Postcards From Portland: Eventide Oyster Co.

Having dinner at Eventide Oyster Co. was probably one of the most anticipated moments of our weekend in Maine for me. I’d read so many great things about Eventide, like being named to Bon Appetit Magazine’s Top 50 New Restaurants in 2013. Plus I’m an oyster and all around seafood lover, so knew it was bound to be an amazing meal.

Eventide is located in the Old Port on Middle Street, right next to sibling restaurant, Hugo’s. Eventide stands out with it’s blue paint color that is seen both outside and inside. When you first walk in to Eventide, the first thing your eye catches is the huge granite trough filled with oysters on the bar. When we visited Eventide, the bar area was busy with many people waiting to be seated, but there was still room to stand. Eventide does not take reservations, but we were seated within 20 minutes of arriving on a Saturday night at 8 PM (granted it was March). While Eventide does have standard tables, it also has counter-top seating and a longer, community table seating. MJD and I were seated at the communal table, but there was plenty of space between us and the other couple at the table. I was really happy about that as I’m not always the biggest fan of communal tables, just because I feel like it can be hard to talk.

We started the evening with a dozen oysters. Eventide groups their oysters as varieties from Maine or those “from away”- we did a selection of a half dozen from Maine and the other half “from away”. While they of course offer cocktail sauce, Eventide also offers some unique accouterments with their oysters, such as horseradish ice or tabasco ice. The horseradish ice was a really cool addition to the oysters.

MJD and I decided we wanted to get a good variety of the menu. We ordered the yellowfin tuna crudo, the lobster roll with brown butter vinaigrette, a scallop dish, the chickpea fries and the biscuits. My favorite by far was the yellowfin tuna crudo. I wish I had a better picture of this amazing dish, because the picture above does not do it justice. It was fantastic! The lobster roll was different than any we’d ever had before. It’s in a steamed bun, it’s warm and drizzled with brown butter vinaigrette. I’d definitely recommend any lobster roll lovers to try it out. I also loved the chickpea fries which were served with raisins and quinoa. I thought they were the perfect side.

We of course had to get dessert too- the trip was part of MJD’s birthday celebration after all! The peanut butter cup dessert was out of this world! Neither of us could get enough of it. In fact MJD couldn’t wait to dig in before me snapping the photo :).

I had very high expectations of Eventide and our dinner there exceeded them. I would definitely recommend Eventide Oyster Co. to anyone visiting Portland as a “must-try”. I hope we’ll be able to go back to Portland in the nicer weather and enjoy patio season at Eventide too!

Have you ever been to Eventide Oyster Co? I’d love to hear what you thought!

xoxo, Jenna

PS- I loved this quote on the menu-it’s too good and true!