Ship's Chow Hall, Wiscasset, Maine

So, you know you've seen it on the drive thru Wiscasset on Rt 1- Ship's Chow Hall. A long, low, cedar-shaked building across the road (sorta) from Big Al's.

We have said a hundred times that we have to stop there 'someday.' Today we made an extra trip just to go there. Decided we would go out for lunch (because I don't get up for breakfast if I don't have to!) so off we went.

I will grant you it's not much to look at from the outside, but it's a whole different world inside. Very nice, neat and homey. They have booths along the 2 walls and tables down the middle. Other than us, everyone in there was local. The owner knew everyone by name, knew who coming thru the door would be sitting with whom and even called an order into the kitchen by saying, 'The Smiths will have their usual.'

Now that's the kind of place you want to go. Where, when there are 3 restaurants/take out joints lined up one after the other, the owner knows everyone coming thru the door and has a friendly hello for all of them. (Yes, by the time we left, she knew who we were, too.)

Continuing my search for the perfect BLT and onion rings, that's what I ordered. Rock, continuing his (weird) love of liver & onions, ordered that.

We have a winner! This was, by far, the best BLT I've had this year. (Runners-up were Becky's Diner, Rosie's (also in Portland) and Moody's Diner in that order.) The bread was homemade and we even got the name of the toaster they use as the bread was done just right. Crisp, green lettuce, a nice tomato and the bacon done just the way I like it.

Oh, and the liver & onions was really good, too. Behind us, a woman was telling her friend that the burger she was having was very good.

My onion rings were wonderful and so was the hot cocoa. It's tough to get hot cocoa from a packet wrong, but you'd be amazed how many places do.

What was really nice about it was there was no sense of rushing. A lot of the locals had books or the newspaper they were reading. Quite a few of them were older women dining alone. Always a good sign when you walk into a place and women are comfortable dining alone. What was REALLY nice was that a few cellphones rang and the people either took their phones outside or just turned them off altogether. Hallelujah! We didn't have to listen to someone talking on the phone all thru lunch!

This is definitely on our list of places to go when you're headed north (or south) from here to Boothbay (the Botanical Gardens, maybe?) or Bar Harbor. Stop in and enjoy a nice slice of local Maine! They are open for breakfast (all day) and lunch from 5 AM to 2 PM everyday.