Thursday, October 20, 2016

Talk About Home!!!

 
 
I have often(probably TOO often)used the ambience of a restaurant as a measuring stick for whether or not I would return to a particular place. I even, and don't ask me how, use it to gauge how good the food is.



The Cod's Head in Boothbay Harbor, Maine entices you with this great quality and once you have plunked your butt into a chair, everything seems to fall into place perfectly.

Although the barbecue aspect of this restaurant is their driving force, it is the smiles you notice on everyones faces and the perfect dishes that come from the kitchen, and from the hands of cooks and servers, that made me continually return.

I know I should probably be talking about the sample Ronaldo and I enjoyed during the Harborfest, but if you don't let me indulge about the many other aspects of this "downtown" eating establishment, I honestly will not be able to write another review. Yeah, I hate not finishing one project before starting another!

Every year I visit Boothbay Harbor, I am compelled to return to this place. It was such a pleasure, first off, to have the master barbecue man show me exactly how they strut their stuff around the outdoor smoker. This is the perfect example of less is better. All they have is a small smoker on their back porch, yet their smoked, barbecued dishes rival ANY Southern pit I have tried, bar none!

Rarely can you find a Fish House and "pit" that is owned by a someone who also owns 2 others restaurants in the area and STILL keep the quality and same friendly staff on a level playing field at all times, but they remarkably have done so here.


                                                                        MINE OYSTER

Mine Oyster is one of the restaurants of which I will be posting about in the next week or so is just as memorable as the Boathouse Bistro.....both of which are a world apart from the Cod's Head, yet equally as culinarily significant.

This "family" not only won me over, but with a smile and a great attitude, they silently beckoned Ronaldo Linares and his family for breakfast the next morning. The ONLY reason I didn't go was pure laziness, I wanted to sleep in. What a mistake that was! For the next full day, all I kept hearing was how great the food was and how busy they were. Lesson learned.

The Boathouse Bistro

In closing, I just cannot say enough about how this place was truly a dining experience that made me feel at home and their uncomplicated, inexpensive and impressive portions continually beckon me every single time I go to Boothbay Harbor.

Well done my friends and if there were one restaurant I would feel comfortable going into at anytime of day without having to don a dress jacket and clean shoes, this would be it. And that is a feeling that stays with you even when you are long gone.

 
Ohhh....almost forgot to mention the sample during the Boothbay Harborfest. The Pulled Pork Slider.....O M freaking word......The tastiest mouthful of barbecued pork. I am so shocked they didn't kick Ronaldo and I out after our 3d and 4th mouthfuls, hahahaha. And when you tempt a Yankee with a Watermelon Mint Julep just as many times....both of us went away more than satisfied and quite willing to go back for more the second we exited. Bravo, bravo, bravo my friends......

 



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