Friday, August 30, 2013

August 29, 2013 Camden to Arundel, Maine Lunch – Lobsterman’s Wharf

August 29, 2013 Camden to Arundel, Maine   Lunch – Lobsterman’s Wharf

We go up and I had a bowl of granola with wild Maine blueberries while Cissie went to buy fresh baked Croissants  (three chocolate and three plain).   I had a cup of tea with Willy and a croissant and we left around 8:454 a.m. after saying goodbye to Cissie and Rick.
We drove south on Route 1 until we came to Dammascotia, where we took the road to Boothsbay.  After about 1/2 driving through the woods we arrived at the Boothsbay information office, where we picked up maps and suggestions for dining and sightseeing.  Dining suggestions including the prescient statement, “just look for the funkiest place you can find.”  And sightseeing suggestions seemed to point to Ocean Point, so we drove south to Ocean Point, but on the way I had one of my food epiphanies and made Willy stop the car at the Lobsterman’s Wharf, which turned out to be both a place and a restaurant, where I saw a hand lettered sign that said 2 lobsters for $21.99.  It is hard to know what restaurant is best when one is new to a town and area.  For example, when we asked the information lady where the best oysters could be found.  She said, “Just up the road at Dammascotia”.  Well I wanted to turn around and drive back the thirty minutes to Dammascotia but I was outvoted.  I had to settle for fresh lobster, so I tried to be philosophical about it.



We arrived around 11:30 at the Lobsterman’s Wharf restaurant and were seated at a booth inside facing a window with a view of the open bay.  I ordered the lobster special ($21.99), Suzette ordered steamers, but the restaurant was out of steamers so we ordered mussels steamed in white wine and butter ($10.99) instead and Willy ordered a Haddock basket ($18.99).  Everything came at once.  The mussels were lovely but a little tough.  The fish basket and my lobsters were each in rectangular cardboard baskets.  Willy’s Haddock basket was piled to over flowing with what must have been a whole haddock, four large filets of fried haddock, sitting on a bed of French fries. I immediately tried a piece and it was delicious, possibly the best dish of our lunch.  But I had to eat my lobsters.  I immediately gave one to Suzette and then started eating mine.  Suzette suggested that I give some to Willy, so I gave him the tail meat and he ate a bit and gave the rest back.  Suzette ate her mussels and then started on the lobster but only ate the tail and claws, so I had to help her with her innards also.  Willy and Suzette finished eating all they could eat in about 40 minutes, but I kept going and finished all the lobsters in about an hour.  The waitress said the record was two hours to eat the two lobster special.  Having finished almost both lobsters in an hour, I almost said, “What kind of record is that?”, but I held my tongue and asked for the check. The waitress appeared to be Eastern European, so I thought the irony would be lost on her anyway.  

 
Lobsterman’s Wharf seemed to be geared to eating lots of seafood.  It did not have a fancy interior or exterior and its wait staff skills seemed to be marginal, mainly limited to taking your order and bring you your food.  For example, this was the first restaurant in Maine where there were large squirt bottles of tartar sauce and cocktail sauce on each table.  
After lunch we drove out to the southern end of Ocean Point and walked on the rocky shoreline on a path provided by the City of Boothbay out to where a couple of beautiful beach homes were located.
 



 



 

Then we drove to Freeport and bought clothing.  Suzette found skirts at Talbots, Willy found a shirt at Banana Republic, and I bought a cotton sweater at Banana Republic and a pair of Cole Haan loafers to replace my Sebago’s.  Freeport has a large area devoted to several outlet malls and an extensive array of L.L. Bean stores.  We went to Bass, Cole Haan, Nike, Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Talbots, Banana Republic, and many others.   We shopped until 5:15 p.m. and then drove to Cynthia and Ricardo’s house.   
When we arrived at Cynthia and Ricardo’s house in Arundel at 6:00 we found that they had bought lovely pizzas from Alex the Greek Pizza man, so we opened the bottle of Come Spring red from Savage Oakes Winery and the bottle of 2010 Perrin Côtes du Rhone Reserve and ate pizza with Terry and Gundin from Albuq. and Ricardo and Cynthia.
Later Cynthia’s son Ewen and his wife and Cynthia’s grand daughter, Emma, arrived but I got sleepy at around 10:00 and retired after a long day of travel.

Bon Appétit

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