Primo Melissa Kelly Primo
2 S. Main St. (Harborside Ter.)
Rockland, ME 04841
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Tuscany comes to northern Maine, taking farm-to-table cuisine to new heights.
Openings: Dinner Wed.-Sun. in season (closed Nov.-April)

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Primo, Rockland, ME


Primo Restaurant Review:


Known throughout New England for her garden-to-table cuisine, chef/owner Melissa Kelly is a pioneer in organic farming. Tour the gardens to view some of the vegetables that will soon be on your plate. Upstairs, sample wood-fired pizzas and inventive small dishes; it’s easier to find a seat there than in the parlor. Downstairs, small rooms create an intimacy that Kelly’s contemporary Mediterranean cuisine only enhances. Start with deviled Pemaquid oysters roasted in the wood oven with peekytoe crab, or baby kale with a creamy cashew dressing and watermelon radish. Pastas are from recipes passed down through Kelly’s Italian family, and include spinach linguine with sherried chicken, spinach and mushrooms, pea tendrils and Reggiano. Chicken, which was raised in the restaurant’s free-range setting, is grilled and basted with honey mustard and served on sautéed spinach and house-made ham, ricotta cappelletti and carrots in a Parmesan broth. Fish lovers may try the seared yellowfin tuna. The wine list is heavily Italian. Co-owner Price Kushner soothes the savage sweet tooth with lemon ginger cheesecake or a maple pecan squash tart.