WE'RE MAINE-LY HERE FOR THE LOBSTER

The next morning, Eunice and I had breakfast at the hotel. We perused the menu and decided on the lobster and crab eggs Benedict.

We were then off to Richmond about an hour north of Peckland. John Hathaway is the President of a Shucks, a company that shucks lobsters. He takes the live lobsters and puts them in a machine that uses water pressure to separate the meat from the shell. It's probably the most humane way of killing a lobster.

You now have the raw meat to remove from the shell and ship it to restaurants. Many chefs, especially from overseas, don't want frozen cooked meat. In other words, when you order a lobster tail, you are not getting a fresh lobster, unless the restaurant has live lobsters floating in a tank. The same goes for dishes such as lobster macaroni and cheese or lobster Thermidor.

So, for instance, the restaurant will purchase frozen raw lobster tails in the shell that will cook easily (best poached at a low temperature in butter). I watched the process and engaged in removing the shell to get the raw meat. You can easily view the assembly line of packing the lobster tails...or as I named it, the Retail area.

Lobsters can be gotten whole, or halved as well as buying a one pound package of meat from the claws and knuckles. Think lobster tacos and lobster bisque.

You can't dine there so we were off to a restaurant called Reds Eats located on Water Street in Wiscasset, a town noted for antiquing. It's a corner shack with tables and chairs to eat outside or take it to go. The lines are really long but we managed to cluck our way to the owner's heart and get served. We got more than one and half pounds of lobster meat on a roll. They don't have a website. The phone number is 207-882-6128.

Back to Peckland to the area known as Cape Elizabeth to see what we hear is the most photographed Lighthouse.

The next day being the last, we were still looking at lobster rolls. We went to the Portland Lobster Company, the only restaurant that's right on the wharf. Had a beer and met up with our friend Merle. She shared her lunch with us. Then we met the guy who runs the place. Cool. Since Merle was nice enough to share, we got her a t-shirt.

Time to leave Peckland and back to New Yolk.

JETBLUED TO PORTLAND, MAINE

We had gotten so busy thinking about our trip to Cluckton that we missed telling you all about the when we Jetblued to Portland, Maine and renamed it Peckland, Mahenie.
Eunice and I couldn't resist a bargain with Jet Blue airlines' $49 one way from New York's JFK to Portland, Maine.

Staying at the Portland Harbor Hotel on Fore Street. Amongst other amenities is their car service that will not only take you to and from the airport, they will drop you off and pick you up anywhere in the downtown area.

Our first destination was Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. Rather than going straight to Kennebunkport's downtown area, we veered off to a resort called Hidden Pond to have lunch at their restaurant, Earth, located at Goose Rock Road in a birch forest with balsam trees along a pond.

There are several areas to dine. The main building reveals a rustic atmosphere with a first view of a working fireplace on the right and a huge bar on the left. The wall of the bar is decorated in bottles of liquor and "top shelf" goes no far than about the 3rd shelf. Tables and chairs are not on top of each other and there is a partial open kitchen on one end, where you can see some of the cooking and especially the preparation and baking of the pizzas in the wood fired oven.

Another area, enclosed, gives you a view of the gardens and pond. Outside you can either sit at tables amongst the vegetable garden, at a separate area with umbrellas, or a private dining room that is a converted shed. That is where I dined. It has a long table and wonderfully full of decorations.

Now that I've told you about all of the ambiance, what truly counts is the food. You know the expression "farm to table"? This is "farm to fork" since much is taken directly from the garden. Yes, as I dined in the shed I could see different chefs picking the ingredients. If it doesn't come from the gardens, most likely the cheeses, meats, lobster, etc. are local.

Famed chef Ken Oringer is the consultant, Kevin Walsh is the Executive Chef and Meghann is the Sous Chef. It was Meghann who determined the tasting and was wise.

Oysters: Pemaquid oysters with fresh coriander and cucumber topped with bachelor button flowers. Best raw oyster topping I've come across. Blue edible flowers from the garden.

Tomato Salad: Heirloom tomato salad with lovage (a flowery herb), perslane, (another tasty herb that a bit more leafy), black garlic, (a sweeter garlic with an almost jelly-like texture), and sweet Maine fried clams.

Gazpacho: Cucumber, melon, almond, garden herbs, topped with yogurt foam and chili oil. Certainly far from the usual gazpacho, both inventive and savory.

Margherita Pizza: Hand stretched dough topped with san morzano tomatoes, Flore di Nonno's daily hand-made mozzarella cheese, grated parm, basil and arugula(from the garden). Thin crust, just the way I like it.

Bigoli: House made bigoli (a fat spaghetti) with spicy lobster and lobster mushrooms with nepitalla (a wild herb in the mint family). It was the first time that I saw lobster mushrooms. They are hearty and bright orange in color.

Monkfish: Wood oven seared monkfish, red quinoa, garden beans, olives and crushed hazelnuts. Monkfish prepared correctly is wonderful in itself. The additions bring out the entree.

Fried Chicken: Buttermilk soaked, pasture raised, fried chicken with bacon braised chard and sweet potato cornbread. We were startled to see this and did not engage in tasting.

Needless to say, we did have a bit of room for dessert.

After departing, we went into downtown Hennebunkport. I was told to see Steve, the owner of the Clam Shack.