It’s foggy, you can barely see, a little chill in the air, you can hear the waves gently lapping on the piers, and up ahead in the ramshackle docks is the sign of a joint of some kind. You enter, and the smoke filled space is as foggy as the outside. Sailors, bikers, characters and seedy are gathered round. You expect to see, Raymond Chandler, Peter Gunn, or Sherlock Holmes loitering. It could be 1950, 1930, or 1850, who knows? It could be TV or a novel you are dreaming about. It’s not. It’s real. It’s Portland, Maine, circa 2007.
Portland, one of the great small cities of the world, still has waterfront dives, sans smoke these days. Supposedly we will all live for 15 minutes longer because of the banned smoke. And that’s OK for some, but not me. I’ll take the danger any day. The dives I am talking about are the PORTHOLE, and JAYS. Two of the greatest dives of all time. And did I mention the food is great!
Jays is a little smaller but is open all year round. It’s an oyster bar that gives away oysters in February. Try their lobster claw appetizer. You will get more lobster than a lobster. Everything is good.
The Porthole is a small distance from Jays, and has a deck on its backside where you can eat and watch the commercial fishing boats when the weather is good. If not the inside is cozy with a woodburner by the windows. Its an old wood interior long bar restaurant. Simple. Try the haddock sandwich, the mussels, or the salads. And during the warm weather, Sunday brunch is divine.
Both restaurants are in Portlands Old Port. Just off Commercial Avenue.
Dives down by the Waterfront
It’s foggy, you can barely see, a little chill in the air, you can hear the waves gently lapping on the piers, and up ahead in the ramshackle docks is the sign of a joint of some kind. You enter, and the smoke filled space is as foggy as the outside. Sailors, bikers, characters and seedy are gathered round. You expect to see, Raymond Chandler, Peter Gunn, or Sherlock Holmes loitering. It could be 1950, 1930, or 1850, who knows? It could be TV or a novel you are dreaming about. It’s not. It’s real. It’s Portland, Maine, circa 2007.
Portland, one of the great small cities of the world, still has waterfront dives, sans smoke these days. Supposedly we will all live for 15 minutes longer because of the banned smoke. And that’s OK for some, but not me. I’ll take the danger any day. The dives I am talking about are the PORTHOLE, and JAYS. Two of the greatest dives of all time. And did I mention the food is great!
Jays is a little smaller but is open all year round. It’s an oyster bar that gives away oysters in February. Try their lobster claw appetizer. You will get more lobster than a lobster. Everything is good.
The Porthole is a small distance from Jays, and has a deck on its backside where you can eat and watch the commercial fishing boats when the weather is good. If not the inside is cozy with a woodburner by the windows. Its an old wood interior long bar restaurant. Simple. Try the haddock sandwich, the mussels, or the salads. And during the warm weather, Sunday brunch is divine.
Both restaurants are in Portlands Old Port. Just off Commercial Avenue.
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