As though out of a film set for Wuthering Heights, the old Whitehall Inn in Camden was a mainstay of civility for well over a century, a place where vichyssoise and gossip lingered in the squeaky comforts of this seaside inn. It charmingly creaked and groaned with pokey rooms and the typical splash of faded chintz and wicker in its principal public spaces. Its restaurant was unremarkable and not one frequented by the general tourist brigade that piles into Camden in the summer.
A few of these old-fashioned seaside resorts still operate elsewhere in Maine—to wit, the Colony in Kennebunkport, the Asticou in Northeast Harbor and the Claremont in Southwest Harbor.
Fast forward to 2015 and you’ll now enter into hipster heaven to the hilt in this remarkable renovation of an old classic. Posh and precious, the reception rooms are furnished in a mid-century style (1950s-ish) with bold colors somehow clashing harmoniously in every nook and cranny of the uber stylish space awash with greens, blues, red and beige. And the guest rooms follow suit with creature comforts such as flat-screen TVs and plush bedding. Compared to the ultra-lavish Camden Harbor Inn nearby, however, it’s still a second cousin to luxe.
The various guises of the public rooms at Whitehall
My first look into the re-fashioned dining room called Pig and the Poet (pig refers to the chef’s penchant for pork and poet to Edna St. Vincent Millay whose fame flourished there in 1912) revealed a slew of trendy diners sitting at the bar and tables, looking as though plucked from central casting.
Interior space and dining room and bar at Pig and Poet
The Whitehall (no “inn” in its name any longer) is a touch of modernity in this seaside town known more for tradition than trendiness. After a renovation by its new owner, Lark Hotels, that reportedly cost around $2 million, this is a serious space with room rates to match.
I checked in last month for an overnight with the main purpose to experience its restaurant run by chef Sam Talbot who has cooked in some of the most fashionable eateries in New York, his last post being the Surf Lodge at the Eastern End of Long Island in trendy Montauk.
Seating pit at Whitehall; chef Talbot (photo courtesy White Hall)
One local chef quipped that Camden now has TV dinners, a reference to Talbot’s various stints as a semi-finalist on the Bravo Channel’s Top Chef.
My room had a nice view of Penobscot Bay across the road, though the traffic noise on busy Route 1 was annoying. Still the hotel has a lot going for it. The overall look is fun and the comforts many.
A small but comfortable room at Whitehall with views of Penobscot Bay
A friend would meet me for dinner that evening at the inn’s restaurant, but since I was in Camden I couldn’t pass up a visit to Brian Hill’s brilliantly good Francine Bistro a few blocks away. I went for a drink and a few nibbles. This was a mistake if my main mission was to assess Pig and Poet; the superb food I had at Francine was a hard act to follow back at the Whitehall’s new dining room.
A trio of starters at Francine
My prediction was right on and I had one helluva of dull dinner at Pig and Poet. Like every other place in Maine, the menu boasts farm to table–not hard to do in this part of the Midcoast renowned for the sorcery of its local food from area farms.
I almost always make multiple visits to restaurants before write ups. Admittedly I have not done this here, having only been to the restaurant once. But my experience doesn’t make me want to give it another try so soon. I will return, however, later in the summer and report back then. Still I was there within the first week of its opening and perhaps a lot has changed for the better.
In a region with such stellar restaurants as Natalie’s at the Camden Harbor Hotel, the aforementioned Francine, Long Grain, 40 Paper and the renown of the Rockland-Rockport restaurant scene you’d better be as good if not better than the competition.
I found the menu dull without the necessary culinary kickshaws that make a place special. Such dishes as the fried green tomatoes served with peeky toe crab salad, braised bacon with pickled fruits, fried chicken and grilled squid with corn cakes might have been interesting choices. In retrospect I wish I had tried these but my appetite was already challenged by the food I had at Francine.
We grazed the menu to pick a mixed green salad served with excellent Lakin’s Gorges local cheese mixed in with leafy greens quite fresh but barely moistened with the pumpkin-seed vinaigrette. We shared a ceviche of clams, not your typical fish used for this preparation. Any firm-fleshed white fish is far better typically cured in citrus like lime or orange. Local scallops would have been a good choice, too. These clams, however, were drowned in a strange soup of carrot juice and were so finely minced I wondered if they were canned.
We ordered the cowboy steak to share. It was more like a diminutive Roy Rogers dressed as Dale Evans. It resembled a prime rib, though we weren’t really sure. It certainly wasn’t tender. The Japanese eggplant on which it sat was, however, delicious and the side of toasted bread topped with crabmeat was an attempt at surf and turf. The crab was very good but I questioned the pairing. The restaurant was crowded, and the service was friendly, though our waitress wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce the “local” fish of the evening, branzino. Did it miraculously find its way from the Mediterranean to the cold waters of Penobscot Bay?
At Pig and Poet, ceviche with rice crackers; cowboy steak with eggplant and peeky-toe crab croutons
I expected the chef to pay a visit to his diners. After all, he was voted by People Magazine as one of the sexist men alive in 2012. Alas, he never left the kitchen, which is behind closed swinging doors off an inner corridor.
Breakfast the next morning was quite good with great baked biscuits, cakes, granola, fresh fruit, eggs and excellent coffee.
Breakfast spread served in the screened porch at Whitehall: egg custards, biscuits and granola with fresh berries
I hesitated writing up this restaurant without more visits; certainly I had higher expectations of chef Talbot. I’d been to the Surf Lodge in Montauk when he was there—and his cooking did the place proud. I have a feeling, though, that Pig and Poet will emerge as a worthwhile place to dine once Talbot finds his groove.
Pig and Poet at the Whitehall, 52 High St., Camden, ME 207-236-3391; www.whitehallmaine.com
Rating: 3 stars (good with promise)
Ambiance: cool and hip
Tables: very comfortable in a spacious dining room
Noise: manageable
Service: competent
$$$: Expensive; starters, $15-plus; most entrees, $25 and up.
