Table at the Kennebunkport Resort Collection is thrilled to host the creator of EAT BOUTIQUE, Maggie Battista as a guest writer. Over the next four months, Maggie will share her thoughts on food, entertaining and loving life while traveling in Maine.
Eating outside is a serious food topic for me. As a cookbook author, I spend my days consuming, cooking, and serving scrumptious foods. And, my dishes are most definitely made (or unmade) by the atmosphere in which they’re shared – the setting, the room or lack thereof, you know, the experience.
A perfect plate can be ruined in a stuffy dining room and then in turn maybe ruin your night. And on the contrary, a breeze that may waft around a picnic table or just barely caress your cheek as you gobble down the season’s first sweet fruit dish, perhaps with a bracing sip of bubbly, can renew your life or give it some special meaning – like, you’re in the ideal spot at some predestined moment.
This is why there are only two moments when I eat or serve lobster – that marine crustacean that when cooked faultlessly is sweet and succulent. The first is at home: I boil piles of them in the late summer, when the prices are just right, and while the husband yanks the meat from the shells for our guests (lucky us), I prep drawn butter, sweet corn cobs, and a refreshing potato salad with mustard and vinegar. The second involves no cooking whatsoever and a pier in some seaside town, like one of my favorites: Kennebunkport, Maine.
This tiny town may be a summer haven for folks in-the-know but for me it’s steeped with picnic spots, like the Cape Porpoise docks, and some of the best lobster rolls in the region, making it my getaway spot when a lobster emergency (aka, a craving) sets in.
Along the docks, you’ll find three worthwhile lobster stops. Port Lobster serves a classic on New England split-top buns. The Cape Pier Chowder House offers a solid meal on a dock, with wine. But I’m a sucker for the The Clam Shack, one of the oldest continuously operating seafood markets in Maine, as they dish up fresh lobster on round white rolls baked daily in nearby Biddeford. The rolls are offered with multiple condiments but they say it’s best with both mayonnaise and butter. I say, yes.
The only way to eat this or any lobster roll is outdoors, preferably on a pier with a little fried food on the side and a stunning view. If you can, find an agreeable breeze and a pint of something delicious. Altogether, it’s kind of like the way life should be, or so some say.
Details on these lobster spots:
Port Lobster, 122 Ocean Avenue, Kennebunkport, Maine, 04046, (207) 967-2081
The Cape Pier Chowder House, 79 Pier Road, Kennebunkport, Maine, 04046, (207) 967-0123
The Clam Shack, 2 Western Avenue, Kennebunk, Maine, 04043, (207) 967-2560
Maggie Battista is the founder and director of Eat Boutique (www.eatboutique.com), an award-winning small-batch foods retailer and blog. Eat Boutique and Maggie’s work have been featured on the Cooking Channel, Daily Candy, Food52, Style Me Pretty, and in the pages of the Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. Her first cookbook, Food Gift Love: More Than 100 Recipes to Make, Wrap, & Share, will be released in October 2015 and is available to order now.
Photo credits: White Loft Studio/Heidi Murphy
Want to stay in Kennebunkport and enjoy the food and spectacular scenery? The Kennebunkport Resort Collection is home to eight hotels and seven world-class restaurants.
