The Dip Net Restaurant in Port Clyde is one of those happy little dock-side eateries whose first open sign of the season signals that summer has arrived in Maine.

I realized that I hadn’t gone there this year. For the past few summers I used to rent a house in nearby Tenant’s Harbor, and the Dip Net was the place to go for lunch. Since I settled in Friendship this summer, going to the Dip Net meant getting to the other side of the St. George River, which by car is a good 25 mile trip--up one peninsula, down another. I just never got around to it.

But when friends who were visiting from New York and staying at the Samoset asked that I join them for lunch the other day, I seized the chance and suggested that we rendezvous at the Dip Net.

If I was hesitant to travel 25 miles for lunch I suppose the 80 mile trek from Portland to Port Clyde was overkill.

But what the heck? Summer is nearly over, and the days of outdoor waterside dining at places like the Dip Net will soon be a memory. In this case, Columbus Day weekend is their swan song.

I’ve probably traveled the Route 1 passage 20 times this summer. It’s the shortest way to the Midcoast towns, but not always the quickest. This past Thursday, a beautiful, sunny day indeed, traffic was moderate and moving until I got stuck behind one of those somnambulant drivers who’s not in a rush to go anywhere and who ambles obliviously along that byway as though it were a private path. As an avowed lead foot, it drives me crazy. Still, we made it in two hours

Each year the Dip Net remains unchanged, but the food seems to get better and better. The lunchtime crowd draws on an attractive mix of tourists, summer folk and locals. Dinner on the dock on balmy nights is magical--though without a good breeze coming off the water, mosquitoes can be a problem after sunset. As an alternative, there are about 5 tables and a dining counter inside.

What sets the Dip Net apart from similar places is that the food is really good. Even the fried fish and shellfish staples seem a cut above standard fare. You can go there and be fully satisfied with a shrimp or clam basket, but they’re prepared carefully and beautifully. The coatings are delicious and the tartar sauce is homemade. Even the French fries have a delicious crisp edge that is distinct. There’s an extensive raw bar too.

One can also order more grown up fare like grilled fish, fresh and delicious, lobster, all sorts of salads, locally smoked salmon and great chowders or bisques. The dinner menu repeats many of the lunchtime standards but also offers bouillabaisse, grilled strip steak, which is from local organic farmers, free-range chicken and whatever specials on the board that day--like grilled cod with basmati rice. It’s all very good, very fresh and simply prepared.

There’s a certain irreverence about the Dip Net. Some might say it’s cool or chic but mostly it’s just a place to dine on the dock with a little kick of style.

At dinner there’s often entertainment—a visiting band or just a trio. One summer, however, they had a host of Irish exchange students as waiters and helpers, and one of them decided to take out his guitar and sing. He was so bad and off key but entertaining that everyone applauded enthusiastically. Such goings on are typical there. Expect the unexpected and spontaneous.

Our little group of four didn’t venture very far off the beaten culinary path in our lunch choices. Three of us chose fried fish baskets—the shrimp, the clams and the haddock. These come atop a pile of delicious French fries with some very well made Cole slaw. The one holdout in our group ordered lobster, which he pronounced delicious. My friend’s wife uncharacteristically ordered the fried haddock basket, which to an eater who is fashionably rail thin and watches her food intake assiduously was an anomaly. She devoured every last morsel. It must be the fresh Maine air that makes such people feel unfettered by the constraints of fashion.

Desserts are good too, mostly pies made by a local baker. The blueberry is a classic with its flaky butter crust and dense sweet filling.

We left by 3:00 pm, and I just didn’t have the patience for Route 1 again. We decided to try the back roads. We picked up route 32, right after Moody’s, which took us towards Jefferson, our final destination being the 295 entrance at Gardiner. The countryside—farmland and lakes—is utterly serene and beautiful along routes 32 and 126.

For almost the entire way there wasn’t one single car in front of us. Going on the back roads adds about 15 miles to the trip, but we got back to Portland in an easy one hour and 45 minutes.

The idea of making dinner at home that night at that hour just didn’t seem worthwhile. What’s a good follow up after such a day? I thought of either going to Oolong or Cinque Terre, two dichotomous restaurant choices indeed.

Lunch was rich enough, so Cinque Terre won out. Perhaps a half order of pasta to start, grilled fish and a glass of wine could hardly be a bad way to end the odyssey of a perfect day.
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