Primo!

My family contains several huge fans of the show "No Reservations." We loved the Maine episode--we could relate to it, a lot of it was filmed at places we have been, towns we know. They even filmed a bean supper, complete with red hot dogs. I loved that. How do you explain a red hot dog to someone who is from away? It's not like a Chicago "red hot." No. It's just a hot dog: a hot dog with a very, very unnatural hot pink casing. It's just red dye. True Mainers will usually swear that these taste better than regular hot dogs (well, until Jordan's closed). I have known several children who have pitched screaming, crying fits in restaurants when their "weird" brown hot dogs showed up at the table. "It's not right!" they scream. A hot dog, when you are from Maine, is red. And when you steam or boil it, the water should be a color that looks more like Kool Aid than anything else. 

I digress. One of the restaurants that Anthony Bourdain and Co. reviewed was Primo. Primo appeals to me for many reasons. It's on the coast, the chef/owner has won prestigious awards, the restaurant is lauded constantly, it's fancy-schmancy dining (which you can tell I enjoy). It took almost two years to coordinate, but earlier this year I finally picked a date, and told everyone who wanted to go that this was the date we are going--see you there.

It was a cloudy day in Rockland, just after Labor Day. Another digression. Primo is actually in Owl's Head, according to all GPS devices. Why say you're in Rockland? I felt the same way about Arrow's in Ogunquit--you're in York--everyone knows it. Telling customers that you are in a town where you actually are not may feel good for your ego, but it does actually finding you no favors at all. 

The meal started with some mixing up of menus and place settings, typical for large parties. But to bring 2 drink menus for a group of 11 adults? Hmm. I did like that they put us upstairs in an area that was like a private room for all of us, right off the bar; however, considering how slowly and infrequently drink orders were taken, you would have thought the bar was in....well, Rockland.

There were 11 of us for dinner, a big crowd for sure. For the most part, though, we are pretty easy to please. We were all so excited to be trying Primo (all but one of us for the first time).

The meal started with a very pretty amuse bouche of crab meat on fresh cucumber slices. 

It smelled fishy when it arrived at the table so I was nervous. It ended up tasting fresh, light, and delicious. The crab and the cucumber went perfectly together. 

My friend and I shared an appetizer of deep-fried squash blossoms, stuffed with goat cheese, on a bed of roasted veggies. This was absolutely fantastic. We did not share any of this with the other nine diners, who all were very generous sharing their food. Suckers.  

My next appetizer was a roasted beet salad with homemade ricotta. I was surprised when I got the salad because it had these succulent chunks of duck confit. This was not on the menu, which I considered an odd omission. It was a great surprise to me, since I am extremely carnivorous. Third YUM! 

A few people at the table got the charcuterie. No one could seem to remember what was on it, and I didn't try any of it. I just love how charcuterie looks.  

One of my sisters got these lovely corn and oyster fritters. I think this was my favorite dish of the night (second maybe to the squash blossoms). Thanks, Amy, for making me try this...mmmm, fresh corn and seafood... 

My main course was the grass-fed NY strip with roasted turnips and onions. The beef did taste good--it was grass-fed, and you can tell the difference--but nothing about this "wowed" me. At all. For a main course in an award-winning restaurant, I was very nonplussed about it, I have to admit. I should have gotten another appetizer. Initially, I considered getting a pasta dish as my entree but I was glad I did not do that; my brother-in-law got a pasta with clams that was so salty that three people at the table who tried it could not eat it. I have to add that part since I am always accused of being salt-sensitive (and I am).  

All the desserts were fantastic. This was a baked alaska and something....that I can't quite remember. I want to say it was a sorbet... 

Mine was a chocolate lava cake with chocolate chip mint ice cream. Delicious. The coffee was great, too (OH, and so were the several cocktails and wine that went around the table). 

So to sum up, the food was mostly very good with a few misses. The service was borderline bad. It was as if the waiter knew he was going to add the tip onto the bill so he really didn't care if we had drinks, liked our food, etc. He was also not the least bit personable. Overall, for this amount of money, I expected just a little bit more from Primo. All I can say is, Anthony Bourdain, I wish we had received the service you did.