Weekend Cooking- A Foodie Trip to Boston and Portland

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Our family took a trip to Boston and Portland, Maine for the 4th of July. We had so much fun and ate at some great restaurants. (We could have done without the 5 1/2 trip home that took 8 hours.)

On the first night in Boston, our son and his girlfriend took us to srv, an Italian restaurant in the South end of Boston. Their specialty is cichetti, which is the Italian version of tapas. We shared stuffed peppers and meatballs, and as my entree I had Tajarin, a creamy yet light pasta dish with black truffles, asparagus, and parmigiano-reggiano. The decor was beautiful, with the lighting fixtures capturing our attention.

The light bulbs are covered with upside down glass pitchers, bottles and dishes

After dinner, we wandered through Little Italy, stopping at a wonderful 24 hour bakery, Bova's Bakery. Even late at night there was a line and we ended up with an assortment of tasty treats. At least we walked home, burning off some of the upcoming caloric intake.

Too much to choose from

The boutique hotel we stayed at, Boston Yacht Haven Inn & Marina, has only ten rooms on the harbor. All the rooms are on one floor, and in the morning they serve a hot breakfast. Just outside the rooms in the hall we found a huge sideboard with pastries, cereal, and hot dishes like french toast (served in individual casserole dishes) and ham and cheese bake which we ate out on our balcony overlooking the harbor. What a lovely treat! It's a great place to stay, we highly recommend it.

Top- breakfast buffett, Bottom- french toast and ham & cheese bake

On July 4th, we wandered around the waterfront in Boston, stopping for lunch at Trillium, a brewery and restaurant. I chose a tasty burrata dish, served with figs, apple slices, grilled cornbread, crispy proscuitto and drizzled with honey. I made a good choice.

Burrata with apple, fig and crispy proscuitto

There was an outdoor beer garden with food and beverage trucks nearby, so we stopped and I had a frozé- a frozen rosé wine drink that was really an adult slushy- nothing wrong with that.

Next up was a trip to Wegmans (yay!), where we bought burgers and hot dogs to grill. It's very exciting for us because living in NYC we miss barbequeing so much. Our son's condo complex has three grills that people share, and they were working overtime that day, but we got there early and scored a grill and a table. Pasta salad and corn on the cob rounded out our All-American celebration.

The next day we headed to Portland, with a stop for lunch in Kennebunk at Pilot House, right on the water, where we finally got our lobster roll. It was worth the wait, and our waitress was so kind, giving us tips on what to see in Portland.

Restaurants in Portland are tough to get into for lunch and dinner during the summer- a lot of them don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait. We had appetizers and drinks at Street and Co.  Our choices of crab and cucumber salad and eggplant dip with capers and pita were so good, we ordered double. The restaurant is in an old brick building, and the ambience is pretty cool.

We moved on their sister restaurant Scales for dinner, where I had a lobster that was very fresh. The restaurant is huge, and you can pick out your lobster if you like, they have them in a big floor tank up front. The decor is modern, light and airy, with lots of floor-to-ceiling windows and a huge bar area.

Speaking of bars, we found an Irish pub, RiRa- The Irish Pub and enjoyed a drink or two and a chat with the friendly Irish bartender. A band was coming in to play just as we were heading to dinner.

On day two, my husband headed out to bring back donuts from Holy Donuts, where the secret ingredient is mashed potatoes in the batter. I know what you're thinking, but trust me, it works.

Holy Donuts

We had a fabulous dinner at Fore Street, a farm-to-table restaurant where the menu changes daily, depending on what the chef can find fresh that day. The kitchen is very open, and we got a table right in front, where we could see a sous chef preparing the salads. We were mesmerized for the entire meal. I had the roasted half-chicken, one of their specialties, but the highlight for me was dessert- a pistachio ice cream bar, drizzled with a caramel sauce. it was the perfect ending to the meal and our trip to Portland.

Pistachio bar

We could see everything going on in the kitchen

The salad ingredients are kept in a glass walk-in cooler