(photo © kiwidutch)
We are back in Maine… and after a few days we decide to go with out friends and eat out, they choose a well known local place called “Abel Blood’s” I suppose the most fitting way to introduce this place would be to simply tell you what they told us per the front of their menu:
” In 1811 Abel Blood, Dover-Foxcroft’s first pioneer, took off for reasons unknown to this day.
Was Blood a scoundrel who was run out of town?
We will never know, but one thing is certain, he was an entrepreneur.
Whilst he was here Blood felled the first trees, grew the first crops, built the first grist mill and dam and fired the first bricks.
It’s easy to imagine that if he had stuck around that Blood would have started his own pub, a comfy place to kick back with friends and enjoy a brew and some grub after a hards day’s work.
Since he never got around to it, we decided to do it or him, and you. After all, some things never change!”
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
We find a table in one of the nooks by the window… it’s midday and with the heat of high summer but inside is cool and dark… the kind of dark that is a the bane of photographers who abhor using the Flash. I’ll warn you in advance that some of the photos came out better than others… photographing food quickly in less than optimum conditions is hard then hungry people want their plates back so that they can start eating. How terribly unreasonable of them!
No, I take that back.. because in truth they are actually very accommodating and will wait patiently whilst a mad foodie waves her camera over their food… I just try and not let it all take too long so that their patience doesn’t wear thin.
(photo © kiwidutch)
Usually I keep a note of the names of the dishes ordered… this time I failed to sort out what was what… I’ll just show you the photos and maybe you can guess what it was LOL.
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
The kids had Chicken Tenders…
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
I had Nachos Grandes…
(photo © kiwidutch)
At the back of the restaurant hungs a magnificent Quilt.. it’s a handmade effort by several local ladies and they have even taken old photos of well known antique boats from the nearby Sebec Lake, transfered the images onto fabric and incorporated them into the quilt. Their 4-5 months of work will be raffled off for charity. Of course I buy some tickets.
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © kiwidutch)
(photo © Kiwidutch)
Our hosts like this restaurant a lot, and enjoyed their meals. I thought that our meals were nice enough but I found that for instance in my Nachos, that everything was a bit dry and bare by the time I got towards the end of the plate.
I would have happily paid for a far meatier meat sauce too. Hubby also said ” nice enough, good food, but nothing particularly outstanding” …maybe the extensive cooking that we do at home has spoilt us.
That said, no one hated their meal, our fussy kids were happy, everyone left full and staff were friendly.
If it’s Beer you are after in this area then I think it would be rather safe to assume that this is the establishment in the region to come to to find a beer that suits your fancy. To say that the variety of Beers on offer is extensive, is an understatement. A definite stop for anyone who likes to sample drop of the brown stuff… Note that in the following photo there aren’t just one or two taps at the bar…
(photo © kiwidutch)
Hubby quickly ascertains that the staff do actually know their stuff when it come to beer, and show competence in their knowledge of the different styles and character of European beers, which impresses him quite a lot.
A quick look at the Beer List tells me that ” Belgian Styles, Ale, Lager, Stout/Porter, Pilsner, Dark, Wheat, Non alcoholic as well as Domestic and Light Beers” are all on offer here… so if you are a connaisseur of the Pint, then Abel Blood’s will definitely be able to make your meal memorable.
My rating would be 6 out of 10 for the food and 9 out of 10 for beer selection and knowledge.
