• Lobster pound restaurants in Mount Desert or anywhere in Hancock or Washington counties do a great job cooking crustaceans. Just steam them so many minutes per pound and you’ve got a perfect seaside meal. Same goes for the clams (soft belly clams, the true clam, not the quahog pretender).

Bass Harbor

• Seafood Ketch. This staple seafooder on the southernmost part of MDI offers reliable, tasty and fairly priced fare. When you want basic fried or broiled fish or seafood, come here.

Frenchboro

• Lunt's Dockside Deli, Phone: 207 334-2922. July and August only. Famous for it's lobster rolls, it has an assortment of things for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.

Northeast Harbor

• Redbird Provisions Restaurant, 11 Sea Street, M-Sa 9AM-9PM. Wonderful view overlooking the harbor. The menu is eclectic and sophisticated, combines local ingredients with continental fare, offers a respite from traditional Maine "shore" dinners, which are typically fried. Excellent wine list. Located adjacent to a spa.

Southwest Harbor

• XYZ, Route 102A. A delightful room, with many of the same posters/art on the wall and old favorites on the menu. And they still make killer margaritas. Lengua are back but in an entirely different form: instead of braised and served hot as an entree, it's now an appetizer choices served "pickled" in a vinaigrette. Absolutely fabulous! Try the lime bombe pie for the dessert.

• Little Notch Bakeria and Pizzeria. Great Italian style breads (of the rustic variety) and great pizza and hot sandwiches. The retail restaurant is on the main drag, the actual bakery out near the wharf.

• Downeast House of Dogs, Opened a few seasons back in a former soft ice cream stand near Seawall DHOD now occupies the former space of the Deacon Seat in Southwest Harbor. Based on how the Deacon Seat had declined in recent years, this is a welcome change. An awesome selection of dogs. One wonders how they can possibly maintain such a variety of stock. A freezer must help. Their menu identifies it as a NYC dog, but that's another case of the Big Apple trying to tap the barrel known as NJ: Best comes from Newark. This establishment is very welcome.

• Beech Hill Farm. There's an organic farm on Beech Hill Road which is a project of the College of the Atlantic: Beech Hill Farm. It's farm stand is open 8AM-5PM Tu, W, F, and Sa. Good stuff if you have a kitchen available and/or plan on picnicing.

Hulls Cove

• The Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes, Phone: 207 288-5031 (mid-May - mid-October), Fax: 207 288-5767.
• The Chart Room, Route 3, Phone: 207 288-9740. Daily 11:30AM-9PM, seasonal. A fine dining experience on the shore overlooking Frenchman's Bay.
• Peppers. For pizza.