Long Lake Sporting Club

48 Sinclair Road, Sinclair, ME - (207) 543-7584

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Posted By Chris Ayers & Amy Briesch on January 19, 2009 10:20 PM

Maine’s Aroostook County, known to Mainers as simply “the County,” comprises practically the whole upper half of the state. It’s the largest county in land area east of the Mississippi River, and one could fit both Connecticut and Rhode Island within its boundaries. Unknown to the typical tourist, the County is wild, wooded, and absolutely wonderful to get far, far away from it all. Towns are few and sparsely settled, and through the thick forests, Long Lake materializes as an untouched sportsman’s paradise. Sinclair’s Long Lake Sporting Club on Route 162 has been wowing locals and curious folks since 1922 with their large portions of hearty food and idyllic lakeside dining.

For three generations, the business has been kept in the family, and the wait staff is comprised of veteran servers that we’re happy to see again when we visit the County every few years. Upon entering, we’re led to the bar area, where a waitress takes our drink and dinner order. “Help yourself to a basket of popcorn,” she says, pointing to the movie-theater popcorn machine across the room. Boats dot the lake in the summer, and snowmobiles blaze across the ice in the winter. Not long after, our waitress returns to lead us into the white-tableclothed dining room, where our piping-hot meal is waiting for us.

The pressure-fried chicken’s plump, crunchy crust envelops the extremely juicy meat within, reminiscent of the same from the sadly departed Shingles in Tallahassee, Florida. The skin is not overly spiced, but a quick dip in Long Lake’s own BBQ sauce allows the subtle flavors to blossom for a tongue-tickling zest. The breading that covers the large shrimp and scallops does not hinder the savory taste of either seafood to shine through, and it only augments the firm, fresh texture of each morsel. Aroostook’s proximity to Canada enabled French-Acadian culture to spread across the nearby Saint John River, and this influence is represented by the Acadian ployes that accompany each meal. These chewy buckwheat pancakes are eaten plain, buttered, or even sweetened with syrup from a table pitcher.

The sides are equally amazing. A small bowl of salad—Long Lake’s spin on coleslaw—features cabbage and carrots tossed in a tangy dressing similar to the chicken BBQ sauce. The French fries are oversized planks that spotlight the golden crust and creamy insides of Maine potatoes. Corn-on-the-cob and baked potatoes are also available, as are steaks, three- to five-pound lobsters, BBQ ribs, clams, and salmon. Long Lake welcomes all boats with convenient slips, boasts a snowmobile parking lot, and can even accommodate seaplanes! At least one trip to Long Lake Sporting Club will certainly make any trip to Northern Maine more magical.

Overall Rating

Pressure-Fried Chicken

French Fries

Shrimp & Scallop Combo

Ployes

House Salad

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Posted By Michael Stern on November 23, 2009 9:44 PM

Accessible by snowmobile from Trail 96, by boat on Long Lake, or by car when Sinclair Road is plowed, the Long Lake Sporting Club is a year-around north woods supper club that specializes in such splurge meals as prime rib, shrimp, salmon and lobster as well as what placemats tout as "legendary barbecued ribs." Customers come early and have cocktails at bare tables in the spacious bar. When the kitchen is ready to serve supper, each party is escorted to a table in the nearby dining room.

The entrée for which the restaurant is best known is chicken that gets pressure fried to develop an extraordinarily toasty crust that shores in massive amounts of juice. All meals come with ployes that arrive by the stack: ultrathin versions of the buckwheat crepes that are traditional farmhouse food in the region. They arrive with butter, a pitcher of syrup and an extra plate in which a pool of syrup should be poured. Peel one off the top of the stack, butter it, roll it into a tube, and dip it, bite by bite, into syrup as a companion for supper. Long Lake's ritual dinner also includes finely chopped salad bathed in a curious spicy tomato dressing and really good, pride-of-Maine French fried potatoes.