Journal entry and art submission rolled into one. Artwork by betsy

Yesterday evening, I traveled the 30 miles (48km) down to Brunswick to meet-up with some friends. My hosts were Betsy, and her husband, Roy. I haven’t known Betsy that long, only a few years, though it feels like forever as we grew up in the same town.

Bonus! Tonya was visiting from Massachusetts.

The idea was for the four of us to go out to dinner. I don’t remember if it was Tonya or Betsy who wanted American food and to try some place local. The quick sketch Betsy did that evening (above) is only a slight exaggeration of our experience at the first place we tried. It wasn’t far from her place, always busy and she said, always smelled good when they drove by. But they had never tried it. It doesn’t even deserve to be given its proper name (hint, Scrooge’s first name) in this “review”. Walking in, it looked like your typical pub. Lots of beer choices, pub menu with your standard pub fare (fries, wings, burgers, sandwiches, etc.) with the latest Maine tourist-craze twist (lobster mac and cheese).

We ordered three appetizers to start: poutine (French Canadian dish—fries with gravy and cheese curds), fried calamari, and chips and salsa.

You would expect poutine to be a bit soggy due to the gravy. But you’d expect them to properly fry the fries first. I sampled some not swimming in gravy and they were just as soggy. The melted cheese on the fries could have been melted cheese curds or regular cheese. Hard to tell. Small portion too. Picture a small cereal bowl or about the amount you’d be served on the side if you ordered a side order of fries with a sandwich at most restaurants.

I don’t eat a lot of seafood—if it smells fishy, it turns my stomach. And I’m “allergic” to shellfish. Doc says it’s a “sensitivity” and not an allergy. Suffice it to say that what it does to my intestinal track is not pleasant. ‘Nuf said. Betsy and Tonya tried to dig into the calamari. It was buried in shredded cabbage. I guess, they did this to hide the fact that there wasn’t much calamari. If there were 3 good size pieces in there, then I over counted.

As for the chips and dip when it finally arrived after the other two appetizers, Roy summed it up best: They’d have done better if they had served us a bowl of local store brand salsa. That sorry excuse for salsa was basically an under-ripe tomato pureed. There was no spice to it. There wasn’t really anything to it.

Add to this that it was open mic night. And the participants left much to be desired. I wasn’t sure what some of the songs they “played” were supposed to be. I think I made out Sloop John B in there. I might even heard She’ll be Coming Around the Mountain when She Comes, but I’m not really sure. This “atmosphere” didn’t exactly enhance our experience.

After the disappointing appetizers, we decided to cut our loses and find somewhere else to actually get some food. How much was the damage? $40 with tip! We didn’t have any booze. Two members had soda. Tonya complained to management, which basically blew her off by saying they’d make it up the next time. Trust me, there won’t be a next time.

From there, we travelled downtown and found a small sports bar called Benchwarmers. Larger menu, much better prices and it was wing night. Two of us had burgers, rest enjoyed wings. Two more sodas. I believe the total bill was roughly $10 less with tip than the other place. My only disappointment with this second place is they need to change out their fry oil. I'm sensitive to old fry oil and I got to "taste" those wings the rest of the evening, overnight and into this morning.

Despite the restaurant disaster, I still had a good time and hope to meet up with Betsy and company again soon.