3 Best Restaurants in Penobscot Bay, Maine

Chef Melissa Kelly has twice won the James Beard Best Chef: Northeast, and she and her world-class restaurant have been written up in such magazines as Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and O. Named for the chef-owner's Italian grandfather, Primo serves masterfully prepared pasta, fresh seafood, and local meats. The restored Victorian house offers a variety of atmospheres: downstairs rooms with white-tablecloth-covered tables have a formal feel; a new Primo Room offers a more contemporary feel; and upstairs dining rooms tend to be livelier. Reservations, the earlier the better, are strongly advised. Behind the restaurant is the 0km (as in zero kilometers) Bungalow, a rustic structure where you can enjoy a drink before or after dinner. It's also the place for $1 oysters on the half shell on Sunday afternoon, along with live music. No matter where you sit, it can't get more farm-to-table: the restaurant raises its own chickens and pigs, cures its own meats, produces its own eggs, and grows its own fruits and vegetables.

This lovely trattoria is known for its cheery harbor-view setting and frequently changing menus where locally sourced ingredients shine. Highly regarded chef-owner Sara Jenkins's fresh but authentic takes on Mediterranean-spanning dishes use seafood harvested along Maine's rocky coast, including local oysters, and everything from the pasta to the pickled veggies is made in-house; the presentation of each dish makes for sheer eye candy. Jenkins grew up in Italy and worked in restaurants both there and at her own New York City restaurants—in other words, she knows what she's doing. There is also a small "dispensa" selling olive oil, wine, pasta, and some pantry goods.

Don't be put off by Rio's unlikely location in a small roadside strip of businesses just south of downtown Searsport. The well-prepared, European-influenced menu offers a variety of tapas such as grilled octopus, pâté, Spanish Serrano ham, and chorizo, as well as entrées like roasted branzino, risotto, and local duck breast. There's a solid cocktail menu and desserts are delicious, especially the panna cotta. Inside, a many-windowed octagonal dining room centers on a large fireplace, with tables arced around it.