Since opening in 2013, Salt Warm Farm Restaurant has offered the magic of dining in the heart of picture-perfect-Rockport Harbor to savor the wonderfully creative cooking from the restaurant’s head chef, Sam Richman.  However, the establishment closed abruptly a few weeks ago on the heels of Richman’s departure from the kitchen. One can’t help but to read between the lines for the real story.  According to a recent Eater Maine post, owner Annemarie Ahearn is quoted as saying “We are in discussions with a very exciting and accomplished chef…for next season.” Why when there already was one?

Almost immediately Richman started a series of popups called Salty Soup Kitchen (see various Facebook posts); the first was held two Saturdays ago and the second this past weekend.  When I heard about it I went up to Rockport for one of the events, which featured  Mexican Night held in a stunning red barn on Mill Street in the West Rockport neighborhood where sprawling country estates grace the landscape.

Mexican Night menu and chef Sam Richman

I trekked up on Saturday afternoon, slogging through a 45 minute crawl through Wiscasset during the Columbus Day weekend rush that typified the town’s classic summertime  bottleneck.  Why they voted down the opportunity to create a bypass several years ago remains a big mistake.

At this Mexican Night, the room was filled with some 50 diners decked out in Double RL-style duds to munch on enchiladas, tostadas,  guacamole and micheladas, the Mexican version of a bloody Mary made with beer, tomato juice and spices.  It’s a terrific brew that fit the food so well.

Clockwise: cocadas, the barn dinner, squash, tostadas

It was a big effort—but well worth it– to go there from Portland for an overnight.  I stayed at the attractively comfy Captain Lindsey House Inn off Main Street, which happens to be ideally located a stone’s throw from the town’s terrific restaurant row.

Captain Lindsey House Inn

After dinner I walked over from the inn to 3 Crow for a nightcap.  The food is terrific there (see my May 31 2014 review in the Portland Press Herald), and late on Saturday night the place was still packed with diners savoring owner-chef Josh Hixxon’s lusty southern-inspired cooking. I was so tempted to have a second dinner but refrained and settled for a well-made cocktail and a luscious pear tart with chai ice cream from pastry chef Tara Barker, Hixxon’s wife.  I had the chance to chance to chat with Hixxon who said that it’s been a great season; his sister restaurant, 40 Paper in Camden, had its best year ever as has 3 Crow.  It has apparently been a great season for so many fine restaurants throughout Maine.

3 Crow; pear tart

I left for Portland early the next morning but not without stopping at Beth’s Farm Market in Warren where corn and fall strawberries are still in high season as well as that farm’s distinctive crop of apples and fall vegetables.

Fall strawberries and farm vegetables at Beth’s

Breakfast at Moody’s is a critical stop, too, and at 8:30 in the morning that Maine diner institution was duly jammed with a mix of salty locals and tourists filling the counter stools and booths.

Sausage gravy and biscuits at Moody’s

Though my order of sausage gravy over biscuits was not the best version of this dish (the gravy was a thick as the proverbial wallpaper paste), the big chunks of spicy sausage in the sauce was satisfying enough.

Clockwise: plenty of color, Western Road, Warren; guac, chips and michelada at Mexican Night; big tree in front of Beth’s in full color and Main Street, Rockland, early Sunday morning

The Mid-Coast continues to shine as a great destination for dining in restaurants that take advantage of the area’s richness of locally sourced provender–the hallmark of so many chefs there. Natalie’s, Sheperd’s Pie, Francine, 40 Paper, Fog Bar (328 Main St., Rockland), 3 Crow, Long Grain and Comida are some of the best examples.  And when I think of one of Richman’s dishes I had at Salt Water—a brilliant rendering of poached local halibut set over a mildly spicy vinegar-splashed base of beet borscht–any of his popups or future chef posts can count me in.

One of Richman’s great dishes, poached halibut