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Down East, Maine/
Fine dining was the hallmark of the original Rossmount, and the tradition has been enhanced under new chef-owner Chris Aerni. The Swiss native, who had 25 years’ experience working for others in Toronto and Australia, created a world-class restaurant here. He changes his contemporary menu daily to feature seafood he hand-picks from the fishmonger in Saint John and seasonal produce from local purveyors, along with chanterelles he forages from the inn’s property beneath Chamcook Mountain. Dinner might begin with his signature cappuccino of lobster bisque with brandy, cayenne peppers and chives, smoked salmon with potato blinis and horseradish mousseline, or a fabulous salmon and avocado tartare flavored with chives and coriander. Among main courses, the sautéed chicken breast with a two-mushroom sauce was one of the best poultry dishes we have had. Also superior was the fillet of haddock on old-fashioned potatoes with wilted greens and pickled fiddleheads. Other favorites are white wine risotto with bay scallops and chanterelles, prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin with polenta, and a stellar rack of lamb, the presentation changing nightly. The chef returns to his roots for desserts such as Swiss chocolate truffle cake with strawberry coulis, mixed berry crêpe and a traditional meringue glacé with chocolate sauce. We go for the walnut butter cake with homemade maple ice cream and Chamcook Mountain maple brandy syrup. All this is served up in a pleasant, understated dining room with well-spaced tables and changing art on the walls. (506) 529-3351. Entrées, $15.50 to $24.80.
Dinner nightly, 6 to 9:30, Wednesday-Sunday in off-season. Savour Some of the most inspired cooking in Atlantic Canada emanates from a tiny house in the rural outskirts of St. Andrews. Opening in 2009 with little fanfare, Savour is a dream come true for chef Alex Haun, whose fledgling career began in at the Garden Café at St. Andrews’s acclaimed Kingsbrae Garden, where his father Andreas Haun is the founding general manager. Young Alex, who studied at the Culinary Institute of Canada, is assisted by his wife Jennie and his sister Kim in what is an intensely personal, family-run operation. They serve up to 28 meals a night in an intimate, pristine to the point of spare setting: a sixteen-seat dining room, a small private dining room and Alex’s favorite: a six-seat chef’s table in the home-style kitchen. Dinner begins with an amuse bouche, in our case a tiny chicken wing stuffed with a New Brunswick cheese, a tomato concasse and mini-salad of tiny multi-colored tomatoes, deftly served by the sister and personally described tableside by the chef. Standout among the four appetizers was salmon three ways: smoked on a potato pancake with dill aioli, gravlax on a tiny roësti potato with red onion marmalade, and caviar on a gaufrette with crème fraîche. A lemon-thyme granite cleared the palate for the main courses: seared sturgeon with beet-infused orzo and citrus cream, prosciutto-encased chicken stuffed with basil and parmesan, and Westphalian-wrapped scallops with caramelized onion spaetzle cake and white wine chive cream. These were accompanied by vegetables from the locally well-known Bantry Bay Farm, Had we not chosen a couple of bottles of Mission Hill pinot grigio to accompany, one of our party of four might have opted for the red deer en croûte with boulanger potatoes and crimini mushroom ragoût. Desserts evidenced Alex’s pastry training: a masterful sieur de Duplessis cheesecake with spatters of strawberry reduction and a caramelized orange cream tart accented with chocolate sauce. The double-shot espresso-chocolate frozen parfait had already been gobbled up that evening. Chocolate truffles accompanied the bill – a well worth-it $100 or so per couple before tip for a meal to long savor.
Showy flowers and hanging baskets grace the alpine-looking facade of this rustic low white and brown structure one of us remembers fondly as the local dance hall in her teen years. It’s been a restaurant since 1984, but never better than under young owner Markus Ritter, a master chef from Bavaria. Markus, who had trained for fourteen years in Germany and on cruise ships, came upon St. Andrews in the usual serendipitous manner, arriving one Canada Day and putting down a deposit on the empty L’Europe building. Meanwhile, he met his bride-to-be when their paths crossed in the night while both worked in different departments in a German hotel. He and Simone moved to St. Andrews, renovated the restaurant and were married on the St. Andrews Wharf as L’Europe reopened in 2000. They lightened up the interior, giving it a more modern look in white and pale blue. Starched white napkins stand in cylinders at each table setting and halogen lights cast a soft glow in two small dining rooms and a bar seating up to 60. Markus offers superb contemporary continental menu from his renovated kitchen. The escargots bourguignonne and scallops mornay are good appetizers, and the composed salad is fresh as can be. Haddock fillets with tiger shrimp in a creamy champagne sauce, scallops provençal and mixed seafood are menu standbys, supplemented by nightly specials. But the emphasis is on meat dishes: chicken oriental, wiener schnitzel, and venison with red currant sauce and homemade spaetzle. The rack of lamb and filet mignon with béarnaise sauce are terrific. Most desserts feature ice creams and fresh fruits. We usually opt for the “dessert variation à L’Europe, an excursion of our specialties” – a decadent finale to a superior meal. Upstairs in the European style are four queensize bedrooms and three efficiency suites for overnight guests, renting for $75 to $145 nightly. (506) 529-3818. www.leurope.ca. Entrées, $17.90
to $29.70, Dinner nightly, 5:30 to 11. Closed midweek in off-season and
month of November.
If we could have only one lunch in St. Andrews, it would be here. Actually, we’ve had many, and they’ve always turned out to be exceptional. On a crystal-clear day, there’s no more idyllic setting than the leafy terrace outside the gallery dining room. You relax under a “weeping” apple tree canopy, with a postcard view of sloping lawns, floral borders, a couple of sculptures, an enormous Adirondack chair art piece that people keep climbing onto for photo ops, and a panoramic view of Passamaquoddy Bay beyond. The kitchen produces an interesting menu ranging from sandwiches to light entrées and pasta dishes. The elegant seafood chowder is among the best we’ve had, and the ploughman’s lunch is a satisfying platter of breads, cheese, pickles and pâtés. The day’s cheese and mushroom quiche is light and ethereal, teamed with a mesclun salad. The dessert tray harbors about eight delectable-looking goodies (all different sizes, all the same price – $4.95). The cheesecake with blackberry topping, light as a soufflé, was a triumph. The only frustration is that you can’t get into the café without paying the garden admission fee, but the gardens are a must-see anyway. (506) 529-4016. Prices, $3.50 to $12.95. Open
daily, 10 to 6, mid-May to mid-October.
Overlooking Niger Reef and the blockhouse, this picturesque log house with quite a history is our favorite waterside dining spot in town. Leased from the St. Andrews Civic Trust, the simple interior holds oriental wall murals painted by artist Lucille Douglas and a corner gift shop with tea accessories. We favor the rustic waterside deck with a tranquil view of the harbor and an outdoor grill where the freshest fish and meats are barbecued for dinner. Expanded from its former tea-house status by, restaurateur Tim Currie, it’s a pure place favored by sophisticates and caters to locals well beyond the tourist season. The contemporary, healthful fare features produce and vegetables from the couple’s one-acre farm garden east of town. Maple-glazed Atlantic salmon, grilled scallops in an orange-ginger-curry sauce and steak kabobs are worthy dinner standbys, supplemented by at least three nightly specials – perhaps arctic char, tuna and swordfish. Grilled vegetables accompany. The lunch menu runs from a potato tart and quiche of the day to a lobster salad sandwich. We were well satisfied with a superior ploughman’s lunch and a caesar salad topped with grilled salmon, accompanied by a couple of dark ales and a marvelous strawberry tart. Tea and scones are offered in the afternoon. (506) 529-8007. Entrées, $16 to $18. Open daily
in summer, 11:30 to 9, Sunday 10 to 9. Closed after Christmas to May.
A recent adjunct to the Tin Fish gift shop, this little winner offers a limited menu and inspired fare in tight, convivial surroundings – so convivial that the slow-as-molasses service can be forgiven. The talkative server likely will talk you into foregoing the basic lunch and dinner menu of seafood sandwiches, sushi rolls, curries and our favorite steamed mussels. Instead he’ll tout the blackboard specials, one night’s choice including crab cakes with salad, salmon fillet, rack of lamb and filet mignon. We were impressed with the curried chicken and vegetables and the chicken in puff pastry as well as the beer and wine selection. Homemade pies are the desserts of choice. The artistry in the kitchen extends to the decor of the tiny enclosed porch seating sixteen diners amid white lights twinkling in the windows. Elaine Wilson’s artworks share top billing with those of her husband, artist Ted Michener. Next door for casual food is Mitch’s Takeout, run by Ted, who also owns the popular Gables waterfront restaurant. (506) 529-4496. Entrées, $14.95 to $28.95. Open daily except Tuesday, noon to 9.
The Wa-Co Diner in front has been an institution at Bank Square since 1924, but recently gained a waterfront deck at the rear and a handsome dining room in between. Returning to her hometown after 35 years away, chef-owner Nancy Bishop reopened the diner, which had closed in 1997. She upgraded the fare, and her husband built the expansive, two-level deck beside the rocky shore. The nautical dining room, with vinyl cloths and oil lamps on the tables, has big windows onto the water on two sides. The Schooner menu is an extensive collection of Maine seafood and old continental favorites. Typical are charbroiled salmon with dill-cream sauce, baked stuffed haddock with lobster sauce, chicken marsala, rack of lamb and filet mignon oscar. Coconut popcorn shrimp, bacon-wrapped scallops and broccoli cheese bites are among the appetizers. Blackboard desserts could be raspberry-cheese pie, chocolate decadence or fried apples with butterscotch sauce. For lunch recently on the breezy waterside deck, we enjoyed a fine lobster club sandwich and one of the best crab rolls ever. (207) 853-4046. Entrées, $6.95 to $12.95. Open
daily in summer, 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; winter, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. La Sardina Loca Housed in the former A&P store where Eleanor Roosevelt shopped for groceries while summering on Campobello, this is billed as the easternmost Mexican restaurant in the United States. "The crazy sardine" name was chosen to give the sardine back to the community after many packing plants had closed, according to owner Chuck Maggiani. His son Lenny, the chef, married a woman from Mexico, which accounts for the theme. Wait until you see the place – a double storefront with big round tables, plastic patio chairs, a Christmas tree hanging upside down from the ceiling, posters, sign boards and a dark cantina bar hidden in back. It's crazy and colorful, to say the least. Blackboard specials at the entry proclaimed lobster and steak dinners for $11.95 at a recent visit. The regular menu might offer rancho grande bifstek with salad, baked potato and corn on the cob and a Rosarita beach lobster dinner, Mexican style, with salad, rice, beans and tortillas. Of course, you can order chicken fajitas, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, nachos and even pizzas. Start, if you dare, with La Sardina Loca, billed as herring steaks with hot chiles on a bed of lettuce with crackers, onions and sour cream. Dessert could be strawberry delight, kahlua parfait or caffe loca with tequila and kahlua. (207) 853-2739. Entrées, $4.95 to $12.95. Dinner nightly except Tuesday, 4 to 10. Material updated from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth, copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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