onions) and tatemado (pork loin baked in a sauce of guajillo and ancho chiles). The menu changes weekly, so you might find camarones ajo (tiger shrimp with garlic, ancho and poblano chiles) or lengua Mexicana (native beef tongue stewed in a mild broth of tomato and herbs), a house specialty. Desserts range from flan, (207) 244-5221. Entrées, $21. Dinner,
Monday-Saturday from Cafe This Way The food is first-rate and the interior somewhat theatrical at this pleasant café down a side street with a sign pointing the way. Chefs Julie Harris and Julie Berberian, both from Bar Harbor’s former Fin Back restaurant, and partner Susanne Hathaway turned the old Unusual Cabaret dinner theater space into a casual mélange of tables and bookcases surrounding a circle of sofas in the center. But for the theater lights overhead, the dining area looks like a large living room. The contemporary menu features seafood, as in entrées of a Thai seafood pot simmered in coconut-curry broth, grilled salmon with a gingery maple glaze, grilled tuna with sautéed apples and smoked shrimp, and crab cakes with tequila-lime sauce. Or you might try bibimap, a Korean dish of stirfried vegetables, a fried egg and spicy pepper sauce served over rice in a hot stone bowl. Several main dishes also are available as appetizers on this mix-and-match menu. Otherwise the stars are homemade tuna and salmon sausage crusted with sesame seeds, Maine seafood spring rolls and mussels steamed in cider with garlic, chipotles and bourbon chicken sausage. Folks rave about the salads, perhaps lobster caesar, watercress with grated asiago cheese and prosciutto, or warmed endive with grilled shrimp over greens with citrus vinaigrette. Chocolate turns up in most of the desserts. Typical are chocolate-amaretto mousse, raspberry-chocolate truffle cake, and peanut butter and chocolate fudge cake. Five versions of eggs benedict are featured on the breakfast menu, which offers some of the most creative and affordable fare in town. (207) 288-4483. www.cafethisway.com. Entrées, $16
to $22. Breakfast, Monday-Saturday 7 to 11, Sunday 8 to 1 Dinner nightly,
5:30 to 9. Closed November-March.
A lovely gravel patio and front porch draw diners to this homey new restaurant in a house moved from the site of the new Bar Harbor Grand Hotel and bearing quite a history. Ask your server to tell you some of its past as you consider whether to have pub fare or go full bore, knowing that the prices won’t break the bank. The pub menu yields things like chicken pot pie, fish and chips, shepherd’s pie and a lamb burger. Local savants praise the dinner fare as first-rate. The menu typically offers lobster with champagne-vanilla sauce, porcini-encrusted halibut, pecan-encrusted pork loin finished with a bourbon barbecue jus, crispy duck breast with a champagne-curry sauce, grilled filet mignon with green peppercorn-brandy sauce and the signature rack of lamb. The seafood risotto – local scallops and shrimp over a lemon-truffle risotto tossed with peas and cherry tomatoes – comes highly recommended. Rope-cultured mussels steamed in Irish ale, sesame-crusted rare tuna with seaweed salad and wasabi cream, and citrus-cured lobster-scallop seviche with watermelon and greens make good starters. So do the sherried lobster stew and the salad of almond-crusted goat cheese, roasted red beets and mango slices over field greens. (207) 288-2002. www.mckayspublichouse.com. Entrées,
$15.95 to $24.95. Lunch in summer, 11:30 to 3. Dinner nightly, 5 to 10.
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