Fifteen miles later driving from Portland to North Yarmouth, I arrived at the Purple House for my weekly stash of their wonderful Montreal style bagels. Instead I found this note:
Note pinned to the door at the Purple House
I stood in the parking feeling rather foolish, best laid plans gone asunder to do early morning Sunday chores quick and easy.
To salvage this wasted trip and assuage my hunger, I went a quarter mile down the road to Stone’s Café. When the Purple House opened the folks at Stone’s were not happy, thinking that they’d lose their breakfast and lunch business to the upscale bagel maker and chef.
Ridiculous. Talk about apples and oranges, Stones is to Purple House as instant mashed potatoes is to potato gnocchi. The twain doesn’t compete.
Stones, 424 Walnut Hill Rd. (Route 115), North Yarmouth; 207-829-4000
I’m an old fan of Stone’s Café discovering it over 15 years ago when it was run by the same family (whose name escapes me) that kept that place humming for decades. Here was home-cooking bar none, big bulging plates of old-fashioned country fare served with downright gusto to an adoring local patronage. The weekly Saturday night dinners were legendary as big platters of prime rib were wheeled around like prized oxen.
