Restaurants in Bangor

John Stowe embarked on a career in the restaurant business when he started bussing tables at a local inn as a teenager. After years he amassed a dossier that includes waiting tables, bartending, sampling cuisine throughout Europe, and cooking aboard a 115-ft. luxury schooner. The self-taught chef opened his own restaurant, Rustica Cucina Italiana, in 2006.

Black-and-white photographs line his eatery's crimson and cream walls, and black linen-topped tables support the weight of large portions of rustic Italian fare prepared to order with fresh ingredients. Pasta arrives curled around seafood, meatballs, or house-made Italian sausage and cloaked in herbaceous marinara or creamy parmesan alfredo sauce. Sandwiches fill diners with homemade focaccia during lunch, and crisp pizzas fill guests with warmth any time they're used as seat cushions.

After an illustrious career in Connecticut’s restaurant scene, Jim Bond relocated his family and livelihood to a small, seaside town in Maine where he established Fish House Grill in a shop next to the Quality Inn. Although the location was so-so at best, its Friday night fish frys and peel-and-eat shrimp bar––not to mention a second-place prize in the Bar Harbor Chowder Festival––soon drew customers from miles around. The restaurant was bustling, but Jim still dreamt of the day when he could serve his food with an equally amazing view. Seven years later, his dream came to fruition when he—with help from his brother and a dear friend—built Fish House Grill’s new waterfront location from the ground up.

Head chef Stephen Hopkins still prepares the original menu that earned the restaurant its loyal following. Popular selections include freshly shucked oysters, Maine lobster, and creamy, New England clam chowder, not to mention a Black Angus filet mignon topped with Maine lobster and béarnaise sauce. In 2008, their mainly local fan base went national thanks to a televised feature on The Chef’s Kitchen, which highlighted the grill’s many creative lobster concoctions including its lobster bisque, baked lobster dip, and a reproduction of Washington crossing the Delaware cast entirely with lobsters.