Portsmouth, NH & Kittery, ME

Portsmouth New Hampshire is a nice little town just over the river from Maine. Known for great shopping in its walking center and close proximity to the Kittery Outlets in Maine, we found it also has a lot of hidden culinary treasures. We arrived late in the afternoon and after checking in to our hotel headed out to find some dinner. After a few suggestions from the hotel staff we ended up at the Portsmouth Gas Light Co. This restaurant has several different facets to it. There is the street level restaurant, the third floor club, the outdoor patio, and Downtown Pizza, a brick oven pizza joint in the basement of the building.

Upon entering the bar area I felt like I was walking into any number of local pizza parlors from my childhood. Brick walls, a dark wood bar, and the smell of pizza and beer wafting in the air. We decided to sit at the bar and order a few drinks and a pizza. They offer a full menu of appetizers, salads, pastas, calzones, and pizza. We decided on the Isle of Shoals pizza. A thick crust brick oven pie topped with proscuitto, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms (we got it without the shrooms).

As soon as the pizza hit the bar I knew it was going to be amazing. The proscuitto was thinly sliced and torn into bits cooked to perfection with a little crispness to the edges. The saltiness of the procsuitto was complemented by the earthy flavor of the artichokes and the sweet taste of the roasted peppers. All the toppings were slightly melted into the cheese and sauce that covered the slightly crispy dough. Note: Yes, I am a thin crust guy but that wasn’t an option here. This was very tasty dough and was nothing like the buttery Greek style pizza dough one might expect on a pie like this.

Pizza of course goes great with beer. I’m pretty sure they were Samuel Adams Summer Ale.

Later that night while walking around downtown we got a bit hungry and stopped into an Irish looking pub for a small bite and a drink. It was dark and kind of loud. We sat in a small booth that resembled gothic church pews. We ordered some pub fries. They tasted just like they look. Kind of dry and not a heck of a lot of flavor. We accented them with salt, pepper, and malt vinegar. We didn’t finish them. But we were still thirsty.

Then we found Coat of Arms. It was a lonely little green door down a dark side street. It looked like a private club to us. Inside the door and up the stairs and I thought I had stepped into a pub in England. We had a blast but missed the kitchen. So, beers it was. We stayed until closing and had a blast.

The next morning we parked on a small side street and decided to walk downtown Portsmouth. We happened upon The Works Bakery and Café. It was a bustling little bakery with a rather large selection of breakfast choices. Having had a few drinks the night before we both decided on the bacon, egg and cheese on a freshly baked bagel. I had mine with some hot sauce on it. The bagels were extremely fresh with a crisp crunchy outside and a soft chewy inside. I did not get to watch the sandwiches being made but I’m certain the eggs were microwaved. The cheese was a sharp tasting cheddar so at least they didn’t skimp out on that. Accompanied by OJ, this made a good start to our day.

After walking around the city for a few hours and working up an appetite we were told we should try the Portsmouth Brewery. A few blocks away and we entered the brew pub. Their local microbrew menu was written on the wall in colored chalk. I wish I had written down what we ordered, but here they are.

And for lunch…black bean dip. This stuff was awesome. Layers of black beans, scallions, cheese, sour cream, and salsa all served with a side of tortilla chips for dipping. It was just enough to fill our bellies (along with a few beers) to get us to dinner.

Crap…we missed dinner. But we did get some late night wings. They smelled a lot better than they tasted. Chewy and fatty chicken. Blah, not worth it to write about. So we went back to Coat of Arms. I really wanted one of the Scotch eggs I saw on the menu the previous night. But we missed the kitchen AGAIN.

Before leaving on Sunday we headed over to Kittery Maine for some shopping. We didn’t buy anything but we did visit Bob’s Clam Hut. Serving fresh fried seafood since 1956. These had to be some of the best fried clams I’ve ever had in my life. I’m sure that eating them al fresco helped the whole experience a lot. Fresh clam strips coated in a crunchy coating that wasn’t greasy and didn’t just crumble away upon first bite, all on a New England style roll. The lobster roll left something to be desired. I’m in Maine; I want some fresh lobster smothered in butter on my roll. This was chilled and mixed with mayo. The lobster was fresh but they should specify the cold and mayo part on the menu.

On the way home, we came across a store advertising they had over 10,000 pounds of candy on display. We were like kids in a candy store, except adults and in a store with THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF CANDY!!! Yeah, we spent a bit of money here.