On our recent cruise on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Jewel of the Seas our second port of call was Bar Harbor. A family member visited Bar Harbor raved over this quint shore town. The Main Street in Bar Harbor is just like any small town with a main street. The road into Bar Harbor is tiny with one lane roads. I can imagine would be very congested during the peak of their tourist season. All of the shops and restaurants that line Main Street are one of a kind and strike a curiosity for any shopper looking for something unique. My husband and I are had never had a lobster roll and so we decided that Bar Harbor would be place we would have to try a lobster roll. We wondered Main Street looking at restaurant menus pondering where would we have the best lobster roll experience. We settled on The Lobster Claw. We ordered the traditional lobster roll which the lobster meat was prepared with a scant amount of mayo. Our order came to the table and we were disappointed that the roll did not have any flavor. The lobster roll was like eating bland cold lobster on a buttered bun resembling and piece of Texas toast folded like a hotdog bun. Our disappointing culinary experience with the Lobster roll came to a total of $36.36 and that included 2 bland lobster rolls, over fried homemade potato chips and 2 cups of old tea that had been obviously sweetened by a northerner.
Two other shops that we visited where Fiore which carries an impressive array of artisan olive oils and vinegars. All of the olive oils and vinegars are available of sampling. I purchased the 18 year aged Dark Chocolate Balsamic as well as the Vanilla Balsamic. Both are thick and great on fruit or gelato. I could have bought so much more but I was trying to watch the weight of my luggage. The store representative kindly advised that they do ship but I decided I would be fine with the two 200ml bottles I purchased. http://fioreoliveoils.com/site/
Another great shop we visited was the Bar Harbor Tea Company. I have been to several tea shops and each is unique in the inventory that they carry. Their selection of different teas was impressive. They also carried a wide variety of local or regional teas. I was delighted to see that they also carry a wide selection of tea cozies made in a variety of fabric patterns. After going back to the shelf several times I decided on the a cozy with a blueberry pattern since Maine is known for it blueberries. http://www.barharbortea.com/
