The Charm of the Breakfast at B&Bs

Staying at top-rated inns in New England is always a treat. When done well, it's obvious inn owners pour a huge amount of time to ensure their inn is welcoming, clean and suitable chintzy. From lacy doilies on all surfaces to blooms in the garden, a delicious full breakfast is an important component to the whole experience. The Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor certainly earns and deserves its No. 1 ranking on Tripadvisor.

We stayed at the Atlantean for two nights in June and loved the butler's pantry where we helped ourselves to tea and home-made cookies with frequency. The front door is never locked - apparently, Bar Harbor is that kind of town! We even got to keep our branded green recyclable water bottles (Bar Harbor is a stepping stone to Acadia National Park).

Typically, the owner or one of the owners will be an excellent cook especially of breakfast entrees. At the Atlantean, Gary was the chef and the menu consisted of a fruit appetizer followed by a cooked entree. On the first morning, we were treated to pears with creme fraiche, followed by the lauded pineapple upside-down french toast. The french toast looked incredible with the pineapple adding a great deal of sweetness.

Presentation and fine bone china is key

Two rings of french toast

Our breakfast on the second morning was not quite as successful. A perfectly good yogurt parfait started the proceedings followed by an oddly-spiced vegetable frittata with berry compote. I love savory breakfasts but the addition of curry and cumin in an over-cooked frittata did not quite do the trick. Fortunately, there were baked muffins on the sideboard to fill us up for the 7 hour journey to Quebec City.

Yogurt Parfait

Curry-flavored frittata

Bonus picture - here is one of The Atlantean Inn

The front door is never locked!

Birthday Lunch at Sushi Miyake

It might seem a bit odd to eat sushi while in Maine - luckily, we did and we were not disappointed! For my 40th birthday this year, a celebratory road trip up to Bar Harbor and then crossing the Canadian border to Quebec City and Montreal was planned. Or to be specific - I did the planning and Paul did the driving. On our way to Bar Harbor ( a 4 hour drive from Boston), we stopped off at Portland, Maine for lunch.

Portland is fast becoming a culinary "destination" and I have read some great things about Sushi Miyake. Of course, you never know with Yelp and such whether the reviewers have had good traditional sushi and no, we are not talking dragon rolls.

The restaurant was passably busy when we dropped by on a Friday. We both ordered the boxed lunch set daily special which began with a miso soup. The miso soup is usually a good first gauge for the quality of the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, the soup was flavorful but far too salty (perhaps it was seasoned twice). Paul couldn't even finish it. With hunger surpassing my fear of bloating and excess sodium, I polished off both our soups.

Luckily, the lunch box special was more successful. There were six dishes in all - tuna and avocado sushi roll, stewed clams in sake butter, sashimi, vegetable pickles, salad and a beautiful piece of marinated fish. The sashimi was fresh and clean-tasting. My favorite was the hot dishes - namely, the clams and marinated fish. Both had strong flavors though so more rice was needed for balance. I ordered a separate bowl of rice so was able to finish the rich clam buttery broth.

All in all, it was not the best Japanese food I have ever had but still a very satisfactory lunch. If you ever find yourself in Portland and craving Japanese, Sushi Miyake may just hit the spot.

Lunch box Daily Special