Helen's Restaurant

28 East Main Street, Machias, ME - (207) 255-8423

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Posted By Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle on August 22, 2008 11:11 AM

Helen's has been around a long time. We recall our first visit, many years ago, when it seemed like a nice little out-of-the-way cafe serving some decent food. Since then, Helen sold the place, and the new owners opened a second location in Ellsworth. Surprisingly enough, we think Helen's food is better than ever.

The popular restaurant is large and heavily advertised. The service couldn't be sweeter. The food we tried was, without fail, extraordinary. Fish and chips is made with the freshest, sweetest haddock imaginable. The crust had a wicked crunch, yet the meat was juicy as could be. The fries were serviceable, but this was about fish, not potatoes.

They serve a bowl of picked lobster that is like a deconstructed hot lobster roll on toast, sitting in a pool of melted butter. The lobster is fresh and tender, and eating that butter-and-lobster-juice-soaked slice of toast at the bottom of the dish is as sybaritic an eating experience as you can imagine.

Do not under any circumstances miss dessert. We were there in late summer blueberry season, and the fresh blueberry pie is something to behold: a mix of fresh and cooked blueberries (mostly fresh)on a good crust, piled with whipped cream. Mercy! These local buckshot-sized wild blueberries have only a passing resemblance to the pea-sized berries sold around the country. They seem to capture that essence of blueberry that seems so elusive outside of Maine. Virtually all of these berries are sold for processing; they're nearly impossible to find fresh outside of Maine and, in fact, are quite rare even in the state. It's worth the effort to search for places that use them, like Helen's. By the way, Helen's serves a fresh strawberry pie prepared in a similar manner, and darned if it wasn't almost as good as the blueberry pie, even if the berries may have rolled in from Florida or California.

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