Thanks so much! We're really looking forward to the trip and it'll be here before we know it. We're going to wing breakfasts and lunches, although Duckfat and Eventide are on the list for those and I've been following the Blue Rooster buzz. But we've got reservations at the following for our dinners:

Ocean
On The Marsh
Fore Street
Street and Co.
Primo (glad I got this one in pre-James Beard win!)

I'm going to have to walk... a lot... I'm thinking. :) I'll definitely give a full report when we're there/get back. I think it says a lot when you go back there year after year - especially given the ridiculous flight times involved! :)

The Lynn on Bryant was nice and quiet last time we were there. I've always found Heidi's to be quiet too - almost to the point that you hear other table's conversations that you wish you wouldn't. LOL

Really? Can someone confirm that? Their website is still up with today's menu and their Opentable bookings still work. Maybe you're thinking of somewhere else?

Thank you! This is so helpful. In Portland, we'll be staying in Old Port. I had looked at Porthole, but it looks like they are or were closed but will be open with new management? But their website doesn't give details so I wasn't sure what was happening there. Sounds like that may be an option for us though. Standard Bakery is a great suggestion too - thanks!

It's funny you mention the whoopie pies because Hubster loves these disgusting, dry, moon pie things you get in gas stations around here. He'd probably think he'd died and gone to heaven with a gourmet one. LOL

Good to know Bresca is only open for dinner on Friday and Saturday. That won't work for us as we'll be in Bar Harbor those nights, but maybe Bresca would be good for a lunch? We don't mind tiny if the food is good.

Thank you for the distinctions between those dinner options. That helps a lot. I know Primo is outside of Bar Harbor. That would be our dinner option on our way from Portland to Bar Harbor - I'm really torn between that and The Lost Kitchen. They both sound awesome.

After some significant research, I think I've narrowed down our choices so I'm looking for feedback now to narrow it even more or keep us from making a big mistake. Keep in mind we're most interested in seafood and local dining (i.e. things we probably can't get in MN).

Kennebunkport -

Breakfast options - Need 2 - All Day Breakfast & H.B. Provisions - good or other suggestions?

Lunch option - Need 1/possibly 2 - The Clam Shack - seems non-negotiable and a must do, unless there's a better option. If a second lunch option is needed, we're thinking Cape Pier Chowder House. Thoughts?

Dinner options - Need 2 - Ocean, Earth, On the Marsh, Frankie & Johnny's - can only go to 2. Thoughts?

Portland -

Breakfast options - Need 1/possibly 2 - Hot Suppa, Bayou Kitchen - seems like there's lots of options for weekend brunch, but we'll be here mid-week

Lunch - Need 1/possibly 2 - Duckfat, Bite into Maine food truck, Eventide Oyster Co.

Dinner - Need 2 - This one is tough - Bresca, Fisherman's Grill, Fore Street, 555, Street & Co.

Bar Harbor/way to Bar Harbor -

Breakfast - Need 1/possibly 2 - Home Kitchen Cafe, any additional suggestions? Even a great bakery would be nice.

Lunch - Need 2 - Five Islands Lobster Shack, Jordan Pond House - lunch in Bar Harbor proper seems challenging - any more suggestions for this?

Dinner - Need 2 - The Lost Kitchen, Primo, Thurston's Lobster Pound (non-negotiable)

Any other must sees? Candy shops? Ice cream? Other goods?

Thanks in advance!

I've still not made it to Burch, but the trout entree sounds interesting as I've had something similar (trout wrapped in speck sans the crab filler) at BLG - and it was delicious! Maybe the problem is more in the execution than the ideas?

We're definitely thinking of stopping along the way to Bar Harbor. It's pretty overwhelming with all the great options, but I'll add Just Barb's to the list. We love places the locals go!

I've been doing a bit more research on the boards and have a list of places. Just need to look a bit more at menus, etc. and then will ask for some advice on paring the list down. I think we're going to regret only being up there 6 days. :)

Yeah, you pretty much couldn't pay me to go in the Aldi's on University, but I also don't go to the Cub or the Rainbow on University. I know - grocery store snob - but I've seen meat in the cereal aisle one too many times at University grocery stores and you KNOW that's just going right back into the meat case. Blech.

Hi All,

MSP Chowhounder here. The hubster and I will be visiting your fair land at the end of May for a double birthday celebration and to satisfy my puffin obsession. :) We are foodies and are looking for some great suggestions. As you can imagine, fresh seafood is not in abundance in land-locked MN, so we're looking to get our fill of that while we're in Maine. And while we love fine dining, we love hole-in-the-wall places just as much. We'll be spending 2 nights in Kennebunkport, 2 nights in Portland and 2 nights in Bar Harbor. For at least one of the Bar Harbor evenings we'll be partaking in a lobster bake at Thurston's Lobster Pound but the rest of our meals are wide open. I was thinking about getting a reservation at Arrows while we're in Kennebunkport, but a quick perusal of the boards here makes it seem like it's not worth the time or money. Is this a valid assessment? We don't mind getting a little gussied up, but pretention is not our thing at all. Primarily I'm looking for the following in the aforementioned cities:

- great breakfast/brunch options
- seafood, seafood, seafood - everything from clam shacks/lobster roll places to fine dining
- at least 1 really good fine dining restaurant, perhaps with a seafood tasting menu, that doesn't require a jacket for the hubster (dress slacks/button down is fine)
- restaurants with lovely views, but good food is a must.
- if we want to ship live lobsters back to family in the Midwest, who would you recommend?

Can't wait to hear all your recommendations. We're so excited for this trip!

Was wondering how long it would take before the Obb's toast recommendation would pop up. Kind of like me and burgers at the Happy Gnome. :)

Completely agree. Octopus is hands down one of our favorite dishes there. I also really love the champagne soup. And the scallops are amazing.

My best advice is to order lots of things and share.

We went to the Book of Mormon on Saturday night too (our second time - LOVE!), but we went to Butcher and the Boar instead. However, when we went to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert last month, we stopped into Solera after for a cocktail with friends. If you bring in your playbill, you get a glass of sangria or dessert. For FREE. And I'm a cynical person, so I asked, repeatedly, what the catch was. No catch. You literally don't have to order anything else (although I'm sure the thought is that you will). Hubster got the dessert (and a beer), I got the glass of sangria. Super cheap for an after theater stop.

Ha! He corrected his article. I guess Chowhound scumming works. LOL

Wait. Hold up. Are you saying you own Ward 6?

+1 on Bon Vie

I haven't been to Victory 44 for brunch, but have been there for dinner and liked it. That said, if what your wife loves is eggs bene, I'd highly recommend Bon Vie on Selby in St. Paul. It shares space with A Piece of Cake Bakery and has arguably some of the best eggs bene in the Cities. Might be a little busy this weekend with Crashed Ice in town, but definitely worth a stop.

Heavy Table just reviewed Borough. They liked it too which is great, but I'm sure it's going to be a lot harder for me to get a reservation moving forward.

http://heavytable.com/borough-in-down...

That should have said "somewhere a poor college student *couldn't* probably afford on their own."

+1 on Bar La Grassa That was going to be my suggestion. It's got a bit of a hipster vibe that 20-year-olds would love. It can be a little loud, but I think it'd totally be up their alley and somewhere a poor college student probably afford on their own, whereas they could probably afford Fasika and other University places. Not saying Fasika is bad - just probably not right for this.

The other place I'd recommend is the newly opened Borough which is really close to Bar La Grassa. You can see my review of it on here. Total hipster vibe, again that 20-year-olds would love. Some pretty straightforward food, but some stuff that would let them venture out a bit if they wanted to and totally doable for 3 people at $200.
http://www.boroughmpls.com

Are you looking for a particular price range per person? Also, do you want it to be in St. Paul since she goes to Hamline or does location not matter?

Hubster and a couple of his buddies went back to Icehouse last weekend for brunch before the motorcycle show at the Mpls Convention Center. They all tried the Homer bloody mary and they all thought it was awful. :( Way too smokey-flavored, which was really disappointing considering it was highlighted in MSP Mag this month as being great. So I think you were probably better off getting what you got.

That said, Hubster tried the brisket hash this time and really liked that too. So they still did ok with the food, but the bloodys were a big minus.

Considering the OP works in SP and seems to post on this board fairly regularly, I think she is capable of determining what she has in mind by "in between" and probably would appreciate more suggestions rather than fewer.

While I think Craftsman does meet that criteria (and has had good food in the past - haven't been there lately), I don't think your suggestion of Al Vento is much "in between" either. The fact of the matter is that there ISN'T much "in between" and you're pretty much resigned to having to pick a place that's significantly closer for one or the other. So let's not get too nitpicky here, ok?

Big shock - Seige comes out of the woodwork for a Happy Gnome post. :) But they do have pretty good cocktails and decent wine and beer and of course, I like the burgers. Only slight downfall is that it can be a bit noisy depending on who else is in the dining room. Bar would definitely be too noisy.

Another option is Cheeky Monkey. Limited beer and wine, no cocktails and more bistro cuisine, but good food and quiet and cozy for conversation.

Love the ham and brie paninni at Cheeky Monkey

The one from Union is very non-traditional, but quite good.

I saw someone get that, but thought it was a sandwich I had seen on the menu. Might have to go back and try that one. Looks delicious!

Went to Borough last night with a friend and we both loved it, despite starting out a little rocky for me.

I've been to BLG many times and while I know the area, I'm not intimately familiar with each building. When I looked up the address for Borough, it said it was at 730 N Washington. As a result, I went into the door on N Washington that had the huge number 730 above it. Um, yeah - not Borough. It was clearly a condo/loft building and I could hear what sounded like a restaurant/bar, but all the doors were unmarked and didn't look like anything I should be entering. Thankfully, a huge golden doodle needed walking in the building and his owner was really nice and helped me out with a back way into the restaurant. The entrance, for those wondering, is actually down on the corner, across from where Be'wiched Deli is and as of right now, not greatly marked when you come from the east and don't drive/walk right past it. It looks like there's a wire on the outside of the building for a soon-to-be sign, so I suspect that will get rectified soon enough. As we dined, it was obvious that I was certainly not the only one who made this mistake, so they might want to label those doors a bit better or put some entry instructions on their website in the interim.

The space is lovely. The huge windows looking out on Washington are fabulous and it has a great atmosphere. My friend likened it to a restaurant you'd find in the Pearl District in Portland. I also liked that while the restaurant was about 1/2 to 3/4 full it wasn't super loud. We could actually hear each other speak. That might change once it's completely packed, but for now, that was appreciated.

The service is still a little green and ever-so-slightly awkward at moments, but we know they haven't been open long and that will come with a little more time and experience. For only being open a little over a week, I think they're doing pretty well and everyone was certainly very friendly.

And since I know what you all REALLY want to know about is the food... let's get to it! There were many items on the menu that looked intriguing, but I had my eye on the strip tenderloin from the get-go, so I started by ordering a glass of the cabernet. Friend ordered the signature old fashioned, which he loved. I was later informed that they were out of the cab, and malbec, and something else. Wine always gets a little tricky for me - I don't like anything with too much of a spicy finish. Yousef, our server, suggested a fabulous nebbiolo which in all honesty - I think I liked more than I would have liked the cab. Plus, plus start on the drinks.

We both started with the soup which was champagne, fingerling potatoes, truffle powder, black truffles, and chives. The presentation was lovely. The dry ingredients were served in a funnel shaped bowl with the liquid served over the top at the table. We were then instructed to stir a bit to really get the truffle powder incorporated. That soup was magnificent! The flavors all melded together perfectly. Would definitely have this again.

For the entrees I went with the strip tenderloin with oxtail agnolotti, taleggio fondue, truffle jus, cippolioni onion and black trumpet mushroom. Friend is vegetarian and went with the pasta with 3 different variations of squash, fried sage, pecorino, brown butter and hazelnuts. We both felt the entrees were done very well. I always think a sign of a good restaurant is one where the sauces are impeccable. And that truffle jus and taleggio fondue were awesome. My strip was also perfectly medium rare. Again, the flavors were fabulous together. I didn't try friend's pasta, but he loved it as well. There was not a speck of food or sauce left on our dishes.

For dessert we shared something called the margarita. It was lime curd on a saltine cracker crust served with lime segments, tequila gelee, meringue, and sea salt. This was pretty good, but definitely their weakest point. The main problem is that there was just too much salt. I think perhaps the sea salt sprinkles on top were a bit too heavy handed. The saltine cracker crust would have probably been enough to get that bit of salt you like with a margarita. Some of the lime segments were also incredibly tart, but I know they can't control each individual segment's tartness. The biggest issue was really the salt.

Friend then ordered a cup of decaf with cream. The decaf was a little delayed as the server said he had a difficult time finding cream. Again, guessing this is starting pains and they'll get their footing a bit better with those after dinner drinks.

We also went downstairs to Parlour just to check out the space. Looks like an antique, hipster vibe. There's a banquette in the back with a great tufted backs and nice wing-backed chairs around some tables. They have a different set of cocktails downstairs that they don't offer upstairs, so we'll have to check those out another time.

Overall, this got 2 thumbs up from us. Definitely adding Borough into the rotation.

I thought the Roasted Pear was closed? Maybe I'm thinking of somewhere else. :/

Had to pick up the Hubster in downtown Mpls this morning and decided to try out Icehouse's brunch. We admittedly don't frequent Eat Street, so we had kind of a difficult time finding the place. I didn't think the signage out front was particularly noticeable, but maybe it's more lit up at night. It also wasn't at all what I expected - which isn't a bad thing - I just for some reason thought it was going to be a modern design atmosphere, but it's more saloon-esque. Again, not a bad thing, just not what I had made this place out to be in my mind. And since I had no idea this place was more saloon-ish, I really wasn't expecting southern inspired food. Hubster spent a few childhood years in VA and FL, so he was really pleasantly surprised by this.

I ordered the crispy pork biscuit which LauraB mentioned above. Hubster had the gumbo.and we ordered the cornbread to share. The crispy pork biscuit was quite good. It is essentially chicken fried pork topped with a fried egg served between a biscuit and topped with a spicy (to me - Hubster didn't think it was terribly spicy, but he likes really spicy food) sausage gravy. Hubster's gumbo was proclaimed "really, really good." I had a tiny bit and the depth of the broth was quite delicious. There was a hearty amount of sausage in the gumbo and it was served with a couple of chicken wings, some whitefish (I didn't taste it and Hubster couldn't figure out what it was) and a nicely seared scallop on top. And while both our entrees were quite good, the real star of the morning was that cornbread. It is made to order and is brought to the table in a little skillet fresh out of the oven with melty butter all over the top. Hubster commandeered most of it. Jerk. It was SO, so good. Like, I could eat four skillets of that myself and had I been in a less generous mood Hubster would have had a fork in his big mitt. I detected just the slightest hint of lemon in it, which might seem odd, but it was amazing. Seriously... anyone that goes... you MUST order the cornbread. Yummy!

For the love of all that is holy, please no. Do NOT go to Amore Victoria. Do NOT. Went there for Restaurant Week once and my friend was served frozen, yes FROZEN, vegetable lasagna. Will not return. Ever.