Part of the appeal of Portland, Maine is, of course, the ocean. Casco Bay and its 365 so-called Calendar Islands are beautiful, scenic and fun to explore. Jon Hutter and Chris Mazuzan will take you kayaking, or you can take a Casco Bay Lines ferry out to visit Brenda at her island house on Great Diamond Island. Look for the famous Portland Head Light on the Cape Elizabeth shore on the way out.
Larry Vine will tell you the restaurants in Portland are among the best in the world, rivaling the variety and quality found in his native New York City. Some of his favorites are Fore Street, Bresca, 555, Back Bay Grill, Mim’s and Street and Company. (Brenda also likes Caiola’s and The Café at Pat’s Meat Market.)
But Katie Burke knows all about cooking and “slow food.” She heads to the farmer’s market and many ethnic and specialty shops for ingredients for her wowzer preparations. There’s Micucci’s Italian Market for wonderful, authentic salami, pasta and cheese. Brown Trading Company on Commercial Street who supplies the finest fish and seafood (as well as caviar) to restaurants around the world, and the Rosemont Market for beautiful fruits, vegetables and wine! And Jackie Vine (Larry’s wonderful wife) turned us on recently to the most amazing new and used cookbook store called Rabelais just a couple of streets down from the agency should you need inspiration.
If fiber’s your gig, Brenda can introduce you to some pretty swell places like Seaport Yarns, Knit Wits and Grace Robinson in Freeport and speaking of Freeport….
Yes, there’s LL Bean…