The Nigro's never miss meals. Ever... I have friends and colleagues who say things like "Oh I just completely forgot to eat lunch today." I can honestly say that never happens to me. Even when I'm sick with food poisoning or a stomach flu - once the worst of it passes I'm normally home on the couch watching the Food Network or planning what I'll have for dinner the second I can have solid food again.
Keeping up with traditions, we worked our way from Massachusetts to Bar Harbor and ate well along the way. Our hotel came with a free breakfast buffet and, true to form we made the most of it. Scrambled eggs, omelets, french toast, yogurt, fruit, bagels etc.. I think between the three of us we touched on all of them. With full bellies and me full of coffee we headed off to finish the trip north to Maine.
After about two hours of driving we all needed a restroom and leg stretching break. I found a rest stop north of Portland and while there I grabbed a Starbucks, Mom got a Kit Kat and Dad grabbed an ice cream. We piled back in the car and continued the drive, pondering where to stop for lunch. What? They were just snacks!
Unfortunately, we followed the Garmin instead of our instincts and instead of driving up the coast we stayed on 95 up to Bangor, then took Route 1A to cut across to Highway 3 and Acadia. 95 produced nothing more than fast food options and 1A seemed to have nothing more than car dealerships, thrift shops and churches. Finally we passed a sign for "The Falls" - a burger, seafood and ice cream place that had a parking lot full of cars and a perfect casual atmosphere. Order from the window and someone will bring you your food either inside or out. We chose in as it was climbing into the upper 80's at that point and the sun was beating down. Mom and Dad went for grilled chicken wraps that were moist perfect chicken chunks in a sundried tomato wrap with lettuce and tomato served with kettle chips. I had the haddock basket with fries, cole slaw and a soft buttered roll. The haddock was local, fresh and super crisp. The fries were awesome and malt vinegar over everything made it perfect. Dad finished my cole slaw and Mom my roll.
We finished the drive to our Best Western in Acadia, checked in and immediately asked for a recommendation for dinner. All 3 of us were feeling pretty exhausted from various states of non sleep from the night before and the drive today so we decided to spend a little time by the pool and unwind. I grabbed a catnap, a shower and then we headed out to dinner at the Chart Room just 2 miles up the road from our hotel. The ladies at the hotel told us they had a great early bird special of $18.95 for a lobster dinner until 6pm. We got there at 6:08 and had the same dinner for $21.95. Dad asked the hostess 7 times if we made it in time for the special. After saying it ended at 6 a few times she finally just stopped answering. Dad made a point of grumbling about the cost. Mom made a point of getting aggravated. I made a point to snap at both of them and tell Dad I'd give him the $3 for the difference. Yup...it's a Nigro Family vacation. Our waiter took it all in stride and 3 lobster dinners appeared quickly.
Currently in the middle of soft shell lobster season our 1 1/4 pounders were super sweet but not too heavy on the meat. But dipped in drawn butter and accompanied with a hot baked potato with sour cream and butter and some crisp baby vegetables it was a perfect meal. I was probably the only one to attack the tomalley - the super creamy greenish paste that functions as both the liver and the pancreas of the lobster and to me, when spread either on a soft warm roll or a toast point is possibly the best part of the lobster. A local summer ale to wash it down and I was a happy happy girl. I was tempted to go for a slice of blueberry pie but we'd heard there was ice cream in town so figured we'd take a breather and save some time.
Down to Bar Harbor we found a perfect parking spot (thank you parking deities) and wandered up to Ben and Billie's confections. The ice cream flavors in this place were off the wall and included lobster ice cream with real lobster chunks. No - we didn't try it although tomorrow is another day... I got the chocolate peanut butter cookie dough, Dad got Moose Droppings (a super dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks...at least that what's i hope they were) and Mom got vanilla caramel fudge. We sat on a bench near the shop to enjoy our ice cream while Dad harassed every kid that came out asking if he could have a lick of their ice cream. Amazing how he hasn't gotten arrested harassing random children yet.
On the drive back to the hotel in the last dregs of twilight, our thoughts turned to tomorrow and the trolley tour we booked of Acadia. No - it wasn't about what time to get up or what to wear or bring...it was about what time we had to be at breakfast so that we'd have enough time to eat! Heaven forbid we should miss a meal!
Survival Tip: Elastic waistbands are your friend!
Keeping up with traditions, we worked our way from Massachusetts to Bar Harbor and ate well along the way. Our hotel came with a free breakfast buffet and, true to form we made the most of it. Scrambled eggs, omelets, french toast, yogurt, fruit, bagels etc.. I think between the three of us we touched on all of them. With full bellies and me full of coffee we headed off to finish the trip north to Maine.
After about two hours of driving we all needed a restroom and leg stretching break. I found a rest stop north of Portland and while there I grabbed a Starbucks, Mom got a Kit Kat and Dad grabbed an ice cream. We piled back in the car and continued the drive, pondering where to stop for lunch. What? They were just snacks!
Unfortunately, we followed the Garmin instead of our instincts and instead of driving up the coast we stayed on 95 up to Bangor, then took Route 1A to cut across to Highway 3 and Acadia. 95 produced nothing more than fast food options and 1A seemed to have nothing more than car dealerships, thrift shops and churches. Finally we passed a sign for "The Falls" - a burger, seafood and ice cream place that had a parking lot full of cars and a perfect casual atmosphere. Order from the window and someone will bring you your food either inside or out. We chose in as it was climbing into the upper 80's at that point and the sun was beating down. Mom and Dad went for grilled chicken wraps that were moist perfect chicken chunks in a sundried tomato wrap with lettuce and tomato served with kettle chips. I had the haddock basket with fries, cole slaw and a soft buttered roll. The haddock was local, fresh and super crisp. The fries were awesome and malt vinegar over everything made it perfect. Dad finished my cole slaw and Mom my roll.
We finished the drive to our Best Western in Acadia, checked in and immediately asked for a recommendation for dinner. All 3 of us were feeling pretty exhausted from various states of non sleep from the night before and the drive today so we decided to spend a little time by the pool and unwind. I grabbed a catnap, a shower and then we headed out to dinner at the Chart Room just 2 miles up the road from our hotel. The ladies at the hotel told us they had a great early bird special of $18.95 for a lobster dinner until 6pm. We got there at 6:08 and had the same dinner for $21.95. Dad asked the hostess 7 times if we made it in time for the special. After saying it ended at 6 a few times she finally just stopped answering. Dad made a point of grumbling about the cost. Mom made a point of getting aggravated. I made a point to snap at both of them and tell Dad I'd give him the $3 for the difference. Yup...it's a Nigro Family vacation. Our waiter took it all in stride and 3 lobster dinners appeared quickly.
Currently in the middle of soft shell lobster season our 1 1/4 pounders were super sweet but not too heavy on the meat. But dipped in drawn butter and accompanied with a hot baked potato with sour cream and butter and some crisp baby vegetables it was a perfect meal. I was probably the only one to attack the tomalley - the super creamy greenish paste that functions as both the liver and the pancreas of the lobster and to me, when spread either on a soft warm roll or a toast point is possibly the best part of the lobster. A local summer ale to wash it down and I was a happy happy girl. I was tempted to go for a slice of blueberry pie but we'd heard there was ice cream in town so figured we'd take a breather and save some time.
Down to Bar Harbor we found a perfect parking spot (thank you parking deities) and wandered up to Ben and Billie's confections. The ice cream flavors in this place were off the wall and included lobster ice cream with real lobster chunks. No - we didn't try it although tomorrow is another day... I got the chocolate peanut butter cookie dough, Dad got Moose Droppings (a super dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks...at least that what's i hope they were) and Mom got vanilla caramel fudge. We sat on a bench near the shop to enjoy our ice cream while Dad harassed every kid that came out asking if he could have a lick of their ice cream. Amazing how he hasn't gotten arrested harassing random children yet.
On the drive back to the hotel in the last dregs of twilight, our thoughts turned to tomorrow and the trolley tour we booked of Acadia. No - it wasn't about what time to get up or what to wear or bring...it was about what time we had to be at breakfast so that we'd have enough time to eat! Heaven forbid we should miss a meal!
Survival Tip: Elastic waistbands are your friend!
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