A Trip To Maine and New Brunswick, Canada (And Random Thoughts About Breakfast, Too)

It was nearly 29 years ago when we first traveled from Long Island to Maine and New Brunswick with our then 1-year-old son strapped in a car seat in the smallest car I think Chevrolet ever made (the Sprint). It was actually so small (I’m pretty tall and Lynn is too) that we even nicknamed the Sprint “Sprint Junior” just to make fun of its tiny size.

This time we started out from upstate New York (already saving us probably at least 3 hours) avoiding that awful stretch of I-95 going through Connecticut. Our first stop was in Essex, MA, for amazing lobster rolls at an old school joint called Essex Seafood. I mean look at this handwritten menu tacked onto the wall!

The lobster was sweet, minimally dressed and the side order of onion rings were pretty decent, too. I’d also like to personally thank many of my Instagram foodies who shared that find with me!

Overnight in Portland, Maine

We hadn’t been to Portland in at least 20 years and frankly, we didn’t remember a single thing. We walked around near the harbor area but weren’t that impressed.

There were a couple of restaurants and bars and the usual coffee places but there seemed to be an overwhelming number of tourist places all selling the same trinkets. Actually anything that had a lobster on it seemed to be a guaranteed sale. Lobster key rings? Check. Lobster potholders? Double check.

Dinner that night was at Fore Street – a restaurant that didn’t disappoint in its open kitchen concept as well as the incredible wood-burning smell of everything they were cooking.

The menu was very creative. Squid with eggplant and green beans followed by grilled foie gras on a slice of homemade zucchini bread! Who does that?

Second course up: Fresh blue fin tuna with peppers and grilled corn. A tasty dish but a small portion I thought for the price tag. (Yes, look at it, it was about 2 .5 bites!)

Finally, Lynn and I split a fresh berry cobbler topped with a biscuit-like dough (not my favorite but more on biscuits later) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Doesn’t that look absolutely delicious though?

On the way out, stopping to say “thanks” to the chefs working the line in the open kitchen, I was told by a not-so-friendly wait staffer that I was “not allowed” to be there or to talk to them! What? Cooking is a thankless job but I made sure the chefs working that night heard me compliment them on their exceptional talent. And at least I got a smile out of a few of them.

Before we left Portland the next morning, we stopped to see the lighthouse. Apparently, we had missed it the first time and the weather was absolutely perfect to get a great photograph!

On To Saint John, New Brunswick

We stopped for lunch outside of Bangor, Maine, and started with a seafood “chowdah” brimming with haddock, clams, shrimp and lobster. I moved on to eat a lobster BLT with avocado and Lynn held out for a traditional lobster roll. It was pretty darn good.

We had never been to Saint John and stayed at a hotel on the rather ugly waterfront. (This apparently is turning out to be a theme on this road trip.) Here, however, at least someone had attempted to create some “artwork” along the way. I particularly liked the random fish sculptures that were scattered around the downtown area.

We walked into a park, King’s Square, and found what appeared to be a Victorian-era band stand. Although when I looked at it, it kind of reminded me of a squat version of the Chinese Tower (Chinesischer Turm) in Munich’s Englischer Garten.

I have to segue just a bit. I really wanted to find a picture of Munich’s Chinese Tower and post it here but I realized that all the pictures I probably took of it were WAY BEFORE THE CLOUD! What? And yeah, I could drag out an old CD, pop it into my laptop and then spend hours looking for that one photograph. Or, I could just walk downstairs and find the one photo album I needed and just take a picture of the darn thing.

So here it is: My own photograph of the Chinesischer Turm in Munich, Germany, shot in the winter of 1979. Pretty cool right? And if you just look at the top two “towers,” you may see the same resemblance I did. And yeah, it took me a mere 3 minutes to walk down the stairs, find the photo album, flip open the page, shoot the picture, walk back upstairs and upload the shot.

Dinner At East Coast Bistro

When I tell you we had some of the best mussels EVER for dinner that night at East Coast Bistro, I’m not exaggerating. First of all, these mussels were from the Bay of Fundy which is the closest body of water to the town of Saint John and hence the restaurant. Spiced up with an intensely flavored coconut hot sauce with leeks on top, I’m still tasting (and dreaming) about this dish today. Second course I had was a fresh halibut with asparagus, pickled onions and arugula on top.

Yummy! Finally, since I had mentioned it was my birthday week – look what they brought out for me! Lovely homemade vanilla ice cream with a lemon tart topped with meringue. Also, I got to meet Chef Kim Steele and crew which was a nice treat.

Breakfast? What Breakfast?

One of my pet peeves of traveling these days is not being able to find a decent breakfast in the morning without A) driving out of our way and B) paying way too much money. I’m also not a fan of hotel buffets (unless it’s a really decent hotel). Or standing in line to scoop lukewarm scrambled eggs out of a chafing dish and then stand in another line to toast store-bought muffins.

I also like my breakfasts to be pretty simple. Eggs are a must but I don’t particularly like sausage for breakfast. But I’m okay with bacon but only one slice! And yes, I, too, fell for the avocado on toast thing. But then I stopped eating bread at breakfast for a while and I wasn’t crazy about just eating a “naked” avocado.

Hash browns or any kind of potato actually are also a definite no-no. You’re probably thinking, wow, it seems she doesn’t even like breakfast at all! But I do, I do, it just needs to be really simple and preferably served with a little bit of fresh fruit. (But only certain fruit.) Okay, I know I’m more than a little particular about my breakfasts.

I also won’t go into how I would prefer a croissant over a biscuit any day because my Dad, Larry, is one of my best blog readers and after he reads this he will probably be sending me hourly recipes for biscuits! (Love you Dad!) If you haven’t checked out any of his books, he is a funny writer and his books make great gifts, too. Side note: he LOVES biscuits and pie!

I also won’t go into my love/hate relationship with bagels. Well, okay, if you insist. I only like plain ones (and prefer mini bagels over full-sized ones) and also only buy bagels from certain stores. Recently Lynn and I decided pizza for breakfast would be a good idea but then wimped out at the last minute and got Italian pastries and cappuccino’s instead. (This photograph was from a recent trip to Montreal.)

Consequently, the next morning in our search for a bite to eat – a coffee, a donut, a bagel, a something, we walked around downtown Saint John and came up with zilch. We ended up back at the hotel, walked into the dining room and looked at a room filled with people who were drinking coffee. My breakfast “radar” went up. I realized no one had a plate in front of them which meant they had been waiting for their breakfasts a really, really long time.

I decided to be brave, ordered a simple omelette with toast and coffee and then we proceeded to wait. We got lucky. Apparently, the chefs working the line that morning cook everything at once since everyone’s food came out at the same time. So even though we were the last ones in that morning, our food came out as well. Timing is everything.

Since I didn’t take a picture of the omelette or my lousy coffee, I will leave you with some photos of some truly great breakfasts! (Regardless of my rantings above, I really do love breakfast!)

The best omelette you will ever eat. Courtesy of Les Deux Magots in Paris.

The best scones you will ever eat. Courtesy of The Langham Hotel in London. (Note: we did NOT stay there because it was outrageously expensive but went once for Easter brunch.)

The best farmer’s market to enjoy some pastries (and breakfast). Courtesy of the Byward Market in Ottawa.

I mean, even riding the Eurostar between London and Paris we had a decent croissant!

Finally, my new commuting life allows me not only to photograph my sucky”breakfast” at my desk but also share it with my husband, Lynn and my readers. If you’re wondering what it is – here’s more than a clue: Pepperidge Farm white bread, a slice of Munster cheese (or if I’m feeling really adventurous Havarti), a smear of butter laced with olive oil and either green or red grapes. Followed by weak office coffee. Awesome, right?

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.