July 2022

Note: This was originally published on July 10, 2015 and having been reminded by a Facebook post in memories I decided to include it in the Golden Dish again since it’s so terribly apt for today, seven years later showing that fine cooking is timeless and still relevant without all the hoopla that swirls around our culinary scene today.

The food world is under siege with trendiness.  Fried chicken has become an artisanal  super-star.  The rarest tomato, the sustainable fish fillet, the rigors of omikase and Asian panache–even pizza are elevated to otherworldly stardom.  Canned food is left in the dust unless you can it yourself at a farm table in the middle of your highfalutin country kitchen. Then there’s the whole wide world of farm-to-table as though it were something really novel when in fact it’s how the world used to eat simply and well:  food from the field—unprocessed, unadulterated, fair and fresh.

At table at Turner Farm supper
The table set at Turner Farm Barn Dinner Circa  July10, 2015

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Out of the farm fields and farm shops in Cumberland Center is a growing list of purveyors who are integral to Maine’s food lore.  My list includes Pine Ridge Acres  farm store, Spring Brook Farm and Cumberland Food Company. The latter has now become a destination for dining-in for dinner known as Dara Bistro.

Their “Story” best describes the change:

“Dara Bistro, formerly named the Cumberland Food Company, started on January 1’st, 2017 by Chef Bryan Dame and myself, Kelsey Pettengill.   We serve as a community meeting space in the form of a casual neighborhood Coffeeshop by morning, and then as a more formal dinner service space at night.  Located at 371 Tuttle Rd, the building dates back to the late 1800’s and was originally utilized as a jersey cow dairy farm.  It has gone through a handful of transitions over the years, most recently when it was remodeled into a restaurant space and run as Doc’s cafe until 2017 When we leased the space and made it our own!”

Several comfortable dining areas including the open kitchen and service counter

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It’s been a great strawberry season in Maine, but it’s coming to an end.  According to regional producers there’s about a week or two left in the growing season.  However, don’t fret just yet.  Some growers cultivate the everbearing  variety. At Beth’s Farm Market in Warren they have berries all summer long, sometimes well into the fall from their everbearing variety.  Others like Fairwinds Farm  and Alewive’s Brook Farm have a second grow cycle in late July and beyond.  I’ve found that these second cycle berries aren’t as juicy and sweet as June varieties.  But for those of us who love strawberries, they’re still a pleasure to have.

Two quarts strawberries for strawberry pie, from Jordan’s Farm, Cape Elizabeth

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Two restaurants beyond  Portland’s sturdy culinary confines are exemplary. They are  87 miles apart, the distance from Cape Elizabeth’s The Well at Jordan’s Farm to Rockport’s Nina June.  They excel for one simple reason.  The food at each is fabulous.

I visited Nina June in early June, and it was my first time there. I loved the place when it was the Salt Water Grill some years ago.  The room was lily white then, right out of a Ralph Lauren playbook, Rockport Harbor being the perfect backdrop in this gorgeous little village as the quiet side of Camden next door.   Nina June is cozier than its predecessor and more like being in a country boite rather than a “fancy” restaurant. But the food  is superb under the able hands of Sara Jenkins, owner and chef. She commands her post like a general, but always calm, not rattled  as every nook and cranny of her cooking talents emerge. If anyone from Maine should merit a James Beard Award, it’s Jenkins, leaving many others merely striving.

Nina June’s dining terrace overlooking Rockport harbor, photo courtesy of Nina June

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