Tips for Dining, Eating and Food Shopping in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire
Start New ThreadJust a little warning in case you should find yourself passing through. Keep right on driving...
By tamerlanenj
on Sep 5, 2010 06:00 PM
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Everything? There's not a diner with a good hamburger or slice of pie or a cafe with an interesting chicken salad? Someplace with a good clam chowder? I'm not familiar with the area, but I wonder if while there may not be a gourmet bistro there, maybe there's a nice little mom and pop shop. Just wondering.
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Obviously you missed Soup for You, which usually has six homemade soups including vegan, vegie, and gluten-free options. Many are quite creative. I've never had a bad soup or, for that matter, a thin one; they're always thick with ingredients. There's also a new gelato shop downtown that's quite good.
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We ate at Java Joe's Corner Cafe, which was pretty good.
Is that Gelato Fiasco's stuff shipped up from Brunswick??
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The Gelato Fiasco
74 Maine Street, Brunswick, ME
Java Joe's Corner Cafe
42 N Main St, Farmington, ME 04938
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Nope, they're making their own, and it's mighty tasty. Glad I'm not in town more often, or it could be dangerous.
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Soup For You is pretty horrible. Since it has almost no competition for takeout lunch I guess it can afford to be. At our office we call it "Sucks to Be You."
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Soup For You
222 Broadway, Farmington, ME 04938
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Is Farmington your ex-lover or something? You sound a bit jilted.
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Guess we have different tastes. I've been purchasing soups there off and on for years, and I've yet to come across a bad one. Most are excellent. I appreciate the opportunity to sample first. And you're the first person I've come across who doesn't like it. What exactly don't you like?
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Every single soup, with the exception of the bbq chicken which I enjoy, is totally overpowered with garlic. It's like it's the only way of seasoning they know. I find that to be both clumsy and unpleasant.
The sandwiches are mediocre, but better than Java Joe's I guess.
The service is also the epitome of "glacial."
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Java Joe's Cafe
98 Central St, Bangor, ME 04401
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Haven't had that experience at all. And for as small, order-at-the-counter joint, I have no complaints about service. Never ordered a sandwich, I'm too smitten by the soups. I frequently have one soup for lunch and pick up another to bring home. Like I said, different tastes.
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Absolutely not true. I have never had a soup there that had overwhelming, or even noticeable, garlic. The servers are delightful people, and the sandwiches are real and tasty.
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I am sure that the dining scene in Farmington has nosedived since the closing of the (Miss?) Farmington Diner. Now the other restaurants have no standard to try to match. How about Giffords Ice Cream? I could have their coffee shake for three meals a day.
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Gifford's is solid, but only open a third of the year!
There's a new Gelato Place--Wicked Gelato--which I believe is a Franchise partner of Gelato Fiasco in Brunswick. It's also pretty good.
A new Martini Bar is being built on Front Street next to Nina's....who knows, could be a nice change of pace from beers and Big Buck Hunter at the Front Street Tavern.
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The Gelato Fiasco
74 Maine Street, Brunswick, ME
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I grew up there and the choice there is weak at best. I worked at Fiddlehead's (now gone) and they had a great menu with really fresh and unique items. My mother also worked at FL Butler's, now the Homestead Bakery, for many years and they also had a pretty solid menu. Did you try the Homestead Bakery? They used to be pretty consistent and my mom worked there for years after FL Butler's was disbanded.
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Homestead Bakery Restaurant
186 Broadway, Farmington, ME 04938
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" Everything in Farmington, ME is horrible....Just a little warning in case you should find yourself passing through. Keep right on driving..."
Driving where?? :-)
I guess it's a nice fall foliage are being besides a bunch of beautiful lakes and at the foothills of the mountains.
Maybe you should eat at Waterville or Augusta on the way up?
As a Chowhound, I must admit that the Homestead Bakery sounds like something I'd definitely try, but then again I've had no reason to visit Farmington!! (Maybe if I get a college job there...)
RSW
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Homestead Bakery Restaurant
186 Broadway, Farmington, ME 04938
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Don't be fooled, unless you like food shipped in on a MAC truck and microwaved. Obviously, if that's the case, then you'd make a point to stop in.
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I used to travel Rt 2 through Farmington taking one of the kids to and fro college. The Irving's gas station gave us red snappers for a wicked good breakfast or late dinner.
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Come to think of it, I don't think college towns attract a lot of quality eateries. I'm thinking Durham, NH . . well, Brunswick, ME maybe?? I
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Orono is nothing to rave about either, but you are correct about Brunswick.
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Passadumkeg, you have a great handle on the Maine dining scene -- why is Brunswick such a better chowhounding town than Waterville, which also has a fine liberal arts college, Colby? Or Lewiston, home of Bates?
jackattack, same question!
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We callI-95 The Volvo Line. Volvos to the south (read coast) and F-150's to the north.
Brunswick is by the shore and w/ a former "upscale" Navy base (read well traveled pilots). Waterville is an old school manufacturing/ railroading town.
My students are arriving from lunch.....
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LOL I like the Volvo Line! One exception, of course -- Visiting Day at camp!
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I'd give a decent reason: Brunswick is an intown campus, Colby isn't. You can walk from Bowdoin's campus downtown for a quick bite or a leisurely meal. At Colby, you need a car. Big difference that has nothing to do with what kind of car one drives (Suburu for the record).
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Sorry, I have walked from the Clby campus to down town more than a few time. I don't drink and drive even that mile.
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Okay, maybe you don't need a car, but downtown isn't at your fingertips as it is in Brunswick. One campus is downtown, the other isn't.
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You are absolutely correct. And there ain't much worth walking to in Waterville except beer. A lot of Colby kids jump in their Beemers and drive across the river to Big G's sandwich shop; a unique institution.
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Big G's
581 Benton Ave, Winslow, ME
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As for Bates and Lewiston...forget it. I've never seen a college that wasn't walking distance from at least one drinking establishment! Where do professors go to complain about their students?
Though Lewiston/auburn does have some nice options: Fuel, Thai Dish, the Bread Company, etc.
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Thai Dish
220 Court St, Auburn, ME 04210
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And a great Somali place.
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I was at the Farmington Diner once when there were two chickens walking on the front lawn. At the very same moment I was looking out the window, I heard a customer ask "how fresh is the chicken?"
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There was not 1 blade of grass on the Farmington Diner property much less a live chicken
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I think we need to define "college town". If you base it upon a general notion that a college town is a town where the majority (i.e. 50.1%) of it's residents are college students, than Brunswick, Waterville, and Lewiston don't apply. They are simply towns/cities with a college. Orono WOULD be applicable. If you are simply defining it as any town/city with a college, than I don't think you can say college towns (or even the majority of college towns) don't have good food (Portland for example).
Maybe we're digging too deep into something that doesn't need digging.
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Yes, you're correct, I mean the former definition where over half the population attends or works for a college.
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While Waterville and Lewiston may not be college towns under that general notion, they nevertheless have colleges similar -- in size and student makeup -- to Brunswick's Bowdoin, yet even right near the Colby campus in W'ville, there is not much good to eat.
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Regardless of state funding, I think we can say Farmington IS indeed a college town, and as such, students are not as demanding for good food. Pizza and pizza and ice cream and big breakfasts and pizza are pretty much staples for students, regardless of economic background. I live near Durham, NH which IS a college town and this same rule applies there. I once looked at Northampton, MA to open a restaurant and, though I was was impressed with the ethnic diversity, I was underwhelmed by the quality of that town's eateries. I guess what I am trying to get at is that American students are not that picky when it comes to food. Not so, however, when we talk about places like Brown U. or Columbia U. (places that place emphasis on having multiculturalism in their student body).
I also agree that Maine, being one of the highest taxed states in the nation is also one of the most mismanaged.
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every state's residents like to make that claim. :)
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so true, Maine actually ranks 15th.
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Well, the rest of Franklin County, ME that ISN'T college town is even worse than Farmington. I don't think there is a single good thing to eat from Coburn Gore in the north to New Sharon in the south to all points in between...I guess Rangeley has a couple diamonds in the rought...
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It comes down to expectations I suppose. The local Franklin county mountain folk might be happy with dreck like the granary or frozen sysco burgers at the homestead. It's not for me. The dugout is fine as absolute dives go...they have their place, after all. But if they are going to offer hand cut fries they should at least learn how to make them correctly. You have to double fry, folks.
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What about that new place called The Company?
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guess we don't have to worry about you coming back to roost
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Stopped in at the homestead and they seem to be making a real effort to improve. Nice redesigned menu with a lot of fresh small plates options for the bar. I had a nice ham and Brie on toasted baguette. Keep it up homestead. Burgers still terrible though.
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The Homestead is really pretty good, especially for breakfast. The Granary is not all together bad.
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The Granary is ok for pub food in the bar. The dining room and the "dinner entrees" are universally terrible.
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We have a place nearby Farmington but we live in Mass. We don't go to Farmington for food. Why do you? You really can't bring high expectations to such a place.
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Because, unfortunately, I live here. ;) And if people don't insist on better, they'll never get it. The Homestead is making an effort. The Company is trying to be something better than the usual. I'm willing to support the effort. I do miss good ethnic food, though! I'd kill for something like Fu Loon, Dok Bua, or India Quality.
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agreed. but to have such a restaurant survive it would have to appeal to more than a handful of foodies from Mass.
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So the rumors are true: The Company does become a Thai restaurant in September. Fantastic news. I'm guessing it will be run by the proprietors of one of the nearby Thai places Rangeley or Waterville, as I can't imagine who else would be doing it.
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We don't know if it's fantastic news until we taste the food, and it is not out of the realm of possibility that there could be a Thai family in the area opening a restaurant - there are, thank God on many levels - VERY many Cambodian immigrants in Franklin County.
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The Co could be replaced by a high school cafeteria and it would be good news.
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Pad Thai Too in Waterville is really good.
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Pad Thai Too
400 Kennedy Memorial Dr, Waterville, ME 04901
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last I heard is that the family runs a Thai place in L/A, but I don't know which one. My favorite is thai dish in Auburn...but I doubt it's them.
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it is indeed!
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awesome, looking forward to the switch, when is it to happen?
btw, dinners at the homestead have been fabulous lately.
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Hey, you managed to get Farmington on the list of the 10 worst college towns for food. Great job!
http://www.chow.com/food-news/91148/t...
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Gotta say, that seems pretty silly. I doubt much research went into the list other than including some generic search on Chowhound for "college town" and "horrible food".
To see a small town like Farmington make the list is pretty laughable. Are you telling me the dining scene in Farmington is worse than Fort Kent? Presque Isle? Machias?
Oops, look for Fort Kent in the next edition.
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I 100% agree.
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Well, the new Thai Smile and Sushi is open and I've been three times now. I have mostly good things to say.
1.The Thai food is mostly good to very good. At least comparable with nearest competitors in Auburn, Rangeley, and Waterville. The Mango curry was delicious, and the pad thai has to be one of my favorite renditions. Drunken Noodle, a favorite of mine, was ok but a bit mushy. Good spring rolls.
2.The Sushi is pretty mediocre. Probably to be expected, as this is really a Thai-focused restaurant. OK maki, but a very limited and uninteresting selection of fish. Prices are also ridiculously high ($17 for a shrimp tempura roll?).
3.Servers are clueless, most of them clearly never having eaten or served Thai or Japense food. However, I expect this to improve. Bartenders are friendly and can now whip up a pretty good mai tai.
In all, a good addition to the town.
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Service is slow
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