Eventide Oyster Co. Bar

Enjoying a Lazy Saturday in Portland, Maine

It doesn’t happen often, or at least not as often as I would like, but we found ourselves with no plans this past Saturday. Knowing that we would be house bound with some projects on Sunday, we wanted to get out of the house for a bit. While I like to hunker down, I’m not a true homebody. I get antsy quickly if I stay in too many days in a row. Fortunately, my husband shares my love of going out, although he can also successfully hunker for days on end. He’s multifaceted.

Enjoying the early spring weather that we’ve been experiencing in Maine this year, we headed into Portland for the afternoon. Temperatures were hovering just below 50 degrees so it was perfect weather to wander, and I was craving a lobster roll. For me, lobster rolls are best enjoyed sitting at a picnic table overlooking the ocean, but even with the unseasonably warm weather, outside seating was still not an option so instead we headed to Eventide Oyster Co. for their amazing Brown Butter Lobster Roll. While normally I’m a purist when it comes to my lobster rolls – hot dog bun, lobster meat, and plain drawn butter – Eventide has created something truly wonderful. The brown butter adds just the right touch and elevates the lobster roll to another level. I had only had it once before, at the Allagash Street Fair last summer, and I was looking forward to another taste.

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3 Reasons Why We’ll be Back to Timber Steakhouse & Rotisserie

Sometimes a night out doesn’t go as planned, but can still be wonderful fun. We headed into Portland on a recent Friday evening intending to go to the Little Tap House but an event at the Cross Insurance Arena made parking in the area unmanageable so instead we ventured to the Old Port to see what we could find. This time we had parking success and, after a brief stop into Sonny’s, where we were unable to find seating at the bar, we wandered over to Timber Steakhouse & Rotisserie.

We were looking for something more casual but decided to have one drink at the bar to check things out. My husband ordered an Allagash Curieux at our bartender’s recommendation, and I went with the Terlano Pinot Grigio which was excellent. We split an order of the hand cut fries with Jalapeño ketchup and truffle parmesan aoili. I’m pretty much a Heinz ketchup girl and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Jalapeño ketchup. It added just the right touch of extra flavor.

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Rhum Bar

Rhum Tiki Bar in Portland Maine

Rhum opened recently, and given the festive Tiki Bar theme, a bitter cold weekend in Maine seemed like the perfect time to head out for some umbrella drinks. The atmosphere is upbeat, and the Tiki theme is carried throughout with multiple touches including a thatched roof edge around the bar, colorful lights, and other fun Polynesian accents.

We stopped by Rhum on Valentine’s Day for a quick drink and appetizer before heading to a show at Port City Music Hall. We didn’t realize it when making our plans, but the two destinations are located close to one another which made for an extremely convenient night out. We almost missed the entrance to Rhum. It’s actually behind the building by the back parking lot.

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Slab Frozolli Ice Cream Sandwich

Lunch at Slab in Portland Maine

Slab Portland Maine We had stopped by Slab once before during one of our PCRT Portland Beer Week Scavenger Hunts although technically it wasn’t one of the stops on our list.  But, that was awhile ago, and we were overdue to come back to actually spend some time. Finding ourselves with a few hours between dropping off and picking up the girls, we decided to head to Slab for lunch on a recent Saturday. I’m so glad we did!

Slab advertises itself as “Sicilian Street Food” which sounded interesting. We were looking for something casual and fun, and my husband always likes it when there’s a good craft beer offering. Slab delivered on all counts. It’s located in the old Portland Public Market Building. The restaurant has a nice, modern decor with high ceilings, and lots of light coming through the many windows. We settled into a cozy booth.

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Zombie Golf Costumes

Portland Beer Week Scavenger Hunt

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of beer. I’m more of a wine girl myself, but my husband absolutely loves craft beer and is pretty excited about all the options available in Portland. There is no better time for beer lovers than during the annual Portland Beer Week festivities held in Portland, Maine every fall.

We’ve put a team together, for the last three years, to compete in the Port City Running Tours (PCRT) Beer Week Scavenger Hunt which is one of the Portland Beer Week events. My husband loves beer, I love scavenger hunts, and we both love Portland, so it’s the perfect activity for us. Each year, PCRT has done a great job with mixing things up, and making it slightly different than the year before, but the basic format is:

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