Portland, Maine, Is One of the Best Food Cities in the U.S.—Here’s How to Eat Your Way Through It

When I crossed over the Piscataqua River Bridge linking New Hampshire and MaineI felt a gnawing sensation in my stomach. It was a typical coastal New England day: foggy, cold and wet. At 3:30 p.m., it was a little late for lunch. As a New Englander by birth and upbringing, the smell of ocean and sound of seagulls made me feel at home. I also needed a good lobster roll. 

As a child my parents had summer homes in Ogunquit and, later, York—two seaside villages that embody the “Vacationland” motto still printed on Maine license plates. Between my mother’s clam chowder and the local sweet corn, we felt no need to venture north to Portland, even to visit the childhood home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (because of his time at Harvard University, we Bostonians claim him as one of our own).

On this day in October, I finally made it to Portland. But first I took a detour to Bite into Maine, Food truck located just south of city in Fort Williams Park. I ordered the “picnic”, the freshest lobster on a toasted bun, drenched in butter from a teapot made of silver. As I ate my lobster sandwich at an outdoor table, the Portland Head Lighthouse was in view. A fleet of charcoal clouds surrounded me.

Portland has long been recognized as one the best food destinations of the United States. Trawlers in the harbor collect the day’s catch for the city’s restaurants—of which there is one for every 200 people, even before the tourists arrive. Maine has the nation’s oldest state-level organic growers’ association. And the Portland Farmers’ Market is open continuously since 1768. It sells high quality ingredients, including cheese, berries flour, meat and vegetables to local residents and chefs.

Some are locals, while others have arrived from other places and infused Down East flavors into new culinary styles. “Is there any city our size in this country that has one Eritrean restaurant? Dugan Murph, the owner of Black History Walking Tours said that they have two. (Portland was a center of the Abolitionist movement and a stop on the Underground Railroad.) 

The city of my base was the Longfellow Hotel, This Victorian-style mansion is located in the leafy West End. Tony DeLois is a fourth generation Mainer who returned to Maine after working in New York City for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. DeLois opened the Longfellow hotel in May 2024 after realizing the need for such a hotel. It was both stylish and historic. As I stepped into a lobby that somehow channeled Paris and Copenhagen—and yet, with its walls hung with seafaring paintings, felt one hundred percent Maine—it was clear he had succeeded.

The Longfellow Hotel is located right next to it. Tandem Coffee Roasters, Where I waited in line for breakfast with what felt like the whole city. I tried the banana bread with sesame seed crust, cream cheese, olive oil, and black pepper. 

Sam Hayward, who opened the seminal Fore Street in 1996 is responsible for Portland’s culinary reputation. Don Lindgren is the owner of Rabelais: Fine Books on Food & Drink. The world changed when Fore Street, which, along with Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, and New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns, joined what we now call the farm-to-table movement in the U.S. Connoisseurs began to fly in for dinner, and word started to spread. Lindgren explained that they “told people Portland is a place where gastronomy can be found”. Hayward and a few other pioneers created fertile ground for a restaurant culture, and began a tradition of investing in talent—sending young chefs to apprentice elsewhere, then inviting them back to Maine with sharpened skills and fresh visions. 

Jake Stevens was attracted to Portland by the opportunities it offered. Leeward. Stevens was a James Beard Award semifinalist this year for her Italian dishes made with hyperlocal products. It is hard to find an outstanding bucatini alla gricia, Even in Rome, his meal was packed with roasted Guanciale. “In 2017, when I first moved here, the cost of opening a restaurant was much more accessible compared with New York, San Francisco, or even Portland, Oregon,” the latter being his hometown. Stevens admitted that this was changing, as commercial rents and all Portland real estate are increasing faster than the national median.

The next day I drove to Deering Center to meet James Beard Award Winner Atsuko Fukumoto at her tiny but magnificent Norimoto Bakery. Fujimoto was standing in the kitchen of her home, with her apron caked with flour. She told me about how, in 2001, she and her husband moved from Japan to Portland to become journalists, but changed their minds quickly. She got a job at Fore Street, where Hayward put her to work in the pastry department, then moved to the Standard Baking Co., which is owned by the same company. 

We chatted and I tasted Fujimoto’s Danish pastry made with Maine butter, flecked in cranberries. Then came the flavor explosion of a Chinese lunarcake. She says her version is similar to rich gâteau basque, It’s stuffed with savory adzuki bean, unlike the French version. Fujimoto describes the result as “deeply Portland” after combining European and American techniques from Hayward’s restaurants with Japanese flavors and Maine-sourced ingredients. 

After all that pastry, I needed a walk—not least because I had plans to visit three restaurants for dinner. One acquaintance told me, “It’s the way you do Portland.” “A few bites at a time.”) The three-mile walk around Back Cove in the late afternoon sun provided postcard views on every turn and prepared me to eat my first meal. Calafia Cantina y Fonda, Where the flavors are bright and fresh. They’re inspired by Baja California. Co-owner Dominique Gonzalez, a San Diego transplant, opened the restaurant in 2024, and it dovetails her Mexican roots with New England’s seafood bounty. The restaurant’s menu includes churros with Jonah crab, tostadas with Maine bluefin, chili broth and avocado, as well as savory, crisp churros. If I lived in Portland, I thought, I might eat here every night. 

Next, I took Uber to newcomer Magissa. Nancy Klosterides, who co-owns the place, recommended I try the whipped ricotta with rosemary, walnuts, pistachios, and Greek honey, then a dish called Paros chicken, baked and crunchy, that was served with a mustard velouté. Everything tasted sensational, and the atmosphere was as festive as a Greek island taverna in summertime. 

The last stop for the night was TwelveIt is situated on the waterfront, in the middle of the city. Over the last few decades, canneries have been transformed into a refined New England style. The chic design of Twelve features minimalist art, placed exactly where it should be and an immaculate, wide-open kitchen. 

Chef Colin Wyatt went to college in Maine, his wife’s home state, and spent several years in the kitchen at New York’s Eleven Madison Park. He opened Twelve in Portland, 2022, after returning to Portland from New York during the pandemic. “We wanted the fine dining experience without all the stuffiness,” said he. If this restaurant were located in New York City, it wouldn’t likely be considered fine-dining. I was not convinced: The attentive service and calm atmosphere provided a suitable backdrop for the culinary wonders of his kitchen. I went for Maine: A brown-butter, lobster roll, served on a pastry created by Georgia Macon. And, for dessert, a corn-and-blueberry ice cream sandwich. 

Just a short walk away from the Longfellow Hotel I found Burundi Star Coffee, started by André Nzeyimana and Jocelyne Kamikazi. The couple left Burundi in 2006. They now get all their beans from there. Both were born to coffee-growing families and recently returned home to revitalize and reclaim their family farms. Andre pointed out a wall relief of East Africa as I sipped on my mocha. “Whenever someone comes inside the shop, we show them the map of Burundi, so they know where it is,” he said.

Barak Olins was the next person I met. ZU Bakery, In the West End. We sat down on a bench to chat, and I found myself thinking, This would never happen in New York—sitting in the sun talking to a 2024 James Beard Award winner, who just spent the day on his feet doing something he loves. Olins moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Maine in the early 1970s to build boats. He later opened a small bakery and discovered his love for bread. Despite the attention last year’s award delivered, his mission remains unchanged: a neighborhood bakery where people can buy a croissant and eat it while it’s still fresh and warm. 

My last meal was in Portland. Sur Lie, a tapas-centric restaurant in a brick building in the city’s downtown, owned and operated by James Beard Award–nominated restaurateur Krista Cole. My pan-seared Maine sea scallops, followed by spaetzle with lamb ragù, put me in a gratified daze. In my journal, I wrote “THIS WAS THE BEST THING THAT I’VE EVER DONE.” And at that moment—until my next meal in Portland—it was the truth. 

The original version of this article appeared in the September 20,25 issue of Travel + Leisure Fresh Catch” is the subtitle.