One of my more fun and challenging assignments for the best few years has been picking the Best of Maine for Yankee Magazine. (I shared a few of my 2011 picks on 207, the evening magazine TV show). It’s not an easy task, and one I don’t take lightly. I agonize over these, as there are so many worthwhile candidates and so little space.
How does one go about selecting the Best of Maine? How do I choose the best food & dining, lodging, attractions, local secrets, and bargains? Do I go with the big-name icons? What about the little gems? And what to do with those out-in-the-boondocks finds? If a place has been named a best one year, is it automatically disqualified from being in the mix again even if it truly is the best? Yup, those are just a few of the arguments that roll on a looped tape through my brain. In the end, I mix and match, balancing icons with sleepers, biggies with boonies, perennials with finds.
Pretty good list! You’ll always set yourself up for the critics and cynics when you do these “best of” lists.
Though I did see the St Jean Valley rear it’s ugly head again. =) If you want to pay homage to the french heritage, it would be “Valle St-Jean”, not St Jean Valley…that’s a mishmash that doesn’t exist. Sorry…I need to let it go I know…..
Mea culpa. Off to the blackboard to write St. John Valley 100 times.
On the comfort food front, if we as Mainers could ever come to terms with having “ethnic” food as a comfort food, Long Grain in Camden might be worth a look next time around. I can’t get enough of that place…
Yes, I enjoyed it, too. Have you tried Lynn Archer’s new place? I’ve yet to go. Would love to hear a report.
Not yet…just waiting for some sun so I can sit on that deck. I hear that the sun may come out for a few hours sometime in August…
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