Portland food scene wins major accolades
Grilled oysters with skinny kelp butter, tapioca pearls, pickled green apple and shiso by Bread & Friends’ chef Jeremy Broucek, a James Beard semi-finalist for Best Chef: Northeast. PHOTO: STARCHEFS
THE GOOD FOOD AWARDS are a national recognition of exceptional food products that contribute to strong, healthy communities. Winners top the charts in a blind tasting and meet environmental and social responsibility standards. goodfoodfdn.org
THE JAMES BEARD AWARDS® are a national recognition of exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality and the broader food system and a demonstrated commitment to equity, community, sustainability and a culture where all can thrive.
jamesbeard.org/awards
By Amy Paradysz
For a state that ranks 42nd by population, Maine makes a remarkably strong showing every year when it comes to national and international food and culinary kudos. Currently, the Pine Tree State boasts the nation’s top restaurateur, several of the Northeast’s best chefs, two of the nation’s top-ranked craft beers and the world’s best ricotta, among other honors.
Good Food Awards
Sure, beer makes the list—in a big way. Allagash Brewing Co. of Portland was one of just four breweries across the nation to be a 2026 Good Food Awards finalist, and they won for their Hearts of Pine soccer team collaboration Kickabout Lager, brewed with locally grown grain.
Allagash Brewing Co. involved soccer fans in voting for the final recipe for the Hearts of Pine collaboration beer Kickabout, which is a 2026 Good Food Awards winner. PHOTO: MATT TROGER
Portland-based Orange Bike Brewing earned a Bronze medal at the 2026 World Beer Cup for their Guava Sour gluten-free beer. PHOTO: BEN MOORE PHOTOGRAPHY
The other six finalists from Maine weren’t what you might expect would be made here: a living ferment chili verde sauce (Maine Gravy’s Resurgam), curried tempeh (Tootie’s Tempeh), organic Einkorn farro (Maine Grains), a coffee with “notes of Prosecco, cantaloupe and cola” (Tern Coffee’s Familia Diaz Honey Pacamara), Strawberry Chamomile spreadable fruit (Turtle Rock Farm), and a chocolate bar with notes of “honey, pineapple and plum” (Bixby’s Belize Organic Dark Chocolate).
Bixby’s Belize bar is a two-ingredient wonder: 70% single-origin chocolate, 30% cane sugar. But it tastes anything but simple. “Chocolate is a lot like wine in that different regions can have different terroir, or flavor profiles, and Belize is one of my favorites,” says Bixby founder Kate McAleer. “It has such complex flavor notes. Exploring single origins is the next level of chocolate obsession.”
Maine Gravy’s Resurgam Spruced Up, a lacto-fermented chili verde hot sauce, won a 2026 Good Food Award. COURTESY PHOTO
Bixby’s Belize Organic Dark Chocolate is a 2026 Good Food Awards winner, a 2024 Sofi Award winner and the International Chocolate Awards 2023 Silver medalist. COURTESY PHOTO
Tootie's Tempeh made the 2026 Good Food Awards winners list twice, for their Traditional Tempeh and their Curry Seasoned Tempeh. COURTESY PHOTO
Heidi and Chris Townsend of Brunswick-based Tern Coffee and their farm partners in El Salvador. Tern’s Familia Diaz Honey Pacamara is a 2026 Good Food Award finalist. PHOTO: COURTESY TERN COFFEE
In the Coffee category, Good Food Awards judges blind tested 1,200 coffee entries to select five semi-finalists for each region. Familia Diaz Honey Pacamara from Tern Coffee, founded two years ago in Brunswick, was a 2026 coffee category finalist for the Northeast. In addition to blind tastings, the judging process involves vetting companies’ social responsibility practices—including use of organic, local ingredients and sustainable packaging—and Tern passed those tests as well. They’re using a highly efficient electric roaster and eco-friendly coffee bags that can be composted at home. But, of course, it all starts with the farm.
“These beans come from the Diaz family in El Salvador, and they grow them in an ecological way,” says head roaster Chris Townsend. “Their farm is a steward of the land. It’s a point of pride for us that we’re recognized for a coffee we’re making through a relationship with a specific farm and farming family.” It seems that what separates a Good Food Award finalist from basic good food is a blend of locally sourced, organic ingredients, social responsibility, creativity and attention to every detail.
“Maine has such dedicated makers,” said Jennifer Legnini of Turtle Rock Farm, which made the 2026 semi-finalist list with two different jarred spreadable fruits: Strawberry Chamomile (ultimately, a Northeast winner) and Blueberry Cardamom. “Working with each other helps create a strong network. I invest even more energy into my product knowing the role it has in the Maine food ecosystem. We start with delicious Maine staples, like blueberries and strawberries, and give them a bit of a twist.”
Mary Allen Lindemann of Coffee By Design, which was a Good Food Awards winner in 2024 and a James Beard semi-finalist in 2025. PHOTO: ALINA LINDEMANN SPEAR
Jennifer Legnini of Turtle Rock Farm, 2026 Good Food Award winner. PHOTO: NATHAN CORDERO OF FILMS BY LOOK
Perhaps the Good Food Awards judges enjoy being surprised, because who would guess that a company called Maine Gravy would submit lacto-fermented chili verde hot sauce? “I’m redefining gravy,” says Sauce Master Dick Chase, who makes this green zinger called Resurgam Spruced Up with locally sourced jalapeño peppers. Resurgam, a Latin phrase meaning “I shall rise again,” is the motto of the City of Portland.
Previous winners from Maine include Dean’s Sweets for their hot fudge sauce, Ragged Coast Chocolates for their dark chocolate peanut butter cups, Maine Beer Company for their Woods & Waters pale ale, Coffee By Design for their Costa Rica Danilo Salaza Finca San Cristobal Natural, and Speckled Ax Wood Roasted Coffee for their Costa Rica La Guaca Natural and Guatemala La Bonita.
James Beard Awards
When it comes to the James Beard Awards—culinary honors often described as the “Oscars of the food world”—Maine had more semifinalists for the Best Chef: Northeast award than any other New England state in recent years. We’ve also had strong showings in other categories, including bakeries, beverage service, hospitality and restaurateurs.
The kitchen at Street & Co., one of four restaurants co-owned by Dana Street, 2026 James Beard Award Outstanding Restaurateur national winner. PHOTO: COURTESY STREET & CO.
Pan-seared scallops with house-made bacon, asparagus, spinach, and an oyster mushroom cream sauce at Scales, one of the restaurants co-owned by Dana Street, 2026 James Beard Award Outstanding Restaurateur national finalist. COURTESY PHOTO
Legendary Portland chef Dana Street—co-owner of Fore Street, Scales, Standard Baking Co. and Street & Co.—is a finalist for the 2026 Outstanding Restaurateur. And not just for the Northeast. He’s one of the top five restaurateurs across the nation, with the winner to be announced June 15 in Chicago.
Street’s four award-winning restaurants are within walking distance of one another and also within walking distance of three semi-finalists for the 2026 James Beard Best Chef: Northeast award. These neighboring semifinalists are Jeremy Broucek, who leads the savory side of the menu at Bread & Friends; Chris Gould, recognized for the seasonally driven cuisine at Central Provisions; and Jake Stevens, nominated for a third year for the artisanal pasta and Italian-inspired cuisine at Leeward.
A bit of a longer walk from this culinary cluster is Maine’s only finalist for the 2026 Best Chef: Northeast award, Thomas Takashi Cooke. He moved to Maine with his wife and business partner Elaine Alden in 2017 to create an izakaya, a casual drinking establishment ubiquitous in Japan, where customers order a variety of small dishes to be shared at the table. Think of a cross between a British pub and a Spanish tapas bar. At Izakaya Minato on Washington Avenue in Portland, they serve seasonal dishes, sashimi and Japanese fried chicken alongside sake, cocktails and local beer.
“The restaurant scene in Portland is fantastic,” Cooke says. “We can still have mom-and-pop places here. And I’m always going to support those because I know they’re someone’s dream and they’re pouring their heart into it.”
While Portland boasts a cluster of this year’s nominated chefs, there’s also a semi-finalist in Rockland: There, Sara Jenkins brings a Mediterranean flair to locally sourced ingredients at her popular restaurant Nĩna June.
Locally sourced and nationally recognized eating at The Alna Store, 2024 semi-finalist for Best Restaurant. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ALNA STORE
“Maine gets so much food media attention because it’s an incredible combination of natural resources, amazing local ingredients and creative chefs and restaurateurs able to create a variety of experiences based on their passions,” Jenkins says. Born in Camden but raised in Italy, Spain and Lebanon, she brings a passion for Mediterranean cuisine to her cooking and imports rare vinegars, carnaroli rice and pecorino cheese, as well as olive oil harvested on her family farm in Tuscany.
In the James Beard Awards Bakery category, South Portland’s Night Moves Bread—known for naturally leavened, locally grown and stone-milled breads—is a 2026 semi-finalist. This isn’t far from the two Portland bakeries that won James Beard awards in the 2024 awards cycle: ZU Bakery in the West End (Outstanding Bakery) and Atsuko Fujimoto, owner of Norimoto Bakery on Stevens Avenue (Outstanding Pastry Chef).
Gambas, a popular shrimp dish at Havana restaurant in Bar Harbor, a 2025 Outstanding Restaurant semi-finalist. PHOTO: PETER LOGUE
In 2025, Portland dominated the list of Maine’s James Beard semi-finalists, which included Mary Allen Lindemann from Coffee By Design for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, Nathaniel Meiklejohn of The Jewel Box for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service and Jordan Rubin of Mr. Tuna for Best Chef: Northeast. Taj Indian Cuisine in South Portland was nominated for Outstanding Hospitality.
But Maine also had an impressive depth of field across other James Beard categories in the 2025 awards cycle. In Bar Harbor, Latin-inspired Havana was a contender for Outstanding Restaurant. In Biddeford, Jason Eckerson and Kate Hamm of Fish & Whistle received an Emerging Chef nomination. And in South Berwick, the Lee Frank behind burgers-and-dogs restaurant Lee Frank’s was in the running for Best Chef: Northeast.
Even an out-of-the-way rural eatery can catch the attention of the James Beard Award judges. In 2024, a new locally sourced restaurant within The Alna Store was on the short list for the national award for Best New Restaurant. Not bad for an establishment that is also a registered deer-tagging station in a town with a population of 743.
Cheese Awards
A small but mighty group of artisan cheesemakers are putting Maine on the culinary map, too.
Cheesemaker Sean Fitzgerald of Josh Pond Farm in Whiting—who came from Cherry Hill Farm in New Jersey—says Maine attracts cheesemakers who appreciate a slower lifestyle and who put their hearts and soul into their work. The attention to detail comes from the ground up. Literally.
“We rotate our closed herd of goats seasonally so they always have access to fresh forage, which is excellent for milk production and translates into a depth of flavor you can’t get any other way,” Fitzgerald says. “We also buy organic cows’ milk from Tide Mill Farms, just down the road, and they also practice grass-based feeding. Their milk is fantastic for cheesemaking—it has high butterfat and protein components—and we get it as fresh as possible.”
Josh Pond Farm cheeses are then aged for a year the traditional way, on wooden boards in a real cave.
Lakin’s Gorges Cheeses at East Forty Farm won Gold at the 2022 World Championship Cheese Contest for Rockweed, a creamy, bloomy rind cheese with a layer of seaweed in the center. PHOTO: ALLISON LAKIN
Crooked Face Creamery in Skowhegan won the Gold medal in the 2025 World Cheese Awards in the Ricotta category, which arguably makes Crooked Face the maker of the world’s best ricotta. PHOTO: TREVOR HOLDEN PHOTOGRAPHY
Josh Pond Farm in Whiting was a Bronze medalist at the 2025 World Cheese Awards for their Alpine-style Meddymoon made with both cows’ and goats’ milk. PHOTO: ELANA BEAL
“It stays at the temperature and humidity that we want it to, pretty much year-round, naturally,” Fitzgerald says. “The wooden boards build up a repository of beneficial microbes—yeast and bacteria and fungi—that inhibit the rinds on the cheese, which gives it a unique flavor and appearance.”
At the 2025 World Cheese Awards in Bern, Switzerland, Josh Pond Farm’s hard, Alpine-style Meddymoon cheese won Bronze. (A bit about that name: The farm’s Meddybemps cheese is made from cows’ milk and Moon Hill is the same recipe made from goats’ milk; the Meddymoon is a both-milks adaptation made during a short season each spring.)
“Maine is making incredible cheeses,” says Allison Lakin, a cheesemaker from Lakin’s Gorges Cheese at East Forty Farms, a two-dozen-cow establishment in Waldoboro. “The farm-to-table tradition that has existed in Maine since the homesteaders movement of the 1970s is still strong. ‘Buy Local’ isn’t just a tagline in Maine. People here naturally support local producers and growers.”
Recognition outside Maine is strong, too. At the 2025 World Cheese Awards, Lakin won a Silver medal for her Opus 42, an aged semi-firm cheese that’s slightly sharp, nutty and buttery. “A crowd pleaser,” she says.
The last time Lakin entered the World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2022, she won Gold for her coast inspired Rockweed. It’s a creamy, bloomy rind cheese with a layer of seaweed in the center. In March 2026, the Rockweed made the “25 Essential American Cheeses” list published in the March 2026 issue of Food & Wine.
Amy Rowbottom of Crooked Face Creamery, making the Plain Whole Milk Ricotta that received a Super Gold medal at the 2025 World Cheese Awards. PHOTO: JAMIE WALTER
The #1 ranked cheese on that Food & Wine list is the Up North Applewood Cold Smoked Ricotta made by Amy Rowbottom of Crooked Face Creamery in Skowhegan.
Lakin says, “If you look at that list of 25 essential cheeses, other than Amy and I, everyone else on that list is making hundreds of thousands of pounds of cheese per year. I make about 10,000 pounds of cheese a year. It’s not about size. It’s about passion, training and skill.”
Rowbottom has been perfecting her now world famous ricotta for 16 years, tweaking the acid and salt levels teaspoon by teaspoon.
“It all starts with the milk,” she says, crediting Springdale Farm in Waldo. “The traditional way of making ricotta is to use whey left over from making other cheeses. In my early days, I did trial batches of whey versus whole milk, and the whole milk was so rich, so creamy, so fluffy.”
So she does things a little differently than most, and the proof is in the … ricotta. At the 2025 World Cheese Awards, Crooked Face Creamery’s Plain Whole Milk Ricotta received a Super Gold medal. When a one-woman shop from northern Maine is said to have the best ricotta in the world, that’s a real upset. Oh, and she also won Bronze—for her Applewood Smoked Ricotta.
With recognitions like these, Maine’s locally made artisan cheeses are being shipped far and wide.
Taj Indian Cuisine in South Portland was in the running for a 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality. PHOTO: ARTISAN AGENDA (ANTHONY DI BIASE)
Taste for yourself
Enjoy these nationally recognized restaurants, beer, coffee, chocolate, cheese and more during your Maine travels this summer.
FEATURED JAMES BEARD RECOGNITIONS
Bread & Friends, 505 Fore St., Portland
Jeremy Broucek, 2026 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastCentral Provisions, 404 Fore St., Portland
Chris Gould, 2026 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastCoffee By Design, 1 Diamond St., Portland
Mary Allen Lindemann, 2025 semi-finalist for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service; 2024 Good Food Awards winnerFish & Whistle, 299 Main St., Biddeford
2025 Emerging Chef nomination to Jason Eckerson and Kate HammHavana, 318 Main St., Bar Harbor
2025 Outstanding Restaurant semi-finalistIzakaya Minato, 54 Washington Ave., Portland
Thomas Takashi Cooke, 2026 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastLee Frank’s, 12 Portland St., South Berwick
Lee Frank, 2025 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastLeeward, 85 Free St., Portland
Jake Stevens 2026 semi-finalist for Best Chef: Northeast; Jake Stevens, 2025 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastMr. Tuna, 83 Middle St., Portland
Jordan Rubin, 2025 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastNĩna June, 24 Central St., Rockport Harbor
Sara Jenkins, 2026 semi-finalist for Best Chef: NortheastNight Moves Bread, 695 Broadway, South Portland
2026 semi-finalist for Outstanding BakeryFore Street, 288 Fore St., Portland
Dana Street, 2026 semi-finalist for Best RestaurateurScales, 68 Commercial St., Portland
Dana Street, 2026 semi-finalist for Best RestaurateurStandard Baking Company, 75 Commercial St., Portland
Dana Street, 2026 semi-finalist for Best RestaurateurStreet & Co., 33 Wharf St., Portland
Dana Street, 2026 semi-finalist for Best RestaurateurTaj Indian Cuisine, 33 Clarks Pond Parkway, South Portland
2025 semi-finalist, Outstanding HospitalityThe Alna Store, 2 Dock Road, Alna
2024 semi-finalist for Best RestaurantThe Jewel Box, 644 Congress St., Portland
Nathaniel Meiklejohn, 2025 semi-finalist for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service
MAINE’S 2026 GOOD FOOD AWARDS WINNERS
Allagash Brewing Co., Industrial Way, Portland
Bixby, One Sea Street Place, Rockland
Maine Grains, 42 Court St., Skowhegan
Maine Gravy, mainegravy.com
Tootie’s Tempeh, tootietempeh.com
Turtle Rock Farm, turtlerock.farm
Finalist: Tern Coffee, 141A Maine St., Brunswick
FEATURED CHEESEMAKERS
Crooked Face Creamery, 42 Court St., Skowhegan
Josh Pond Farm, 227 Gardner Lake Road, Whiting
Lakin’s Gorges Cheeses at East Forty Farm, 2361 Friendship Road, Waldoboro
