Plenty to Eat

from Belfast The Bay And Beyond 2022

by Belfast The Bay And Beyond Magazine

Annual Chamber Awards

WALDO COUNTY HAS BLOOMED INTO A DINING DESTINATION

With rolling fields, craggy coastline, and the vibrant little city of Belfast as its hub, Waldo County draws its culinary charm from the interconnectedness of land, sea, and local kitchens - farmers and fishermen filling restaurants with the fruits of their labor. Nowhere is the path from ocean to plate shorter than at Young’s Lobster Pound (2 Fairview St., Belfast; 207-338-1360; youngslobsters. com). Young’s has been around since the early 20th century, initially up along Route 1, next to founders Bud and Belle Young’s home, and now down at a wharf along the Passagassawakeag River, where lobster boats can putter right up with their catch. Inside, guests get to pick their lobster from the massive aquarium. Outside, at picnic tables, the view is a classic mix of working waterfront and spruce-tipped shoreline. The menu is the pure essence of what fishermen bring in: lobsters steamed, stewed, and stuffed into rolls, plus steamed clams, steamed mussels, and raw oysters. Nothing fancy, nothing fried.

**Capt. Sadie Samuels, Must Be Nice Lobster Co.**

On the other side of the river, along Belfast’s Harbor Walk footpath, a newcomer of sorts has arrived on the seafood scene. Captain Sadie Samuels has held a lobstering license since she was seven years old and her own lobster boat since she was a teenager. Then, two years ago, in her late 20s, she opened Must Be Nice Lobster Co. (between Heritage Park and Hamlin’s Marine, Belfast; mustbenicelobster.com), a food trailer cooking up lobster rolls, crab rolls, lobster grilled cheese, burgers, and dogs. The lobster meat, of course, is always her own, and she believes in keeping it simple - just a touch of mayo or butter, a garnish of chive, and that’s it. It is, indeed, very nice.

Lobster shacks aren’t the only outposts with superb waterfront perches. A little ways up the coast, the Club Marina and Bar (12 Cape Docks Rd., Stockton Springs; 207-567-3005) used to be a private yacht club. Now, its serene westerly views of Stockton Harbor and the wooded Sears Island are open to the general public. Chef-owner Jillian Liversidge opened The Club last summer, offering a rotating selection of casual bites - chowder, pulled pork, nachos, griddled sandwiches - that lean into local ingredients whenever possible. The cocktails tend toward bright and beachy too. The vibrant mai tai is a nice match for the orangey complexion of the sky as the sun sets across the harbor.

In Searsport, yet another space has found new life as a restaurant. It took new owner Russell Manton two years to rehab a former auto garage as Rio’s Spiked Café (357 West Main St., Searsport; 207-548-4016; riosspikedcafe. com). The dining room’s unusual rounded shape creates a cozy yurt-like flow, with a central stone chimney as the visual focal point. And Rio’s has filled a new niche in the area, specializing in stylishly plated tapas, like roasted dates that are wrapped with serrano ham and stuffed with gorgonzola and spiced pork belly with pan-fried polenta and marinara. Samplers of Maine cheeses come with local honey and a house-made celery mostarda. And the entrée portions are thoughtfully and elaborately composed - dry-rubbed flat-iron steak from a nearby farm, with herb-roasted potatoes, grilled cipollini onions, and balsamic butter, for instance.

**Gary Cooper, Exec. Chef, Rio's Spiked Cafe**

**Bud & Sheila Hall, Anglers Restaurant**

Not far down the road in Searsport, Anglers Restaurant has been satisfying local appetites with favorites like fried clams and fish and chips (215 East Main St., Searsport; 207-548-2405; anglersseafoodrestaurant.com) for more than two decades. Owner Bud Hall, who opened the restaurant in 2000, then went on to open locations in Newport and Hampden, has enjoyed watching the region evolve, for both seasoned longtimers like himself, as well as newcomers.

“This area has a little something for everybody,” Hall says. “It’s not just one special thing, it’s got arts, excellent restaurants, the waterfront, the boatyard, all within a five-minute drive. You can be in the woods within five minutes. It’s the best of all worlds together. We’re very blessed.”

In downtown Belfast, the diversity of the restaurant lineup only ever seems to grow. In late 2019, the 32-seat Satori opened in a 19th-century bank building, making sushi that’s as much a visual as a culinary art. Other spots, like Delvino’s Grill and Pasta House (52 Main St., Belfast; 207-338-4565; delvinos. com), have established themselves as long-running standbys. For more than a decade now, Delvino’s has plated up deeply satisfying heaps of Italian inspired pasta, primo steaks, and fine seafood. The mushroom sacchetti — little pasta pockets stuffed with porcini, portabella, and cheese, then drizzled with a peppery mushroom cream sauce— is a particular highlight, but it’s a menu with no wrong choices. Darby’s Restaurant (155 High St., Belfast; 207-338-2339; darbys-restaurant.com), meanwhile, knows no geographical bounds. Its mash-up menu of international comfort foods, from pad Thai to enchiladas to mac and cheese, is as inviting as the brick-walled dining room and well-worn wooden booths. Down the street, Rollie’s (37 Main St., Belfast; 207-338-4502; rolliesmaine.com) has been a beloved downtown staple for 50 years, for everything from its signature cheese steaks, burgers, and pizzas, to its views of the harbor from the tables on its outside deck. Down by the harbor, Marshall Wharf Brewing Company (36 Marshall Wharf, Belfast; 207-338-2700; marshallwharfbrewing. com) focuses on liquid nourishment. The 15-year-old brewery, recently rebooted by new owners, pours eclectic, consistently spot-on suds, from hazy IPAs to German-style smoked beers to oyster stouts, that pair perfectly with a charcuterie plate or hot pretzels in the covered waterfront beer garden. And of the area’s many restaurants, perhaps none is so closely tied to the land as Chase’s Daily (96 Main St., Belfast; 207-338-0555; chasesdaily.me). The second generation of the back-to-the-lander Chase family, whose farm is in Freedom, opened the hybrid bakery, farm market, and restaurant in Belfast’s former Odd Fellows Hall in 2000. They’ve rejiggered the precise balance over the years — lately, it’s been breakfast and lunch, plus weekly pizza dinners — but Chase’s has always been a place for fresh-off-the-farm produce, whether buttercup squash baked into an empanada or heirloom tomatoes plump and ripe for taking home. It doesn’t get much more Waldo County than that. •