5 out of 6 Bravo's for Primo

Thursday, July 10th was the much anticipated dinner at Primo in Rockland, Maine, the 100 year old house turned restaurant belonging to chef Melissa Kelly and her husband. We all dressed for the occasion, and Miss Hannah and I took turns snapping photos of the other’s family before entering. We requested the second floor, as recommended to us by Max, the lovely artist and owner of the cutest greenhouse and gift shop in Owl’s Head, The Golden Owl. Max told us she had become friendly with the Primo owners and found the upper floor to be her favorite.

It didn’t take long for us to make friends with the ladies group dining in the partitioned center room, separated by strand of silk cords. The lively ladies had driven over an hour from near Augusta to dine here. After introductions, both Anne Marie and I were invited to join the group, as the only requirement (other than a love for monthly culinary events) was that your name had to begin with “Mar…” or you had to be a redhead. The only exception was Elizabeth, grandfathered in because she formed the group. Of course, Dan and Gene tried to rename themselves Marty and Marcel.

Our table was a bit tightly fitted into one of the would be ex-bedrooms I would guess and our waiter was a bit aloof at first. A round of perfectly poured pomegranate cosmos warmed us up to the young Ben. Hannah, age 11, had the toughest meal decision, as the menu was clearly adult-intended, including items such as Duck and Wild Boar. I started with a bread and fish soup, a spicy red chowder that was deliciously tangy. My daughter Taryn enjoyed her Farmer’s Salad, with pig’s jaw bacon (they raised), a soft boiled egg, olive oil croutons and a lemon parmesan vinaigrette. Hubby Gene (and Anne Marie) were both quite pleased with their choice of Foie Gras, which I cannot speak toward, as I am not a fan of any sort of liver.

My dinner choice was the New York Strip (my favorite cut to order while dining out). It had an organic vegetable medley with a potato-mushroom hash. The sauce was so yummy not one morsel met my mouth without being dragged across the plate. Taryn had homemade raviolini with sheep ricotta cheese, covered with chicken, peas and carrots in a tomato sauteé with bacon. Gene said the veal saltibocca over mashed potatoes and spinach with a brown gravy was the best he’s ever had. After a couple of glasses of wine recommended by Ben (and enjoyed), we ordered coffee and Scotch around the table while desserts were being made. Taryn chose a Belgian chocolate cake paired with a cookie crisp topped with a scoop of cherry gelato, surrounded by cherries and a thick sauce on the plate. To die for. Sans the cherry accompaniment, it reminded me of my favorite chocolate lava cake at Roy’s Restaurant.

On the other end of the table, Dan did a seafood night, with oysters followed by a scallop dish. Hannah had a salad for her meal, along with a few bites of my steak (which she usually doesn’t like). At that point in the meal, we had a solid 5 out of 6 Bravo’s for Primo. Unfortunately, Anne Marie wasn’t as pleased with her meal, which was a lasagna-style pasta dish with veal, beef and lamb. It wasn’t fabulous, she explained, and we certainly all expected fabulous. I do believe that in the hopes of visiting Primo again, Ms. Kelly would surely make this up to us, because from what I've read about her, she wouldn't want any one of us to not get fabulous. Of course, that did not prevent the ever charming and classy A.M. to enjoy the evening, or our company. And, it gave us the opportunity to pick on her in the car, and donne her the “anti-preemite” (sorry for the cheesy Seinfeld reference – but it doesn’t take much to amuse this crowd).

Our evening culminated with a playful walk down the beach, led by moi in the dorky yet highly useful headlight (I’m getting one!). The girls searched for sea glass, the dogs ran a bit and we all noticed the spectacular show of thousands of bright sparkling stars in the sky. Little did we know, it would be our last night in Owl’s Head, as an unfortunate and very sad passing of a friend of Anne Marie’s prompted a day-early departure from the cottage. I can only assume that we saw Anne's friend in the sky that night, another angel watching over us.