It was Morning in Rockland Maine...

…Continuing with our summer time travel adventures in the Northeastern United States.

This is the Brass Compass Café in Rockland Maine.  I’d done a bit research looking for something different for a special breakfast during our stay in town…and this was my choice. 

The motorcycling owner and chef starts out her day at 3 AM…baking fresh bread and biscuits.  The food and key ingredients are locally sourced, primarily from mid-coast Maine.  Most of the staff has been working at the Brass Compass since the restaurant opened over 8 years ago.

For those who enjoy outside dining, the Brass Compass Café offers this expansive patio as an option.

FYI, in 2009, Lynn Archer, the chef/owner of the Brass Compass was featured on the Food Network’s Lobster Throwdown with Bobby Flay.  Her Archer’s ‘King of Clubs’ sandwich beat Flay’s effort to create a better lobster club sandwich.  Archer’s is made with 3 slices of thick homemade bread, packed with a half-pound of fresh lobster, a wee bit of mayonnaise, plenty of bacon and the traditional lettuce and tomato accompaniments. 

The restaurant was very busy but we didn’t have to wait too long to be seated.  The inside dining area looked much like many other breakfast restaurants and diners that we’ve visited.

Since I was planning to order a side that would be filling on its own, I limited my ‘main’ to sausage and 2 easy-over eggs. (From the ala carte menu - $6.49) Those are 2 big sausage patties!

To ‘back up’ the sausage and eggs, I ordered the Brass Compass Homemade Sausage Gravy over a Homemade Biscuit. ($4.99) The sausage gravy was very nice but the biscuit was much denser than we’d be served in East Tennessee…much more like the density of fine ground cornbread.  It just took away from the great sausage gravy, at least for my taste.

As for Laurie’s breakfast, as they say “You only go around once!”  She ordered something she’s never had before, the Lobster Benedict with a Fruit Cup. ($24.99) She liked it…but more as an experience than as her preferred way to eat lobster.  She’s sticking with lobster rolls and steamed lobster tails with drawn butter from here on out.

This is a great place for breakfast and it offers opportunities to try early morning offerings that aren’t standard fare.  The Brass Compass Café is located at 305 Main Street in Rockland Maine.  Phone: 207-596-5960.  The Brass Compass is open 7 days a week from 6 AM until 2 PM.  Website:  http://thebrasscompasscafe.com/.

Then we wandered down to Rockland’s harbor to take photos and look around.  Of course, I found some yachts to take pictures of… 

That big yacht moored behind and dwarfing those smaller boats is the Boxer.  She is 112 feet long and she was built by Westport in 2010.  Boxer was originally named Alesia Maria.  She was refitted in 2017, has a crew of 5 and has 4 staterooms for 6 guests plus the owners.  Good news if you’re in the market for a yacht!  She’s for sale…asking price is $8,495,000.  What a deal! 

Check it out at https://www.worthavenueyachts.com/yachts-for-sale/boxer/. 

Want to charter the Boxer before committing to a purchase?  She’s available for charter at winter rates…only $58,000 per week plus expenses!  Go to https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-27124/boxer.htm.

The Stella Di Mare is a 58 foot long classic Hatteras motor yacht.  She is based in Rockland, having been purchased, refurbished and put to work as a charter vessel as well as for 1.5 – 2 hour cruises in the area.  She’s operated by a very experienced captain.  To learn more about charters and cruises aboard the Stella Di Mare, just go to http://www.stellayacht.com/.

The coastal ketch Morning in Maine has been part of Maine’s windjammer fleet for 20 years now.  This eye-catching traditional sailing vessel, with an oak frame and Atlantic cedar planks, was launched in 1970.  Morning in Maine offers day sailing trips from Rockland as well as private Maine sailing charters.  To learn more about sailing on this ketch, as well as hourly rates, just go to https://amorninginmaine.com/.  

This is the Anndrianna, a 92 foot Rayburn motor yacht.  She was built in 2007 and completely refitted in 2017.  The Anndrianna is available for charter and she has 4 staterooms for 8 guests as well as quarters for a captain and 3 crew members.  One of her amenities is a Typhoon Center Console tender with 2 350 HP Mercury Outboard Motors.  This auxiliary vessel is set up for fishing with 4 trolling rods, tackle and plenty of spinners.

The Anndrianna can be chartered for as little as $38,000 per week plus expenses.  To learn more, you can just go to https://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=my-anndrianna-10546.

As we wandered along Rockland’s waterfront, we noted these buoys/channel markers high and dry.  They sure look a lot bigger out of the water!  The park is a great place to view the harbor and watch the action.

Main Street Markets is our kind of grocery store!  We love finding places like this…offering a wide variety of basic food items as well as lots of specialty foods and products.  As the sign indicates, this isn’t ‘just’ a grocery store.  Food is served too…even ethnic daily specials!

Look at this layout!  Laurie and I would have lost it for sure if we were shopping here for our chartered boat or rental property… Specialty food stores are a weakness for us!

The full-service deli counter certainly captured our attention… If only we hadn’t just eaten!  You can check out the imaginative deli menu at http://www.mainstreetmarkets.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Tri-fold-Menus-4.pdf.

Local produce, baked goods, homemade soups and much more is scattered throughout Main Street Market.  Blueberries were in season and I love blueberries…but eating them in our car as we cruised around wouldn’t have been a good idea. 

The last photo shown above is sumac.  Yes, like many of you I always thought that all sumac was poison!  There is poison sumac…called Toxicodendron vernix or ‘thunderwood’.  However, I’ve now learned that sumac is a key spice used in Middle Eastern cuisine.  Sumac was used in Colonial America, (squeezed and sweetened in water), giving rise to ‘pink lemonade’.  Today its fruits are soaked in cold water, making a refreshing vitamin C-rich beverage.

 

The young lady at checkout told us that we could make sumac tea with it so we bought some.  Unfortunately her abbreviated verbal instructions weren’t much help a couple of weeks later when we gave it a try.  Maybe next summer…  I found the following instructions for making sumac tea on line: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/making_sumac_tea.  

To learn more about sumac, its varieties and uses, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac.

In any case we enjoyed browsing around Main Street Markets – Grocery, Café, Deli and Catering.  They are located at 435 Main Street in Rockland Maine.  They’re open Monday through Saturday.  Phone: 207-594-8515.  Website: http://www.mainstreetmarkets.com/. 

That’s it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave