Travel Guide: Portland, ME

Where to get the best lobster roll of your life

Happy Sunday. Last week’s newsletter was kind of a doozie so here’s a short and sweet dispatch of all my leftovers from Portland, ME: the best things we ate, best places we shopped, and most fun things we did when we visited the fun seaside town for an event on my book tour this summer.

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Meals

If you are even kind-of, sort-of interested in food at all, you have heard of Eventide. Their lobster rolls are award-winning and everyone from Bon Appetit to Goop has written about them. They are not overhyped. The meal we ate here is one of the top five of my entire life. The lobster rolls are served on a homemade, pillowy bao-like bun (they even have an in-house pastry team that makes a gluten-free version), dressed with browned butter and topped with a sprinkling of chives. They are perfect. As are all of the oysters and the tuna crudo.

Portland’s seafood is outstanding. For a quick lunch, Mr. Tuna cannot be beat. You can get hand rolls, maki or sushi burritos and the fish is incredibly, incredibly high-quality. We both got the tuna tataki burrito and I probably could have had five of them.

Duckfat is, as the name suggests, a spot specializing in Belgian, twice-fried frites made in duckfat. We got the fries (along with a flight of all the sauces because I love a condiment). But it was the wedge salad that I found to be the most outstanding. This is a true wedge — cold and crispy iceberg lettuce, hunks of bleu cheese and the addition of smoked duck breast and tart cherries.

The Holy Donut is another one of those places everyone will recommend. It tops every Yelp list, has a line out the door, and offers a very regional specialty: the potato donut. Plus: they have a wide array of gluten-free flavors, which was the real draw for me and my celiac boyfriend.

It is not technically in Portland, ME, but Palace Diner is so worth the short drive. It is…tiny. As in, it’s nestled inside a tiny railcar and has only 8 seats. So you will likely have to wait (at least an hour) to be seated. Once you are, order it all: pancakes, eggs, crispy breakfast potatoes, perfect bacon, and the best damn tuna melt of your life.

Coffee

Tandem Coffee is not only very fun, with the hipster sort of vibe you want from a good coffee shop, but they apparently have the most insane biscuit sandwiches known to man. We showed up one morning to see a 30-minute line and it was apparently mostly people wanting a biscuit. They sold out while we were still waiting so I didn’t get to try one, but I trust the locals.

Coffee by Design was more nondescript and low-key but the coffee was honestly even better. 10/10.

You really go to Rose Foods for a bagel, not a coffee — but the two kind of go hand-in-hand. Get the lox and some sort of smoked fish situation, obviously.

Stuff to Do

Portland is very outdoorsy, so the fashion scene isn’t really what you come for but Judith is just a really special store. The buy is phenomenal and all of the pieces just feel very special. I bought some wonderful fancy draped sweatpants and a very cute top made by a German designer.

Portland Flea-for-All is wonderful. Here’s the thing, though: it’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Also, like most well-curated antiques shops, it isn’t cheap. It’s got a killer selection of clothing and housewares (especially housewares — think Alexander Calder posters and mid-century sofas).

I went whale watching in Boston once and saw multiple whales and it was pretty incredible. So I wanted to take Tom on a whale watching trip. Well, we were out for four and a half hours and saw no whales but it was still fun. We did see lots of harbor seals and learn about the local history. Tip: BRING SUNSCREEN. Next time, I would do a lobster boat trip instead.

Print: A Bookstore was the first retailer to reach out to my publisher about hosting an event for Big Thrift Energy. That was more than six months before the book even came out! I had so much fun visiting the shop and chatting about vintage. The staff is friendly and the bookstore offers wonderful recommendations.

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And I’ll leave you with this…