Francine Bistro
The service is friendly and professional, the specialty cocktails and wide-ranging wines are exceptional, and the atmosphere has a quietly electric quality.
Francine Bistro, Chestnut Street, Camden.
There's little reason for flash, though. People come to Francine for other reasons — the service is friendly and professional, the specialty cocktails and wide-ranging wines are exceptional, and the atmosphere has a quietly electric quality. All that aside, it is the food that people dream of, write about and remember. Chef Brian Hill understands this perfectly and keeps his menu simple: four appetizers, one mid-course salad, and four entrées. The menu changes daily; each ingredient in each dish is thoughtfully hand-picked by chef Hill and then wondrously combined.
Spring, summer, and fall, chef Hill pours over organic vegetables and herbs at farmers’ markets across the Midcoast. Some of the freshest ingredients arrive on Francine's front stoop by the foragers who spend days finding the best fiddleheads or wild mushrooms in the Midcoast. After learning — and experiencing — Hill's devotion to earthy flavors and his excitement for the secrets of nature, foragers deliver the freshest in-season finds. They bring only the very best.
The same is true of the seafood served at 55 Chestnut Street: Only the freshest fish brought to the kitchen door directly from dayboats is served at Francine, and Pemaquid oysters (some say they are the best in the world) are often to be found. In the winter, instead of closing for months at a time as can be the norm of Midcoast restaurants, Chef Hill defies the cold with dishes such as cider-braised shortribs falling off the bone, tender and delicious double pork chops, and white bean cassoulet with duck confit served in a cast-iron skillet. Always, there is a fish (halibut, skate wing, flounder, etc.) so perfect one despairs of ever repeating it at home, and “steak frites,” an item so popular it cannot be taken off the menu – ever.
Although Francine’s exterior and inner décor are simple, Chef Hill has a definite sense of style. Seasonally, local farmers bring in buckets and armloads of fresh-cut flowers in every hue to enliven the spare interior of the restaurant. Candles and tiny white lights twinkle, catching their own reflection in the mirrors on every wall. A giant rosemary plant resides in one corner, and thought little branches from it continually make their way into the kitchen, it never seems to falter. For all of the subtle design, there is a smattering of quirk that reveals Chef Hill's sense of humor. The three-foot lighted Santa that scowls down from the attic window to the street below, the daring pink paint of the restroom walls, and a tiny picture of a 30s-era woman in a bathing dress hangs next to the gold sparkly towel dispenser show this chef is secure with his creations and can have fun with the rest.
People of all ages and walks of life love Francine Bistro — and they travel from afar to experience it. Francine's kitchen has received glowing reviews in Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Food&Wine and, of course, Down East — and with good reason. Come find out for yourself. (Francine Bistro, 55 Chestnut Street, Camden. Hours: 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations recommended: 230-0083.)
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