Walkers Maine — Restaurant in York

Saturday's date night brought my wife and I to another restaurant we had never been to before. This one came on a tip from the exceptionally talented and wonderful human being, Nikki Nocella of Stalk. We made reservations and made our way in to Maine to 1273 US 1 in Cape Neddick, home of Walkers Maine(Pics 1-4).

We were brought to our seats and given menus for cocktails, wine, and food, and we began to look things over. We immediately ordered a bottle of Saratoga Sparkling Water(Pic 5). When that was delivered, my wife ordered a Witch Please(Pic 6). This was a wonderful drink made with Bully Boy Seacoast Vodka, blackberry, allspice dram, and lemon verbena. My wife loved, loved, loved it. I ordered a Rhubee Hive(Pic 7). This beauty was made with Bar Hill Gin, Rhubarb, honey, and lemon. I really enjoyed this drink. It was very refreshing and flavorful.

After our drinks were delivered, we ordered an appetizer. While waiting for the app, our waiter brought us a focaccia bread basket with dipping oil(Pic 8). Warm, soft with a crispy top, and delicious. Then, our appetizer arrived(Pic 9). These seared artichoke hearts were made with brown butter, Nicoise olives, and caramelized lemon. OMG, it was out of this world!!! So much flavor that we both devoured our skewers.

When it was time for the entrée, my wife ordered the Prime Sirloin Kebabs(Pic 10). This meal included a brown butter roasted yam, topped with scallions, avocado, and sour cream then served with a cherry tomato salsa. The kebabs were cooked to perfection. The yam was mouthwateringly flavorful, and the cherry tomato salsa was the first thing she went after and completely devoured.

I was bouncing between three different entrées, and with help from our waiter, I selected the Wood Fired Pork Chop(Pic 11). This Chop was huge, wildly flavorful, and juicy. I had meat sweats last night, but I'd do it all over again. It was served atop potato cheddar mashed potatoes, bacon and wood fired cabbage, and Meyer lemon-onion mostarda. I completely fell in love with this dish. It was a hearty bounty that surprised my palette. I asked for and received a wine best suited with my meal, this luscious Pinot Noir(Pic 12)

For dessert, we each ordered a decaf coffee and we split the brioche donuts with vanilla ice cream (Pic 13). The donuts melted in your mouth, and come to think of it, so did the ice cream. 🤔😉

The entire evening was so wonderful. We sat in the bar area with the fire going in the fireplace. We were cared for by an entire 6 or 7 person team. Everyone who worked in that area came in contact with us. It was truly extraordinary. Another thing that impressed us, was in between each course, someone came over and wiped the table down. If you are like us and have never been to Walkers Maine, you should make every effort to go. The atmosphere is comfortable, the food is simply outstanding, and the service is exemplary. Give it a...

This is some of the best food that I've ever had. There was almost some drama over a novelty smurf-themed jelly jar, but still a remarkable experience.

As soon as you walk in it's visually delicious. Everything is elegant, and it's absolutley sprawling with a fireplace and a full seating area around it in the main dining room. There's also a beautiful bar area that I checked out and what looks to be a private function room that I wandered into by accident.

I don't drink so I can say that the club soda was very club-soda. My husband's soda was delivered in what appeared to be a random smurf-glass that was fantastic, but leaving me wondering how it fit into their brand. I did not receive my drink in a smurf glass, but he's better-looking than me, so I understand. But my feelings were hurt.

For appetizers we ordered the whole roasted cauliflower, which is going to be my meal, next time. It was absolutely amazing. It was surprisingly the size of a delicious human brain and swimming in a this amazing sauce, and it was cooked down to this perfect texture that made even the hard stalks easy to cut with a fork. It was so big that I had to carve it like a turkey, leaving me feeling like a real man. A man who carves turkey. We also got the special fiddleheads which were great, with rhubarb sauce. Any restaurant that knows to take advantage of these cute little guys during their time in-season has its act together.

The service was exquisite. During the very attentive round of beverage re-fills I asked that my next drink be served in a smurf-glass, rather than a lowly tumbler. I was told that this was possible.

My husband ordered the lamache (mascarpone, snow peas, lemon, fennel pollen) which left me having to not decide wether to get that or the rice noodles (i wanted both). Both were absolutely amazing. As said before: some of the best food that I've ever had. During this course, my drink came. In a tumbler. Note that a different person brought out the drinks. The server came shortly afterwards with new juice in a smurf-glass, apologizing. That's RIGHT you're sorry.

One star in a review is reserved for the bathroom. Their bathroom was fine.

Dessert was doughnuts and key lime pie. Both were great. The portions are really good. But split the doughnuts: you get two of them, and they're full-sized. It's a lot of dessert. We did end up taking food home.

So very very excellent, and I...

Update second visit in 3 years:

We have been to Joshua's, The Village Tavern, and many more.... Walker's is our favorite!

We sat outside for our second visit and it was a beautiful setting. As the night got later around 9pm the mosquitoes started to bother us.

We started with the local Maine cauliflower (not the white one you are used to), which had a broccoli look to it. It impressed us the most because we never have such an appetizer so delicious coming from a cauliflower. We had the bleu cheese and buffalo roasted cauliflower before, but this one from Walker's blows it away. The roasted sear and balanced flavors if salt and vinegar was superb. Almost taste like bacon as well. We even used the bread to dip more of the broth the cauliflower just infused itself with.

Update 2nd visit apps: We definitely got the cauliflower again, it hit the spot. We kept dipping the sauce to cover the cauliflower.

I also ordered the crab appetizer with watermelon which was light and flavorful. We wanted to experience something new and this dish didn't disappoint.

Next my wife got the duck and I got the pork chop special. Secretly I wanted to order The duck as well. We compromised and split both dishes. The duck was my favorite and will order that next time. It has Asian inspired rice and bok choy. The duck has a hint if smoke flavor and light crisp texture with how they cook it in the open flame grill. You can only experience this dish here at Walkers.

The pork was roasted/charred to perfection. The corn on the cob was also roasted and had aioli and crispy chips in top of it, amazing. I am forever ruined to eat corn again if it is not made like this...ha. The pork was over a potato salad base. Everything on both dishes were well thought out and perfectly balanced.

Update 2nd visit: my wife got the duck again and I wished I got it...ha. I got the grilled steak which was excellent and all the flavors and textures were balanced.

Lastly we completed our anniversary dinner with the chocolate lava cake with coffee gelato with hazelnuts. We saw others get the donuts, but it's rare to get a lava cake and we're glad we choose that.

Walker's is our new favorite fine dining spot!

Also thanks for the complimentary glasses...