fresh produce | appetite for adventure

The reservations had been made for months. I had perused the sample menu, the online photos, the reviews, and then, at long last… Sunday night had finally arrived and I, along with Matt, his mother, and Dennis, left for Arrows. The drive was beautiful through a bit of New Hampshire and Southern Maine…to Perkin’s Cove and Olgunquit.

When we parked, we headed first to their garden.

They grow as much of their own produce as possible: fruit, vegetables, herbs, and so on.

These blueberries weren’t quite ready, but that didn’t stop us from picking the rare few that were!

After walking through the veggie garden, we looked through the gardens surrounding the restaurant’s grounds.

The plants were so large and full of blooms, and they keep the trees lit with lights, which was especially beautiful at dusk…

And then, 7:00 had struck, and it was time for dinner…

When we first sat down the server greeted us with some house-made grissini that was crisp and flavored with a variety of herbs from the garden.

We argued over the menu for some time, before finally agreeing on what we would each order. I chose the “Yin and Yang” for my appetizer. It was, from left to right: a chilled Xiao Xing (a Shanghai rice wine) poached chicken breast with a Xiao Xing granita, a shitake, bamboo, and scallion stuffed fried chicken wing, and a spicy chicken on the end. I was told to start with the cold and move on to the hot, and it was delicious…each taste got more intense as the heat increased, all the way to a spicy heat in addition to the actual heat.

Matt ordered the deep fried Maine shrimp with grapefruit, orange, and lime and a vanilla bean sauce. The shrimp was deep fried without batter, so it tasted fresh but still rich at the same time. It was s clean tasting…really enjoyable.

Dennis and Lorraine split the house cured seafood sampler. It had a halibut terrine, shrimp rillette, smoked trout, hot smoked salmon, and smoked diver scallops. It came with creme fraice, capers, horseradish, and bread toasts. They did a lot of their own curing, smoking, and other techniques in house…right after this course they sent out complimentary house made prosciutto to each one of us, served with cherry and mint gelee.

We each ordered their buratta (queso fresco cheese, wrapped in fresh mozzarella cheese…all made in house). It was served over a bed of arugula from the garden. However, they sent out their duck egg Caesar salad compliments of the chef. It was so delicious, with hard boiled duck eggs, parmesan, brioche croutons and white anchovies. The romaine from the garden was so deliciously fresh.

This was the buratta. It was served very simply, with good olive oil and coarse sea salt, but the simplicity only heightened the flavors of the very fresh cheese.

For my entree, I ordered the “Whole Quack”: a poached duck egg with house cured bacon and duck consomme (top left), confit duck leg with English peas and chanterelles (bottom), and chilled pine smoked duck breast with arugula, pickled onions, and house made goat cheese. The confit was incredible (as confit usually is)…just melted in my mouth…so perfect with the earthiness of the mushrooms. The “bacon and eggs” was delicious, the consomme was so rich and brought the whole thing together. The chilled breast was light…a shockingly tasty contrast to the rich confit.

Matt had the roasted ribeye with chicory, paprika salami, and green garlic and Jerusalem artichoke panna cotta. It was moist and flavorful, especially the meat itself. However, I don’t have too many comments, because Matt finished it quickly without much sharing…

For dessert we ordered this sampler box type thing, that had a strawberry rhubarb tart (right), pistachio crusted roasted peaches (center), and a sage shortbread with bing cherry gellee.

We also got the banana split, which came with four different kinds of homemade ice cream, waffle cone chips, and a side of toppings so we could finish it as we wished.