the whole plate.

“a repeat visit.”

plank roasted wild salmon with fresh herbs; corn custard; “mom’s sauce.”

You know a restaurant is good if my family goes to it twice. On our final night of vacation, the four of us had two goals: eat a relaxed meal together and end with ice cream cones.

We decided to return to MC Perkins Cove, the sister restarant to one of our favorite spots. We kicked off vacation at MC and chose to wrap it up in the same way, and I couldn’t help but break my foodie code [rule #1: always try new things] by ordering the same dish both times. This salmon was pure perfection, and the corn custard [an old recipe of Chef Mark's Mom's] is decadently rich. I had to do it twice.

The thing that I find most special about Ogunquit, Maine is its familiarity. Our summer trip up north is timeless – though I’ve made that car ride as a six-year-old losing her teeth, a new teenager waiting for high school, and a college grad ready to look at the world from the opposite side of the Atlantic, the town always remains unchanged. No matter my age or position in life, it is and always will be a tiny, picturesque, sleepy place, where all you ever need to do is walk, eat, and breathe in seaside air.

There is less need for excitement, for newness, for challenges in Ogunquit. And so we can go to the same restaurant twice – after all, my parents have been spending August days in this same town for thirty-three years. We even returned to a traditional old favorite wine: David Bruce pinot noir.

I finished up that final evening in exactly the way my six-year-old self would have: holding a chocolate ice cream cone rolled in chocolate sprinkles. My family and I licked our cones in the cool breeze of a late summer night, avoiding mosquitoes in the backseat of my dad’s car. The perfect goodbye night in paradise.

Related posts:

1. mc perkins cove.
2. dinner 8.10: five-o shore road.
3. dinner 8.10: the lobster pound.