Restaurant Review Snow Squall

sebago Brewing Company. A great raw bar, boating motif decor and its own beer (you can watch it being made here) are some of the features of this unique micro-brewery restaurant nestled in the unlikely environs of Maine Mall next to Filene's Basement. Try the Lobster Quesadilla, Native Mussels steamed in house brewed ale or Maine's #1 Pastrami Sandwich. Entrees feature daily fresh catch, perfectly grilled NY Sirloin, chicken, hearty pastas and ample inventive salads. Single malt scotch, good wines. Serving 11am-1 am, happy hour Mon-Fri 4-7 & 10-{;lose. 879-ALES(2537).

Sevanah's. Come and eat "Something Different." Our authentic cuisine is sure to spicen up your taste buds. Maine Sunday Telegram reports Sevanah's is Portland's newest four star exotic food experience. Caribbean and Cajun-creole cooking at its best, served in a bright and friendly atmosphere. Selective four star dishes include Roti, Curry Shrimp, Jerk Chicken, Jambalaya, Gumbo, Homemade Pecan Pie and more. Dinner (Tue-Fri 5-10 pm), Lunch (Thur & Fri 11:30 am 2:30 pm). Fridays Happy Hour 5-7pm, Sat 11:30 am-10 pm. Sun 1-8 pm. 144 Cumberland Ave. 761-7654. MC,V, AM EX.

Silly's. The restaurant that defies description. They have everything from charbroiled burgers and shish kabob, hand cut fries, BBQ and jerk chicken, to a wild variety of pizza, vegetarian plates, milkshakes, desserts, and their famous rolled up abdullahs - all made with fresh ingredients daily. A liVely and funky atmosphere with a patio out back. Beer, wine and occasionally live music. Free delivery to Portland and Rt 1IRt 88 Falmouth. Mon - Sat 10-10. 40 Washington Ave., Portland. Credit cards accepted. 772-0360.

Snow Squall, known for great Maine seafood and lobster, also serves steaks, chicken, veal, filet of beef and vegetarian selections. Offering casual dining as well as full dinners, luncheon in the patio or dining room, Mon-Fri, 11:30-9:30. Happy hour daily 4-£, double drinks single priced, wine and beer specials, free munchies. Early dinners $7.95: Mon-5at, 4:30-£ and Sun, 2-£. Famous Sunday brunch buffet, 11-2. Located in South Portland waterfront market at 18 Ocean Street, ample parking. 799-2232 or 800-568-3260.

Stone Coast Brewing Company is a major micro operation offering full restaurant facilities as well as fantastic brews on its substantial premises in the Old Port. Its restaurant, open from 11:30 am daily, offers everything from steak to lobster, and you don't need to leave the building to enjoy some of the best live music in Portland - it's just upstairs. At 14 York, the junction of Pleasant, York and Fore Streets, with plenty of free parking. Call 773-BEER.

Tamarind Tree Cookery offers a daily changing lunch menu of traditional & creative multi-cultural cuisine for take away feasting, featuring foods from the Middle East, India, South America, and Europe. Everything is made from scratch using all-natural ingredients. Special orders for suppers, sweets, and small gatherings are welcome with advance notice and are discussed on an individual basis with owner Shameem Mohiuddin. Located at 151 Newbury SI., Portland - just off the Franklin Arterial and Middle SI. intersection, between India & Hampshire Streets. Open weekdays 8-5. (207)780-9607.

The Lobster Cooker Restaurant is located in the heart of Freeport's shopping district just a block from L.L. Bean. Fast, friendly service featuring lobster, crabmeat, scallops, shrimp, award-winning hearty chowders, sandwiches, beer, wine, and takeout. Open every day, year round. Enjoy a Maine tradition in their historic 1860 bam or bask on the sun drenched garden patio. Their fish chowder has won 1st place in the annual Freeport Great Chowdah Challenge in '96, '97, and '98, as well as Best Overall Chowder in 1998. 865-4349.

Tony Roma's "Famous For Ribs" is conveniently located at the end of Exit 7 of the Maine Turnpike, adjacent to the Howard Johnson's in South Portland and just minutes from the Maine Mall. Tony Roma's across the country specialize in the best barbecue ribs with our original sauce. The grill is always fired up for a full menu of chicken, prime rib, steaks, seafood, and sandwiches. No visit is complete without our famous loaf of onion rings. The breakfast buffet opens at 7 A.M., followed by lunch and dinner. 7 days a week. Enjoy the casual atmosphere of Tony Roma's.

.Tortilla Flat has been serving New Englanders fine Mexican food and drink for over 25 years. At 1871 Forest Avenue in Portland you can find favorites like nachos, fajitas, chimichangas, tamales, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and frozen margaritas seven days a week, as well as seafood, steak, pork & chicken cooked with a Mexican flair. With lunch specials starting at $3.95, a children's menu, nightly specials, a Chili Happy Hour, a screened-in deck, and take-out, Tortilla Flat is a memorable Mexicanexperience you can afford any time. 797-8729.

Valle's. Serving travelers and local residents since 1933, great food at reasonable prices: fresh Maine lobster; their own thick hand cut sirloins; juicy prime ribs; tender giant shrimp and much more. Family owned and operated for three generations. Visit the Generations 3 lounge for dancing and live entertainment every Friday and Saturday evening. Discover for yourself why this most popular restaurant is a "Maine Tradition." 1140 Brighton Ave, Route 25 At Exit 8, Maine Turnpike. All major credits cards, ample parking. Open 7 days a week. 774-4551.

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etween 1850 and 1860 - the era of the California Gold Rush some 445 clippers were launched in America. This was a time, not unlike today, when speed was everything, and the clipper, also known as the Greyhound of the Sea, wasthe fastest way of getting to the West Coast.

Of those 400-plus vessels, 79 were recorded as having been built in Maine. According to Nathan R. Lipfert of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, between 70 and 90 percent of these ships met violent ends.

One of these was the Snow Squall, an "extreme" clipper built for maximum speed at the expense of cargo space. It was launched from Alfred Butler's yard in Cape Elizabeth (now South Portland) in 1851 and bought immediately for $30,410 by a Charles R. Green of New York.

The Snow Squall was completed in 1852 and quickly achieved fame in the China Trade as one of the fastest clippers on this exotic run. Speed at sea equated with profits at home, and in 1863 that extra tum of speed meant an extension of life when the Snow Squall became one of the few Union ships to outrun and escape the cannon of the notorious Confederate raider, the Tuscaloosa.

A year later, Snow Squall ran aground near Cape Hom during a voyage to San Francisco and was towed to Port Stanley in the Falklands, where she was condemned. Her captain, James S. Dillingham, ran her ashore there, to be converted, like dozens of other aged and damaged ships in that timber-free land, for use as a warehouse, and eventually, filled with rocks, as part of a dock.

An expedition sponsored by Harvard University's Peabody Museum in 1982 began documenting the surviving section of the Snow Squall's bow, the only intact remains of an American built clipper ship, and over the next four years sent back several sections of the structure. In 1987, South Portland's Spring Point Museum took over the reclamation work to recover an underwater portion of the bow, which, with other parts of the vessel, were returned to Maine.

The bow and several other pieces can now be seen at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, and other large artifacts, which show the construction methods used in building the Snow Squall, are on view at Spring Point. Maritime museums in New Yorkand San Francisco alsoboast pieces ofthis famous Maine clipper.

Another kind of memorial to the ship has been created just a short distance from where she was launched, by all accounts one of the best in southern Maine. The Snow Squall Restaurant opened in July 1981 in a conversion process that transformed a redbrick engineering shop on the South Portland approach to the Million Dollar Bridge into a handsome space for the hospitality trade.

The best mussel dish I have ever had is a staple here: a huge soup bowl-full cooked with spicy Chorizo sausage and served in a rich broth with wonderful bread, under the label of appetizer, for only $5. Another winner in the starter category is the Three Onion Tart ($5), a collaborative creation by pastry chefJane Tabor St. Germain and her husband, John, chief che£

I have enjoyed fish, meat (unbelievably great duck) and succulent pasta. The wines, reasonably priced, reflect careful selection.

There are, on any given evening, at least a dozen regular entrees, including Smoked Crab Cakes ($14), Vegetable Strudel ($12), Filet of Salmon ($16), Haddock ($15), New York Sirloin ($18) and lobster, boiled or baked stuffed, seasonally priced. These standards are complemented by a generous selection of "specials" which change daily and are invariably intriguing. An example: Filet Mignon Grilled au poivre with brandy Shallot Demiglace Sauce and Crumbled Gorgonzola. I savored every morsel- it was perfect!

Please do not miss the finale here Jane enjoys a clearly deserved reputation for outstanding desserts.

Lunch: Monday to Friday 11:30-3; Dinner: Sunday to Thursday, 5-9,Friday & Saturday, 5-10; Sunday Brunch, 11-2. Call 799-2232 or 1-800-568-3260. 6 - Diane Hudson

yresort

We know what makes a great resort Something for everyone in the fumily.Anytime of year.

That's the Anchorage Inn. South coastal Maine's only complete year-round fumilyresort Directly on Long Sands Beach in York Beach.

You'll find it all at the Anchorage.

Over 100 beautiful, modem and fully-appointed oceanfront rooms. Allwith air conditioning., direct -dial telephones, private bath and color television Some rooms, like our Spa Suites, even come with private whirlpools.

There's an outdoor and indoor swimming pool with whirlpool spa. Complete exercise and fitness room An indoor/ outdoor poolside cafe for a refreshing drink or quick snack. And an oceanfront restaunmt, with beachside deck, for anything from a tall cool one to an honest-to-goodness Down East lobster and clambake.

And where else can you look across from your room and see one of America's most picturesque lighthouses?

Not to mention a location that's just minutes from tennis, golf and all the shops and attractions in York Beach, the Kittery outlets and historic York and Portsmouth.

For a great vacation anytime of year, there's only one spot to resort to. The Anchorage.

For more infonnation and reservations, call or write.

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P.O.Box 1329 Route 1A,Long Beach Ave.,York Beach, ME03910 (207) 363-5112

Theater Preview, continued from page 33. Moss Hart Award. A feisty, rebellious Irish pirate woman known in her homeland as Queen of .Ireland attempts to justify her exploits to Queen Elizabeth. Original music composed by Larry "Flash" Allen who in 1985 composed the original score for the adaptation of Ibsenis "Peer Gynt," performed at the Kennedy Center; Allen received the ASCAP award for Best College Musical. Grannia shows: June 25-July 11. "Evita" will open Aug. 6 and run through Aug. 22. Score written by Tim Rice and Andrew LloydWebber, "full of soulstirring, operatic, rockish and Latin flair musical numbers." It's the story of Maria Eva Duarte, who leavesher rural home for Buenos Aires with Latin singer Augustin Magaldi, becomes a successful radio soap opera actor, eventually marrying President Juan Domingo Peron. Playing an active role in politics she becomes a heroine to the people of Argentina who affectionately call her "Evita." Also, summer youth arts camp (ages4-16) Tuesdays and Thursdays during July. For tickets, reservations,and information, call (207) 642-3743. Or by their page on the worldwideweb: www.schoolhousearts.org

The Theater At Monmouth. Designated by the Maine State Legislature in 1975 as "The Shakespearean Theater of Maine," the Theater at Monmouth performs in historic Cumston Hall, a century old Victorian Opera House graced with a soaring tower, stained glasswindows, rococo plaster and muraled ceilings. With only 275 seats, no audience member is more than 12 rowsaway from the performers- no need for microphones here! (A pair of binoculars, however, can be seen if you tilt your head back and gaze at the cherub on the ceiling staring down at you through them!) A fine summer outing meandering along Route 202 through the hills, apple orchards, and lakes to the theater where a loyalcast ofseasoned actors returns summer after summer from theaters in New York and the West Coast-this year celebrating their 30th season! Performed in rotating repertory, the season begins with "Romeo and Juliet," which was firstpresented during the theater's inaugural season in 1970, opening July 2. "Harvey," Elwood P. Dowd and his good friend, a sixfootinvisible rabbit, grace the stage for the first time at Monmouth opens July 9. "The Comedy of Errors," a wildly entertaining classic where confusion reigns, opens July 23. "The Lion in Winter," a contemporary drama full of high energy and sharply funnyopens July 30. The classic children's tale, "Cin_ derella,"opens Aug. 10.Boxoffice:933-9999. www.theateratmonmouth.org

The Waterville Opera House at 93 Main Street, Waterville. Built in 1902 it is the third largest theater venue in the state. Blessed with 995 plush red, velvet seats, not one with a bad view of the stage, a pit large enough for a 3D-pieceorchestra, rich, red velvet curtain, stunning gold leaf plasterwork, excellent acoustics and state of the art equipment. Restored in the 1970s, this Colonial Revival style building (which also houses the city hall) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has achieved a reputation for excellence among performing arts presenters in the state and has evolvedinto a livelycommunity arts center with many variedprograms.Tickets: 207-873-7000. Fax:207-861-www.operahouse.com &

How did we design our little pieces of heaven?

Simple. With YOU in mind!

We have sixmajor department stores to explore, dozens of fascinating shops, even an exciting Food Court. Over 125stores in all brimming with the newest fashions, traditional Maine crafts, best-selling books, thoughtful gifts, everything for you, your family and your home. It's the best shopping under the sun,or in the rain.

THE .MAINE MALL

Where else would you go?

Take Exit 7 off the Maine Turnpike to 364 Maine Mall Rd., So. Portland, ME 04106 • 207-774-0303

Summer: (207) 288-4585 Winter: (207) 546-2927

Also in Boothbay Harbor, the 1911 schooner Sylvina W. Beal. (207) 633-11 09