Lazy Hound in Bangor

Located in the heart of downtown Bangor the Lazy Hound's menu is innovative and yet full of comfort food selections. 

The wraps are HUGE and the smashburgers delicious. Service was harried but friendly and attentive.

 

Eating out in Bangor, Maine

Friday night at Woodman's Grill for burgers:

Susie playing pool at Woodman's in Orono

The Stout Berger - beer-braised beef with bacon

Saturday the four of us opted for a return engagement to Green Tea, located in the maze of the Bangor Mall complex:

Westcott Forge, Blue Hill, Maine

Service weird, food great, location superb -- we could just imagine how wonderful the location would be in the summertime, right on the water!

Gerrish's cafe in Winter Harbor, ME

Well we finally did it. Ate at our own cafe. Sort of.

After we got off of work at the cafe Wednesday the plan was to head out to Schoodic Point for a late afternoon walk and then meet up with Rosemary later that evening and go to a new restaurant that just opened recently near here in Birch Harbor.

Well to cut to the chase Rosemary got hung up late kayaking, the new restaurant was packed -- we made reservations for this Friday so I'll have a review this weekend -- so Susie and I headed back to Gerrish's and bought several salads out of the deli case to take home: Potato, chicken, orzo, and mozzarella-tomato, all delicious and paired nicely with the Spanish tempranillo we had waiting for us back at the apartment.

We now see what all the fuss is about! Take out food from Gerrish's is indeed one way to have a great dinner at home without the muss and fuss and for a reasonably cost.

Ciao,

Steve

Gerrish America

I'm sitting in Gerrish's cafe here in Winter Harbor and there seems to be a lunch rush on right now -- it's almost 2 in the afternoon. The place is packed and I can't help but think how lucky all these folks are to have this small funky cafe with pastries made by a French-trained pastry chef and food to go made by a chef from one of Boston's better restaurants.

Pretty cool I'd say.

Cleonice in Ellsworth, ME

Located on Main street in Ellsworth the food was good -- all three of us had the monkfish which came with roasted potatoes; rice would have worked better I thought. Generally not worth a return visit we felt.

Service was interesting but our waitress had a significant amount of dirt under her fingernails which I thought odd.

Bangor, ME, Cafe Nouveau

A wine tasting and dining adventure capped off our final night in Bangor. Susan, our brother-in-law Carl and I left their home in Orono, just a few miles north of Bangor, at about a quarter to six in the evening and drove into quiet (very quiet) downtown Bangor where we first stopped at the public library. Although Bangor is a small city it nevertheless has one fantastic library: a beautiful old building that has been lovingly preserved and greatly expanded. The interior is quite new and fully up-to-date with pretty much everything you’d expect form a new library these days: computers galore, in particular.

From the library we walked a couple of blocks up to Hammond Street to the Bangor Wine and Cheese shop for their monthly wine tasting. The shop is jammed pack with wines and cheeses of course, in addition to plenty of microbrews and various other food treats.

The tasting was comprised of six reds and six whites, each color having it’s own table, with one on one side of the shop and one on the other, separated by a table of palate cleansers, delicious breads and several cheeses as well as a tapanade (all available for sale of course). Spit buckets and carafes of rinsing water were available on each table as well. This was well thought out and carefully planned to be sure.
Both tables contained wines representing a broad swath of producers from around the world: a red blend from Lebanon (pricey), a chardonnay from China (somewhat off putting we all thought), in addition to Austria, California, Italy, France, Spain and Chile. We had a grand time and chatted a few folks in the bargain. Maine is a pretty small place indeed. (photos above and below, Bangor Wine and Cheese shop)

Bangor Wine and Cheese, 86 Hammond st., Bangor, ME, ph: 207.942.3338

After the tasting the three of us stepped next door to the Café Nouveau for dinner. Leslie thistle, owner of the wine shop also operates this small but distinctly unique café. Why unique? The menu is different than one normally finds in this part of Maine, and while portions are small, the food very tasty. Susan and Carl had the blackened salmon and I had a delicious duck breast. Salads were fresh and in very typical French style came with a dressing already on them (no litany of: “1000 island, French or blue cheese”). Service was slow probably a consequence of a very small kitchen. My one complaint was my appetizer of lobster brioche had virtually no lobster in it, although the lobster bisque, which covered the very tasty brioche, was nevertheless very tasty.

Café Nouveau, 84 Hammond st., Bangor, ME, ph: 207.942.3336

Woodman's in Orono, Maine

Orono, ME -- Located just outside of Bangor, Maine, and less than three hours from New Brunswick, Canada, the small college town of Orono, Maine boasts few dining establishments.

However if you find yourself approaching the Atlantic time zone and need a bite to eat, one place you might consider is Woodman's Bar and Grill. Located in the old NOAA office building in "downtown" Orono (well downtown, uptown both rolled together here) Woodman's is not terribly large. And while they don't take reservations they do have a fine pool table (a buck a game) to while away your time waiting for a table. Also the burgers are reportedly the best around. The french fries are fresh and you can even substitute sweet potatoe fries! Take my word for it they are deeeeelicious!

Three of our group each had a cup of seafood chowder for starters and it was scrumptious! Packed with potatoes and lots of fish and shrimp pieces it was perfect for a cold winter evening (even though it was April).

I had a steak and baked potato, the later OK but the steak very good; two others had burgers and raved about them, while two had salmon, which they thought was overcooked and dry. The winelist is quite meager and not well put together for beef, but they do offer what wines they have by the glass or bottle.

Service was professional, pleasant and very good (Heather was our server). Although the food was a bit slow coming to the table my feeling is that anything good is worth waiting for, right? Parking is difficult but I'm told that's pretty much true around Orono anyway.

So stick with the beef and you can't go wrong!

Five adults ate there for about $125, which I thought a bit high, and did not include wine but did include before dinner drinks.

Woodman's Bar and Grill, 31 Main street, ph: 207.866.4040.