Getaway to Portland, ME

Last weekend Tom whisked me away on a short two hour ride to Portland, Maine. The short trip was a surprise Christmas present, and felt more like a week-long vacation than just a quick overnight nearby! It was fantastic :)

Saturday:
We hit the road around 10 am with hopes to make it to Portland just in time for our 12 pm check-in. We stayed at the Downtown Waterfront Residence Inn. The hotel was great! The staff was friendly, the room was beautiful, the waterfront view was very nice (I imagine its gorgeous during the summer, it was pretty foggy while we were there), and it had a great location. Highly recommended.

Once we checked in we headed out for some food. We had dinner reservations later so we didn't want to fill up too much, so we went in search for oysters! We ended up at Js Oyster, a seafood hot-spot in the Old Port area.

The restaurant is basically a huge wraparound bar, and it was filled with locals when we walked in. Always a good sign! We managed to grab two seats together and ordered our first round of oysters.

Dark photo of round 1

We ended up ordering 3 baker's dozens (39 in total!) and could have easily went for more. We are oyster monsters! The quality of the oysters was different on each batch -- the second batch was delicious while the first was lacking.

Round 2!

Round 3, plus a bloody Mary

The oysters are really cheap, and you definitely get what you pay for. The staff cracks open the oysters for you, but it's your job to do the rest -- cutting through the muscle, removing any grit or shell, and getting rid of any little "extras" you might find.

Like a little crab!

After lunch we walked around Old Port, stopping in a variety of different specialty shops. Downtown Portland is so cute and the whole weekend was really reminiscent of Iceland for me. The combination of brick buildings, cobblestone, a blanket of snow covering everything and a foggy sky really brought me back to our time walking around Reykjavik.

At 4:00 it was time for our massage appointments!!! I was SO excited about this and really needed a massage. This was only the 2nd I've ever gotten and was a reminder that I should make somewhat regular massages a priority. The massage was perfect. That's all I'll say about that :)

After the massages we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a 7:30 reservation at Street & Company and to say I was excited is an understatement! The restaurant is located on one of the small cobblestone side streets downtown. I loved that it felt equally modern and rustic at the same time and was thrilled that we were seated above the wide open kitchen.

We started the meal with some bread, butter, salt and in-house ground pepper! Yum. For just $4 Street & Co. offers a series of unique "tastes" -- we went with two: the Maine shrimp stuffed egg and the salt cod with peppers. Both were just delicious.

For our entree we of course went with the "Lobster Diavolo" for two. I knew what to expect from the dozens of photos of the dish on yelp but was still totally overwhelmed when it got to the table. A huge steaming pan was overflowing with linguine, clams, mussels, calamari and topped with a huge lobster split down the middle. A shellfish lover's dream! The spicy red sauce was delicious and all of the fish was cooked to perfection. Definitely one of the best shellfish meals I've ever had.

I thought I was too full for dessert (we decided to skip it at Street & Co.) but some unknown forced sucked me into the highly rated gelato shop down the street. We got a small specialty gelato to share -- it was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

Sunday:
On Sunday we slept in, but still made it downstairs in time for the continental breakfast! Always a big feat for me and Tom.

After breakfast we went back upstairs to relax and get ready until check out. The Shipyard Brewery was right next to our hotel so we decided to stop in for a tour. It wasn't much of a tour, but it was still a very cool experience!

There was a short film (which we missed most of) and then we were taken to the bottling line. This was actually the first time I saw the bottling line in action and it was pretty cool to see.

Afterward we got to taste a bunch of their draft beers, many of which I hadn't tried before. I ended up buying a 4-pack of 22 oz bottles to take home with me!

From the brewery we walked over to Eventide Oyster Company for lunch. Yep, more oysters! We loved the restaurant as soon as we walked in. It was very small, with a main bar, a window bar and just 1 or 2 small tables. We grabbed two seats at the main bar overlooking the big oyster ice bed. So cool!

We started with 2 each of the Maine oysters. They were so delicious. You could definitely tell the difference between these oysters and the ones at Js!

We also ordered two lobster rolls (a hot and cold version) and a side of fried squashed fingerling potatoes. The portions were on the smaller side, but the quality of food was really wonderful.

We finished up with a homemade ice cream sandwich. Yummmmmm!!!

That finished up our little Portland getaway and it was back to Boston in time for the Golden Globes! I have two questions: why didn't someone tell Lena Dunham to get rid of her shoes? and where the F was Julia Roberts hiding??