A Moveable Feast (Lonely Planet Travel Literature) by Anthony Bourdain & Andrew Zimmern & Mark Kurlansky

Author:Anthony Bourdain & Andrew Zimmern & Mark Kurlansky [Bourdain, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lonely Planet Global Limited
Published: 2011-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

At eighty-three, my father is still as tenacious a traveller as anyone I know. About eight years ago, he moved to Portland, Maine – which is the last stop on the subway all on its own. If you hold the state of Maine under a magnifying glass, you’ll see that its coastline looks like a thousand little fingers pointing into the Atlantic Ocean. In some areas, these peninsulas are protected from the brunt of the Atlantic storms by islands, creating quiet waters perfect for fishing and lobstering. I don’t care how many times you’ve dined at fancy seafood restaurants in Chicago or New York: until you’ve had lobster fresh from the cold waters of Maine, you really haven’t had Homarus americanus, the true lobster.

The very first time I visited Dad in Portland, he insisted we drive up to the Five Islands Lobster Company, a third-generation, family-owned lobster fishery, for what he felt was the best lobster roll in the state. The Five Island’s food shack is like Red’s in Wiscasset, or Day’s in Portland, one of those under-the-radar joints whose address is passed amongst foodies like heroin junkies trade reliable connections or old school New Yorkers use to trade in rent-controlled apartments. I am probably performing an act of culinary self-mutilation by revealing my most precious source, but here it goes.

Five Islands is one of those rare food finds, if you can find it at all. You drive about forty-five minutes north of Portland on the I-295, make a right and head east on the US-1. You begin to head east down the county road 127, onto the paved road, turn left onto a dirt road and drive right up to the eighty-year-old, barn-like wooden structures where you can park and get some fresh air. Just look for the sign saying ‘Five Islands Lobster Company’; you can’t miss it. The family still goes out every day and lobsters. That’s their main business. You can sit and watch their boats coming in with crates and crates of lobsters, some headed off to the world’s finest restaurants and fish shops. However, the family keeps the best stuff for themselves. Steamer clams, haddock, hake, clams on the half shell, local shrimp, oysters or their famous lobster: It’s fresh, delicious, and they’re cooking it on the spot.

Enter the wooden swinging door and you’ll notice the requisite mugs, T-shirts and bumper stickers for sale at the counter. Crayon and magic-marker-drawn cardboard menus line the walls of this crazy little room that houses the standing cooler where you fetch your root beer and the counter where you order. Somehow, they’ve managed to squeeze a kitchen into the back of this teeny space. Everyone orders the same things: Maine lobster rolls or deep-fried belly clams, or in my case, both. These items pair perfectly with their made-from-scratch dill and lemon tartar sauce, homemade coleslaw and hand-cut French fries.

The thing that sets Five Islands apart from the rest of the clam shacks I love is not just that the lobster marches straight from the traps to the kitchen.

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