Scales
Portland, Maine
Portland is a special city, full of history and great natural beauty. And, of course, it has long been one of the best places to enjoy a lobster just plucked from the sea. But in recent years it has gone way beyond that culinary touchpoint to become a major foodie destination. Much credit for that development goes to Dana Street and his partners in, first, the fabulous seafood restaurant Street & Co., then the more ambitious Fore Street (on many national “best of” lists) and Standard Baking Co., a bread and pastry maker just below the restaurant. In 2016, the group opened Scales, and I finally got a chance to visit over the summer. Housed on the Maine wharf, the restaurant looks out at the water and the lobstermen regularly unloading their cargo—it has an authentic industrial feel even as it offers delicately prepared contemporary takes on seafood and more. There are incredible breads (Scales bakes its own, down to the oyster crackers) and the seaweed mignonette I had with briny, plump oysters was the stuff of dreams. Scales and its siblings express a wonderful and rare sense of place: sophisticated but unpretentious, tied to the sea and land right outside their doors, and deeply satisfying. Entrees start at $30, scalesrestaurant.com
