D. Taylor's Food & Travel

By Don Taylor When we want a really great meal, we go to the Pine Point Grille in Scarborough. I think it is the best restaurant I've ever been to that doesn't have tablecloths. The food is elevated, I'd even say gourmet, and the service is impeccable. We had two reasons for going to the Pine Point Grille. First, my wife's birthday was last March. She wanted to go there for her birthday, but they hadn't opened for the season yet. Our going kept getting put off and I needed to make good on my promise to her.  Second, we had an out of town guest that we wanted to take to dinner. The Pine Point Grille seemed to be the perfect place to do both. We arrived early -- opening time, which is at 5 PM. and ordered drinks. We took our time with the menu. I'm a native of Minnesota, where "Tater Tot hot dish" is a staple. I was amazed reading about how the Pine Point Grill was elevating the humble Tater Tot ® to gourmet status with truffle ketchup, black ga...

I am “not from around here” and have never lived in a place before where establishments close for the winter. I understand it intellectually, but just haven’t gotten into the mind-set to know that my favorite places to eat in the summer and early fall will be closed for the winter and won’t open until spring. Last summer and fall we went to the Pine Point Grille several times and truly loved the food, particularly their pork entree, so we were very excited to learn that they were opening on March 19th. We couldn’t get there the first couple of weekends they were open but were able to go a couple weeks later. We arrived shortly after opening and they were already fairly busy. Maybe about half the tables were already taken.   In the summer they seat many people in their outside area, but March in Maine – everyone was inside and trying to be as far away from the door as possible. The Pine Point Grill is a nice upscale restaurant. It is probably one of the nicest places I know o...