Restaurant Week Maine

There are lots of great things about restaurant week. A friend and I used it as an excuse to get out to a good dinner at a reasonable price, trying a new place at the same time. After looking at all the choices participating this round, we tried the strangely named Academe Brasserie at the Kennebunk Inn. Clicking the link will take you to their Restaurant Week menu.


The dining room was not overcrowded, which I like. For a mostly dead town mid-winter, the restaurant was full; a testament to the success of restaurant week, I think. The regular, day-to-day menu was much different than their restaurant week offerings; usually they have burgers, wings, chicken and dumplings, and of course, a lobster roll (this is why I found the name so odd).


We started with cocktails. My friend had the Sage Against the Machine, and apparently, the bartender who won an award with this drink was working this night. The drink was very good. Lots of flavors, not too sweet, not too boozey, and very interesting. I had the Maine Lemonade, which was slightly more boozey and very very tart. Personally, I like to finish my cocktail before I start eating but appetizers came out right away. I had the PEI mussels.

These were delicious. There were only 3 unopened ones in the entire, giant bowl. The toast was brushed with butter and garlic; the broth was herby and buttery and perfect with the toast. The mussels were very clean, which is very important to me! My friend had the salad. I did not try it but any salad with goat cheese has to be good, right?

The main courses were a tough choice. There are signs EVERYWHERE about Cat Cora mentioning their lobster pot pie on the Food Network show The Best Think I Ever Ate. So it seemed obvious that one of us would order it; my friend stepped up to the plate.

The puff pastry on the top of this dish was by far, hands down, no question, the best puff pastry I've ever had. Light, crispy, so so buttery. I could have had just that and been happy (well, more than just one piece, obviously). The stuff in the pot? I'm sad to say, completely forgettable. Notice the blog above, which states that salt is an important element in bringing out flavors in dishes? Perhaps the person who assembled this creation forgot about that part. It was so bland. There were no noticeable flavors whatsoever (except the pea). It's really sad when you order something called "lobster this or that" and you can't taste lobster. Even when you know you have a chunk of it sitting on your tongue. There was nothing "bad" about this lobster pot pie but it was pretty disappointing considering the signs outside, on the menu, and placards on each  table touting its greatness (not an exaggeration).


For each night of Restaurant Week, Academe was offering a special that was not on the menu. The night we went, the special was a sous vide duck. This dish had about 8 different elements, and I wish I had written them down. What is sous vide? It's a cooking method. I like to think of it as fancy "boil in the bag." My dad used to occasionally bring home La Choy dinners that I seem to remember us throwing in boiling water on the stove but that is a digression. It was savory, sweet, smoky, satisfying. It had potatoes, endive, leeks, sherry reduction....it was so delicious and was worth the entire price of the 3-course meal on its own.

I know it looks pink; do not be alarmed. That is due to the cooking method. It was brought up to a safe temperature inside its vacuum-sealed bag. I did not eat the fat though; chewy duck fat is not my favorite.

These were the dessert selections tonight. My friend chose the s'more.

The torching of the marshmallow made the outer edge of the chocolate warm and drippy and gooey. This was yummy and was just this side of being too sweet for me. I could have eaten the whole thing, though, and I loved that it came with a shot of milk. I ordered the lemon meringue cheesecake.

This was a little heavy but not too heavy for cheesecake, if that makes any sense. I liked that the marshmallow on top was freshly toasted. The lemon filling was not too sweet and was very tart. The coffee was really, really good.


We both enjoyed our meals but I think we both feel we got the best of what this restaurant has to offer, and therefore, I don't think we'd go back. The one odd thing about our meal was our server. She forgot us twice (admitted it openly once); she did bring us some sorbet to make up for it--it was lime, SUPER salty, and not delicious. In all honesty we think she was high, and getting more so, throughout our meal. It was the random comments to us, the forgetting us and not seeming to really be too apologetic about it. Telling us that sweet things were really salty and vice versa, bringing us two coffees after she confirmed that we only wanted one..just little things throughout the evening that convinced us that she wasn't busy, or overworked, she was under some influence. It added some character to the night though, and we had a great meal overall.