Chow Maine - Restaurant Guide

With these two larger towns along Route 1, the Maine coast begins its unique, glacial topography of long peninsulas stretched south like fingers reaching into the sea. The persistent, unchanging, and unchangeable rural character of the coast develops from this geography, where it really is awkward to "get there from here."

If you miss a turn, for instance-and some of the turnoffs are so discreet they are very hard to see-or if you turn south on the wrong road, you can find yourself a long drive away from a destination that you can see close by, lying across a stretch of water.

But the roads to the Harpswells, and to Georgetown and Robinhood and Cundy's Harbor and Phippsburg, all scenic, all with fine Maine seafood places tucked into their harbors, are all well marked. Be sure to study the map before driving through Bath, however.

If you can afford the greatest luxury of aimlessness on your vacation or your Sunday drive, going down any of the roads that lead to water south of Route 1 can be a pleasure. The landscape and the water are lovely. You will likely find one or more of Maine's charming seafood places; all seem like classics to the people with the good luck to be able to live near them. They vary in atmosphere from as plain as the deck of a wharf to full-service casual, but the best ones are still making their own desserts, picking their own lobster meat, and buying clams from somebody who digs them nearby.

For dinner at a more elegant destination, like the Robinhood Free Meetinghouse (see under Georgetown), you will probably need a reservation; but it's worth a chance if you're nearby to stop and find out if there's a table. The chefs who succeed at drawing their customers off the main highway are proven talents, and Robinhood's Michael Gagne has been drawing us in for years. Down winding Route 144 you'll find an elegant old inn, the Squire Tarbox, serving good meals under ships' beams.

Several of the talents in Brunswick and Bath also have our allegiance. In Brunswick, graced with Bowdoin College's elegant campus and its art and arctic museums, Henry and Marty's and the Back Street Bistro both make such good dinners that they are worth a long drive.

In Bath, standing under the tall cranes of its largest employer, Bath Iron Works, the latest company to make this city one of the East Coast's important shipbuilding ports, MaryEllenz Caffé and Mae's Café have their ardent fans.