Portland, ME

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I celebrated our anniversary in Portland, ME. The peninsula (called Machigonne by Native Americans) was settled in 1633 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. Since then, it became Falmouth. After the Revolution, a section of Falmouth called The Neck developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center, until in 1786 it split off and named itself Portland, in memory of the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. When Maine first became a state in 1820, it named Portland it's capitol, although since the capitol has been moved to Augusta. It is still the largest city and Port in Maine. Although over the years its economy has shifted from fishing, Portland is known for its seafood cuisine. 

Side note: Portland, OR (my hometown) was named after Portland, ME! :D

Over our trip, we discovered that the food culture is not far from the hippy town of Portland, OR. Their slogan is "Buy Local, Keep Portland Independent" and the Old Port was riddled with seafood restaurants, some serving their locally harvested sea cucumbers. Being home to 230 restaurants, legend has it (although I'm not sure of it accuracy) that Portland has one of the highest restaurants per capita in the US.  The amount of local coffee shops was almost overwhelming, although very pleasant.  Portland was nominated as one of the three finalists for "Delicious Destination of the Year" at the 2007 Food Network Awards. 

Among my favorites of the local cuisine was the Holy Donut. There, they serve fresh, delicious d Maine donuts... made from mashed potatoes! We ordered the ginger sweet potato donut and the chai donut. 

Although it doesn't look like much, it was the the softest and fluffiest donut I have ever had! 

http://www.theholydonut.com/

Another interesting place we went to was the Coastal Maine Popcorn Co. They had a million and one popcorn flavors, both sweet and savory, from New England Berry and Maine Maple to Dill Pickle, Buffalo Wing, and Wasabi Soy.

http://www.coastalmainepopcorn.com/

My boyfriend's favorite was definitely the Salt Cellar.  The owner was a woman from Europe who was definitely serious about her salt, and when she moved to America she wanted to bring her love for salt along. Although the original store opened in Portsmouth, NH, the Portland store has the largest Himalayan salt lamp in North America, at 500 lbs. It's also home to a door made from 100 Himalayan salt tiles. Besides the beautiful salt decorations, you can also sample all of the salts, from the Ghost Pepper flavor (my bf's favorite), to the Espresso salt (my favorite!). 

http://www.salt-cellar.com/

Some other interesting places to check out are Bam Bam Bakery (with all delicious gluten-free  and dairy free goodies), The Green Elephant (Asian-influenced vegetarian bistro), and Tandem Coffee and Roastery (with locally roasted coffee with beans from all over the world). 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to try the local seafood cuisine since neither of us can eat it. However, both the Old Port and the Art District are very beautiful and I recommend visiting it if you get the chance.