So we had our big company golf outing yesterday and let's just say I am not on top of my game today... If this post borders on incoherent please bare w/ me. Last week however was great! My special lady and I packed up the car and headed north to Belfast Maine where my family has a camp. "Camp" is a funny term. Some camps are 8 bedroom ocean front cottages, some camps are glorified wooden tents. Ours falls closer to the later category, which is actually nice. Don't get me wrong, our camp is nice, it is right on a beautiful lake, and my family has put a lot of work into it... but there is no phone, no TV, and you shower in lake water. After getting my stones kicked for the last several months, this setting was perfect! It was sunny, warm, and f*ing quiet!! I was able to read a few books, and the wife and I had some nice alone time. The town of Belfast has also gone through a nice renaissance. We actually couldn't get in to a few places w/out reservations on Saturday night?! A few Belfast highlights... The Docksider, the lobster roll is fresh and delicious. They have a nice relaxed atmosphere and solid food at decent prices. Service? Well, it is homey... We have eaten there a bunch and our favorites are; the lobster roll, the lobster melt (essentially a lobster roll smothered in melted cheese), "the works" burger (mustard, onions, lettuce, tomato, and pickles on a great roll), and the Clam Chowder (holy cream and butter!). All winners. Another spot for good food and a good price is Darby's. I had a pretty ok rendering of the old favorite fish n' chips. Very lightly breaded and the haddock was very well cooked. Plus they made a great margarita w/ fresh squeezed lime juice, no sour mix! My wife's Tofu Pad Thai was ok, not great... a little heavy on the peanut sauce, a little light on the bean sprouts. If you want to cook it yourself or go really old school, try Young's Lobster Pound. They have great lobsters and will cook them for you there, or pack 'em seafood for a short drive home. Clams, potato salad, and coleslaw are all good as well. The Lookout Pub? They are right, look out! Pub food, ok at best, and pretty bad service. Chase's Daily is a great breakfast spot. My lady had some great breakfast burritos and I had a fantastic chard and feta omelet. The ginger peach smoothie was also money! Very fresh, very clean food. Our favorite though is the Three Tides down on the water. They have a nice indoor bar, a great patio dining area, and a cool outdoor open bar area w/ a bocce court. Yeah, my wife beat me in bocce... she is an excellent bowler! The food is pretty good, not great. They do have fresh oysters you can watch them shuck, and fresh lobsters and clams. Other items are not as good, such as the lobster quesadilla which was a little limp. The homemade beers are really good, 2 IPAs which are both really good. They also have a well stocked and very solid bar... perfect dry martini. Want a little something special? Try the $18 Lucid absinthe. Sure it is pricey but the process is fun, the liquor is interesting (tastes like Pernod, the anise), and it is 120 proof so you will get a buzz!!! Overall Belfast gets 2 big thumbs up.
We also took a little tour of Bar Harbor. Beautiful area. The ocean is amazing, there are some really cool neighborhoods, and plenty of short hikes w/ amazing views (and wild blueberries all over the place). We stayed at the Claremont... Beautiful buildings, location, and a great bathroom and bed. The service SUCKS! Bad bartender, non-english speaking waitstaff, and dip shits at the front desk. Plus they serve fake maple syrup. It's Maine for crap sake. That's like serving fake orange juice in Florida... it's un-American! We did have a nice Greek lunch at Cafe 2 Eat a Pita. They had a nice feta spread w/ delicious pita chips and a pretty good BLT w/ avocado. No mayo on the BLT though... They fresh squeezed orange juice is really good as well. We also had a nice dinner @Fiddler's Green. We started out w/ a drink and chatted up some locals. My wife had an interesting jalapeno cucumber kiwi martini...it was something. We then made our way to dinner, a smoked fish app which was pretty good, especially the salmon. I then had a very well cooked fillet and my tag team partner had scallops which were very nice. We also put down a slice of blueberry pie and some ginger sorbet. Yeah, we got fat last week!
All in all it was a very relaxing vacation. And now here I am hung over and wishing I was still at the Three Tides!!! Just another instance of the Man keeping me down!!!
We also took a little tour of Bar Harbor. Beautiful area. The ocean is amazing, there are some really cool neighborhoods, and plenty of short hikes w/ amazing views (and wild blueberries all over the place). We stayed at the Claremont... Beautiful buildings, location, and a great bathroom and bed. The service SUCKS! Bad bartender, non-english speaking waitstaff, and dip shits at the front desk. Plus they serve fake maple syrup. It's Maine for crap sake. That's like serving fake orange juice in Florida... it's un-American! We did have a nice Greek lunch at Cafe 2 Eat a Pita. They had a nice feta spread w/ delicious pita chips and a pretty good BLT w/ avocado. No mayo on the BLT though... They fresh squeezed orange juice is really good as well. We also had a nice dinner @Fiddler's Green. We started out w/ a drink and chatted up some locals. My wife had an interesting jalapeno cucumber kiwi martini...it was something. We then made our way to dinner, a smoked fish app which was pretty good, especially the salmon. I then had a very well cooked fillet and my tag team partner had scallops which were very nice. We also put down a slice of blueberry pie and some ginger sorbet. Yeah, we got fat last week!
All in all it was a very relaxing vacation. And now here I am hung over and wishing I was still at the Three Tides!!! Just another instance of the Man keeping me down!!!
