Two Maine eateries, Pilgrim’s Inn in Deer Isle and Sammy’s Deluxe in Rockland, are among the 50 best restaurants in the country according to the New York Times.
Pilgrim’s Inn, a seasonal restaurant that opened in May, is located in an inn that first opened in 1890 in what was already a century-old building. Chef Courtney Burns, formerly of Bar Tartine in San Francisco, works with a rotating roster of chefs-in-residence, according to the Times.
In July, the chefs were the husband and wife team of Ben Wheatley and Whitney Otawka, who had most recently run the kitchen at the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island, Georgia. The Times said the inn’s lobster and fennel chowder with hush puppies “made the culinary connection up the seaboard.”
Sammy’s Deluxe was opened in 2016 by chef Sam Richman, formerly of Jean-Georges and the Fat Duck. The Times notes the “no frills” atmosphere and highlights Richman’s use of local ingredients, including mushrooms he forages, local alewives he pickles, and haddock snacks he smokes, concluding that “sometimes the best restaurants happen when chefs focus on cooking the food they want to eat.”
Maine restaurants named to the top-50 list in recent years include The Alna Store in 2024, and Tinder Hearth in 2023.
The Times notes that each year’s list is entirely different from the last.
