Weekend trip to Maine [Freeport, Portland, Windham]

Back in Maine for a long weekend (Spring Onion has Monday off due to a staff professional development). We drove up yesterday right after school and wanting to avoid St. Patrick’s Day crowds, we stopped for dinner much earlier than we would’ve liked. I was driving so B searched and decided on Blaze Brewing in Biddeford. It’s located in a set of cool mill building apartments. Small cozy place, friendly staff, and we got a seat next to the rushing Saco River, which was fun to look at. SO and I split the grandma pizza (pesto, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil), which is not a pan pizza-type grandma pizza that I’m accustomed to, but a round, wood-fired pie with nice charring (which even SO was ok with it). It was rather wet in the middle due to the tomatoes but once SO got past that, he scarfed it down. B got a brisket sandwich with potato salad on the side. A bit on the dry side and needed a touch of salt, which he added, but he said the pickles helped to add moisture. He ordered a flight of IPAs and a stout; none of them wowed him but surprisingly, he liked the stout. Once we arrived at our neat little cottage, we didn’t venture back out. We’re heading out shortly. I’ll post again later.

I recall a very nice sandwich lunch at the Jameson Tavern, in Freeport. Reportedly the place where, in 1820, the agreement was signed that permitted Maine to leave Massachusetts and establish itself as a state in its own right. I suppose, therefore, I should describe my Reuben as “historic”.

Have fun! We tried Blaze in Biddeford last fall. Friendly folks and the beer was decent. Better when sipped with a view of the rushing Saco River, which it sounds like you did.

Another place in Biddeford you might enjoy sometime is the new-ish Sacred Profane, though the food hours/menu are more limited. SP brews light and dark lagers only, poured from a special Czech serving system said to be first of its kind in the US. This article goes in-depth about SP’s Czech/style lagers. Not a big place, though, and table seating is convivially communal.

We’d also like to revisit to Banded Brewing in Biddeford sometime, now that they’ve added a kitchen. Haven’t yet.

Nothing earth-shattering for the remainder of the weekend but we had a great time. The cabin had a copy of “The Lost Kitchen” so I spent some happy time by the wood stove, leafing through that.

Saturday
Breakfast at home. I had thoughts of going to Maples Bakery in Yarmouth for their outstanding bagels, but the cabin had taken hold. So had the hot tub. And a day later, I was somewhat regretting my choice because the owner announced that she’s selling Yarmouth (but keeping New Gloucester). And they are closed on Sundays/Mondays. Oh well. We finally headed out and grabbed lunch at Goodfire Brewing in Freeport. It was much more trendy/millennial than we expected (lots of soft colors/brass finishes. The food and beer were much better than we expected, although B didn’t buy any beer to-go. Good pretzel with a sprinkling of beautiful flaky salt to start. My fish sandwich was outstanding despite the terrible photo - the fish was ultra-fresh with a great fry job and it was well-constructed (I detest a messy sandwich). B took a few bites and while he enjoyed his chicken sandwich, he was coveting mine. SO enjoyed his meal of chicken nuggets. Friendly service.

SO squeezing his fancy orange slice into his water to make OJ

We went on an easy hike up nearby Hedgehog Mountain and on that clear-as-a-bell day, we had a great view of Mount Washington, 65 miles away. We then ventured into Portland, with plans to attend a St. Patrick’s Day party at the Portland Club. SO enjoyed the bagpipes but even more enjoyable, he found the kids in attendance and they all played foosball, darts, and ping pong. The complimentary food consisted of something straight outta a college beer party - popcorn, Fritos, and deli sandwiches. There were also complimentary drinks. B needed to soak up the Guinness so he ate the sandwiches. SO and I refrained. We left around 7:30 pm and everything was packed (we were in the vicinity of Pai Men Miyake) so we sadly left Portland without eating and hit the local grocery store. SO was happy eating ramen noodles and dumplings in the comfort of the cabin. I had…food, which probably consisted of instant ramen.

Sunday
Breakfast at home, followed by a hot tub session. We had a mid-afternoon snow tube session so we prepared by having a rib-sticking lunch at Brickyard Hollow pub in Yarmouth beforehand. Pub food done well, including quite delicious Brussels, a sausage/feta/banana pepper pizza, beef chili, mac and cheese. Awesome fries.

Monday
Always sad to leave a fun place, but we checked out and stopped in Portsmouth for lunch, where many places are closed on Mondays (including our favorite, Anju, in neighboring Kittery). We had 2 free beer tickets at Portsmouth Brewery, a place that we haven’t been to in ages, so we went there. B got a fish sandwich, remembering his sadness about not getting one at Goodfire (this one was not as good), SO had plain ol’ penne with red sauce. Yours truly got the mushroom sandwich, which I bit into and then realized, these are not mushrooms. B saw the expression on my face and knew something was wrong. Our earnest but clueless server simultaneously ran over to me and told me that she accidentally served me a grilled chicken sandwich. Luckily, I’m no longer a strict vegetarian as I once was about a decade ago. The server is vegetarian and she was mortified at her error. She took it off the bill (we still tipped on the full amount) and brought out my mushroom sandwich. What got my goat is that it came out soggy. I don’t like to waste food, but they could have at least warmed it up. I must say, the bite of chicken sandwich was better. We decided not to use the free beer tickets - it just didn’t feel right. B gladly took the chicken sandwich for dinner that night. An amusing ending to a wonderful weekend away.

Mushroom sandwich

The imposter mushroom sandwich

I’m officially jealous . . . sounds like a relaxing and filling weekend for the family.

We absolutely considered Sacred Profane…but for the fact that lagers are not B’s speed. We’ve been to Banded Brewing and liked that a lot (we brought takeout with us when we visited…B and SO brought KFC, which got the attention of everyone in the joint. LOL. I can’t remember what I had). I didn’t know that they have food now - thanks for the heads up.

Nice. I’m not a lager fan, either, but I did enjoy their super-fresh stuff. I think the tank system made the difference for me.

Your report has me longing for another adventure in Maine.