lots of eating out

it was a big weekend for eating out. yesterday seth and i took a drive to saco. seth likes to call any drive we take during the weekend a 'sunday drive.' i'm not clear why it can't just be a weekend drive seeing how it was saturday and he can't see why it bothers me so much.
anyway, we drove south to saco to check out ferry beach, a beautiful little spot where seth went to summer camp during high school. maine's southern coast is very much a tourist destination and as it is currently early november there was very little going on. in old orchard beach, which is one of those classic beach boardwalk destinations, most of the businesses are closed for the season. as a tangent, i love such destinations in the off season because there is such an eeriness to the emptiness. in actuality, almost every business along this stretch of coast was closed. except wormwood's restaurant.
wormwood's, so named for the owner's last name, is quite an experience. according to my internet search it is something of a landmark. the only way to describe this place is OLD SKOOL!!! wow! literally like taking a step back in time. we were one of maybe four table on this raining saturday in november. the majority of the wait staff looked like they may have been working there since the place opened. but the service was actually very good. the menu was very heavy on seafood prepared in classic new england style. it was a little on the pricey side but it is seafood. i appreciated that they had smaller portions available of almost everything on their menu. so did the over 65 crowd that seems to keep this place afloat in the off season.
i was having trouble deciding between lobster stew and chicken fingers (i know!) while seth zoned in on the seafood pies. i went with the chicken fingers with a side of ranch, french fries, and canned pickled beets and seth ordered the crab pie in a newberg sauce with garlic potatoes and pickled beets on the side. seth loved his pie and my chicken fingers really did hit the spot and satisfy my craving for some fried goodness dipped in ranch. i love beets but i'm not sure i have ever had canned pickled beet before. they were surprisingly good, but i will not be picking any up on my next trip to hannaford.

i had long standing dinner plans at with a large group of ladies. i'm really new to portland and so i don't have too many friends here. one of my few friends is marya, the wife of one of seth's friends from high school. in fact, otis and marya are a big reason why we moved to portland and they have been a big support to us. anyway marya invited me to join in on this ladies night organized by her friend jenn.
it took place at local 188 which has a spanish themed menu. the food is quite tasty but a little on the pricey side. marya and i shared the chorizo with sage, apples, and sherry appetizer which was very good. for my main i ordered off the raciones menu and got the wild main mussels with seasonal greens in a roasted garlic cream sauce. this was also very good but maybe wasn't the best choice for me, with my lactose intolerance. only seth's suffers. some of the other ladies had some complaints, such as medium-rare steak appearing closer to medium-well. the service with not great, but we were a very large party and it was quite busy. the other ladies said that the service was pretty typical.

this mornings seth and i were rousted out of bed by phone calls from both otis and marya, asking us if we wanted to have breakfast at the rehabbed miss portland diner. this was only their second weekend open, and while they still have some wrinkles to iron out, its pretty great. we sat in the new dining room, which has been built to look retro, with old booths and 'tin' ceilings. the original worcester lunch car looks beautiful and i can't wait to eat in there. i knew i was going to order hash and eggs before i even got there and it was home made and tasty. all of our breakfasts could have been hotter and the waitress was pretty flustered, but she kept the coffee refills coming. all in all miss portland will likely become a regular spot for breakfast. i will just give them another month to get things running smoothly.