Restaurants in Brunswick

Large front windows cast natural light on the dining room's red and green walls, whose saturated pigments echo the rich colors of the spices that permeate each dish. Before pieces of tender chicken line up on skewers, they marinate in yogurt, cook over red-hot charcoal in the tandoor, and get passed under the trunk of the resident elephant statue for inspection. Fresh-baked naan breads transport hints of garlic and honey to scoopable stews, speckled with cubes of house-made paneer or infused with cinnamon and saffron.

When Travis Dickey opened the first Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in 1941, the menu offered beef brisket, pit hams, barbecue beans, potato chips, drinks, and that’s all. By focusing on perfecting the flavors of a few dishes, Travis was able to increase quality, and, ultimately, customers. Patrons were so enamored of the food that the restaurant eventually expanded into a nationwide franchise, allowing Americans all over to wear badges made of barbecue sauce. Over the past 70 years, Dickey’s has been passed on to Travis’s sons, but not much else has changed—the quality meats are still seasoned and smoked onsite, and except for the addition of spicy cheddar sausage in 2011, the menu remains the same.

Regional meats ensure that the most succulent Texas-style chopped beef brisket, old-recipe polish sausage, and fall-off-the-bone pork ribs make it to tabletops. Sides such as mac 'n' cheese and green beans with bacon continue to enhance feasts with an extra punch of homestyle tastiness. Each meal comes complete with complimentary ice cream, soft rolls, and dill pickles.

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.

The chefs at Mediterranean Grill, an eatery favorably reviewed by the Portland Press Herald, prepare Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine using imported cheeses and local ingredients like sweet Maine lobster. Diners can sate appetites with skewers of shrimp or kofte meatballs or opt for an entree such as moussaka baked with lamb, mozzarella, eggplant, zucchini, onion, potatoes, and creamy béchamel sauce. After main courses have been devoured, servers sweeten palates with honey-drenched baklava and potent Turkish coffee.

Hand-painted tables depicting colorful images of dogs, mustaches, and maps sit beneath lustrous, polished hubcaps in the dining room of Lisa's Legit Burritos, where founder Lisa Liberatore dishes up casual Mexican cuisine with finesse that earned her profiles in USA Today and the Morning Sentinel. Amid the eatery's diverse décor, the chef and her staff slow-roast chicken, beef, and pork with an eclectic potpourri of traditional Mexican spices such as chipotle peppers and chilies. The flavorful meats join salsa and cheese to mosey across tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and unadorned cowboy hats. A smattering of quarter-pound hot dogs topped with chili and fritos bolster the south-of-the-border selection, and sweets such as chocolate-covered jalapeños and a dessert burrito cradling cheesecake and berry preserves wrap up meals.

Lisa's Legit Burritos is also home to Book It, a bookstore of lightly used books whose proceeds benefit the Gardiner Public Library's renovation efforts. Guests can settle into a rocking chair to read the collection of tomes, which includes popular genres and flavors.

In 1977, Robert Benedict bought a red barn and quickly fashioned it into a local landmark that dishes out 100 gallons of seafood stew a day, alongside lobster rolls, steamed clams, chicken, and burgers. Robert included everyone in the family endeavor—even his 11-year-old sister, Laura, who had to stand on a milk crate to reach the counter and keep the half-and-half from escaping. She eventually took over the eatery in 1986, and the business has continued to grow in scope, size, and stature ever since. These days, the menu highlights Maine scallops, shrimp, and clams, all still dished out by Laura and her brothers Peter and Ronnie.