THE MAINE ATTRACTION
Award-winning food, breweries and art await you in Portland
It was 1846, and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was walking around Portland, Maine, his boyhood home, when he stopped and, as he wrote, “listened to the lashing, lulling sound of the sea just at my feet. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the harbor was full of white sails, coming and departing.”
Nearly two centuries later, visitors still stop to admire the sails that dot the Portland harbor — in between shopping, gallery hopping and eating, of course. Known for its award-winning food, Maine’s most populous city expanded its outdoor dining policies during the pandemic, transforming streets, parking lots, sidewalks and squares into culinary hot spots. In the Old Port, brick buildings and stone lanes add a touch of romance to alfresco meals. And a wave of new art shows and openair concerts in historical settings makes Longfellow’s hometown feel like a city not only for the ages, but for the moment.
With the delta variant of the coronavirus now dominant in the United States, Maine is following the updated CDC recommendations for face coverings, which urge everyone to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status “in indoor, public settings in areas with ‘substantial’ or ‘high’ levels of community transmission” and outdoors if you’re unable to socially distance. In certain places, masks are required, like at the Portland Observatory and the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine. Capacity and hours may also be limited. Additionally, some venues have safety initiatives, like proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Check websites for the latest policies.
So pack your sunscreen and your mask. While it’s impossible to experience everything that’s happening right now, here are a few of the season’s fleeting pleasures.
Downtown and environs
Among the acclaimed restaurants that have taken to the streets this summer is Central Provisions, where you’ll find small plates and a new patio from which to savor, say, a caramelized bocadillo sandwich with sheep’s milk cheese, saba (Italian grape must syrup) and membrillo paste as you gaze toward a distant pier. This part of town is saturated with James Beard award nominees, and at Standard Baking Co. (a semifinalist more than once) early birds get the best selection of irresistible breads and pastries, like hand-rolled prosciutto and asiago croissants, pain au chocolat and marinated olive bread; online orders accepted. Stroll over to Fort Allen Park to immerse yourself in a little American history while polishing off that flaky croissant.
A short walk from Standard Baking Co. is a buzzy stretch of Middle Street that these days looks like an open-air food festival. Crowds line up for outdoor tables and innovative seafood at Eventide Oyster Co. and noodles and Asian-inspired appetizers at the Honey Paw, as well as paninis and addictive Belgian frites fried in duck fat at the aptly named Duckfat, where seating is beneath a new pavilion. Alternatively, order online for pickup at Eventide (a 2017 James Beard award winner) and the Honey Paw (a semifinalist), or hop on Duckfat’s outdoor takeout line and then go for a quick drive to the Western Promenade where you can picnic on a bench overlooking the water. When it’s time to feed your soul, head to the Portland Museum of Art and spend a few hours with Renoir and Winslow Homer.
Libbytown
Grab a lawn chair and head to Thompson’s Point, the revitalized industrial riverfront area where, on a grassy peninsula, the nights are filled with live music at the open-air State Theatre Summer Concert Series. See the State Theatre website for show tickets, including upcoming performances by the Trey Anastasio Band. Attendees must be fully vaccinated or receive a negative test within 48 hours of an event, and mask wearing is encouraged.
Not far away, a 100-yearold former railcar repair building has been reinvented as the popular Bissell Brothers Brewing. Nowadays, in addition to pours, you can order comfort food — fried chicken sandwiches, wings, charcuterie with local meats and cheeses — from the new Bissell Brothers Kitchen.
Libbytown is hardly just for grown-ups. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine has relocated to a new multimillion-dollar home it built here. Inside are some 30,000 square feet of exhibits, like “From the Mountains to the Sea,” where touch tanks filled with sea creatures such as horseshoe crabs, chain catsharks and anemones aim to give visitors a glimpse into marine life. Outside are play areas for children to climb and dig, as well as a “teaching garden” where they can learn about food systems and biology.
East Bayside and East End
Cove Street Arts, an exhibition, event, workshop and studio space, is one of the many places transforming East Bayside, where coffee shops and breweries have sprung up in warehouses and industrial buildings.
Even without the pandemic, summer is the season to sip and linger outdoors. And this part of town is rife with breweries where you can do just that. Goodfire Brewing Co., Lone Pine Brewing Co., Rising Tide Brewing Co., Urban Farm Fermentory and Austin Street Brewery all have seating areas outside, as do the new arrivals Belleflower Brewing Co. and Après, a craft seltzer and cider house. (Nearby awardwinning Allagash Brewing Co. also has outdoor tastings.)
While you’re in the neighborhood, check out street art like the Piece Together Project: rotating large-scale murals by Portland artists Ryan Adams and Rachel Adams (her work is also at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine) that aim to honor area residents.