There was a time when Rattanak “Ram” Tray wondered if working in restaurants could ever be a “real” career. “I’d been in restaurants since I was 14,” he recalls. “But I wasn’t sure I could build a future in them. So, I decided to go to college and study accounting. That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be stuck in a cubicle for the rest of my life.” Today, far from any cubicle, the chef-owner of Yosaku Restaurant in Portland, Maine…
Along the banks of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston, Maine, where old brick mills once hummed, a new energy fills the air with a sense of possibility; of optimism. Though the historic town with deep French-Canadian roots does not yet “sizzle” with a thriving restaurant scene like Portland, Maine or Concord, N.H., restaurant partners Jules Patry and Craig Tribuno, principals in Davinci’s Eatery, a 20-year icon in Lewiston, are positively stoked about the future. “It’s been a tough slog to…
When Boxerbrand’s blog catches up with Blaze Restaurant Group owner Matty Haskell, the visionary farm-to-table entrepreneur, he’s clad in work boots and surveying the land and animals on one of his working farms. So busy visiting his cattle and hog farms in Maine, Haskell misses a couple of phone interviews before sending a quick text: “I’m so sorry! I’m at the farm. Can we talk at 10 a.m., for real this time?” The Mainer is about as real as it…
In the restaurant industry of Maine, the conversation these days centers around surviving the winter. Nobody speaks in terms of profits. It’s all about managing the losses following the long months of pandemic-related lockdown. Brian Langley, owner of 35-year-old landmark eatery Union River Lobster Pot of Ellsworth, doesn’t sugar-coat it. “There’s a devastating winter coming for the hospitality industry. Every single restaurant in Maine makes its money in the summer. We rely on the money we make in the summer…
Nestled alongside the Kennebunk River in Maine, the famous Hurricane Restaurant is weathering the storms of the times with old-fashioned ingenuity and the support of the town. Serving patrons in the quaint New England site, where restaurants have stood since the 1800s, new owner Taylor Benenti had only taken over the reins of Hurricane Restaurant in January 2019 and had outdoor expansion plans when the coronavirus lockdown occurred. As luck would have it, the restaurant had already been approved for…
Near the pristine mountains and crashing seascape of Acadia National Park sits a humble restaurant that turns sweet, tender lobster meat into restaurant gold. The Union River Lobster Pot Restaurant in Ellsworth, Maine isn’t fancy. There’s always a line to get in. And they don’t do takeout. But what longtime owner Brian Langley delivers on the plate is the meal Maine tourists and locals will wait patiently for: lobster, blueberry pie, and a water view. “When I first opened the…
In the state that calls itself Vacationland, where the very best lobsters are farmed, and the windswept seashores beckon, sits a rustic, sophisticated restaurant that exists to pamper and to serve world-weary travelers. “We want everyone who enters to feel like they are visiting our home,” says Margaret Duplessis, assistant GM of the Royal River Grill House of Yarmouth, Maine. Rough-hewn wood beams, smooth granite counters, and waterside fire pits overlooking a peaceful harbor add to the ambience of the…