Delicious, interesting food at Prime
Ogunquit is one of the best Seacoast restaurant towns, rivaling Portsmouth in variety and quality of dining spots. Thankfully not all of the restaurants here are about the tourists — with all that fried seafood and such — not that there's anything wrong with that.
With great places like 98 Provence, Five-O, MC Perkins Cove and the new Tapas and Tinis, among many other creative cuisine venues right downtown, finding very good food is easy here, you know, before you go sing at the piano bar at the Front Porch. With all that good food around it was only a matter of time before Ogunquit got its own steakhouse and here it is — Prime — modern in look and feel, with a bustling, lively fun bar and lounge and terrific steaks with some interesting sides to share and sample.
I will drive a long way for a good steak and despite the inevitable getting into town traffic I'm glad I made the Ogunquit trek. After valet parking (a nice touch), my companion (stay tuned, it's a first timer) and I were greeted warmly and accommodated quickly despite showing up an hour early for our reservation. Hey, we were hungry. There's a great bar to the right where many people were gathered, looking very happy. You can eat there or in the large dining room and try to get a seat by the window.
As I looked around, I did feel that the décor is a bit stark and lackluster. Modern is great, I love it, but the atmosphere lacked a certain personality you can still pull off with a modern décor. It needed something to tie it together, some splash. Acoustics were wacky too — very loud — but we could still hear our waitress Kelly, who we quizzed on the cuts of meat before we ordered. She knew her stuff and was able to deftly describe the nuances of the flat iron, Delmonico, skirt steak and especially the New York sirloin aged for 21 days in house — she practically swooned when talking about it.
We started with a couple of cocktails, but the wine list is very good in that you can get a good bottle at a reasonable price in both reds and whites. We started with the fried calamari, very nicely battered and crisp circles of squid mixed with some sweet onion rings and tangy fried basil and served with a strongly herbed green goddess inspired dip ($10). I liked the fried basil — added a nice touch — and the dip was creamy and robust. Companion yearned for red sauce, but I was happy to get something more interesting. Vegetable spring rolls could have used a more interesting sauce for example, as a spiced soy was a mundane and overly salty dip with otherwise tasty and crunchy rolls stuffed with cabbage and shiitake mushrooms ($10).
Salads followed (Newbie: "You mean we have to eat an appetizer and a salad? And an entrée?" Me: "Yes, and dessert! So prepare yourself. " Gotta break these new dining companions in!). My salad was a huge Caesar with fresh large chopped Romaine lettuce and a good creamy dressing with croutons ($9), companion's was a much more interesting red and yellow beet salad, the beets marinated in a sweet honey dressing and served with frissee and candied walnuts, all good textures. I love beets and these were delicious ($8).
I ordered the butter-poached Maine lobster, the lobster poached in a bag to keep in all the buttery goodness. It was delicious with plenty of meat and, as a bonus, the body shell stuffed with a tarragon-laced haddock stuffing. While the dish at $30 might sound pricey, given the portion and comparing to others I've had it's actually a good price. My sides were some "prime" french fries, which were pretty normal, nothing special, although crisp, and a piping hot dish of creamed spinach with a cheesy crust that was terrific.
Naturally, companion got a steak and after the big build up it was indeed the 21-day dry aged sirloin, and it was indeed very good, tender, cooked just right to medium rare and very flavorful ($32). Kelly said the steak didn't even need a sauce but we tried the mushroom and brown butter bourbon sauce (too sweet) and the Bearnaise (just right). Two more sides were a watery and uninteresting mushroom risotto and greens sautéed in garlic, which was quite tasty. I saw a big popover go by that looked intriguing as well as some enticing baked beans. Other entrees include a brined roasted half chicken and baked Canadian salmon.
The desserts we tried were fine, but just that. I was expecting something more inspired. My banana split was just a banana split, each ingredient good but I wanted it to be less mundane, updated in a way, with a variation, a twist. ($8). Key lime cheesecake was tart and smooth, but again, I say, let's jazz things up a bit in dessert to fit the rest of the cuisine, but despite that, I'll definitely go back to Prime. Even if it's not all that jazzy, I like the modern feel of the décor at least, and of course the lively bar, and I certainly like the delicious food.
Prime
331 Shore Road, Ogunquit, Maine, (207) 646-8600
Hours: Dinner nightly. 4:30-10 p.m. dining room. Lounge open later.
Food *** * . The food here outshines everything else with delicious steaks, creative seafood and inventive, yet classic side dishes in the steakhouse model of dining.
Service ****. Young staff knows their steaks and shows enthusiasm when recommending dishes. Food comes out very quickly.
Ambience ***. Bar vibe great, dining room atmosphere a bit stark and bland, but nicely modern.
Overall **** Another great restaurant to add to the pantheon of dining spots in Ogunquit with good steaks and a lively vibe.
If you like a good steakhouse, you'll like:
The Library Restaurant, 401 State St., Portsmouth, 431-5202, www.libraryrestaurant.com
Old world club feel with prime steaks and many many kinds of vodka for your martini.
Orchard Street Chop Shop
One Orchard Street, Dover, 749-0006, www.orchardstreetchopshop.com
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Portsmouth. Her column appears Wednesdays in Go &Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Hear her on Wine Me Dine Me Fridays at 6 p.m. on WSCA-FM 106.1. She can be reached by e-mail at rforrest@seacoastonline.com.
