DiMillo's Floating Restaurant, Portland, ME

Saturday dawned cold and crisp in Portland, and once we finally got bundled up to hit the town, we were feeling more like lunch than breakfast. No worries there though- we had our spot all picked out. DiMillo's Floating Restaurant sits on the water in a retired car ferry. The ship itself began its life in 1941 when it began its service as a car ferry in the New York area. As time went on the ship found itself in high demand as a car ferry, and was sold to several other states for their use, and then finally was utilized as a youth shelter and a club. Finally, in 1980, the DiMillo family purchased the boat, and opened their floating restaurant in 1982. While some may consider it a tourist trap during the warmer months, it serves our purposes well during the rest of the year.

For whatever reason, DiMillo's is a spot where we choose to sit at the bar, rather than at a table in their expansive dining room. We have actually never sat at a table, but instead always enjoy the friendly bartenders, the views of the ocean and dock areas. There is something about the ocean in the winter that I just love. Knowing that Portland is chock full of tasty treats for any time of the day, I decided to get a smaller lunch and selected the Maine Crab Roll. Small-this roll was not! The sandwich was served in the traditional fashion- in a hot dog roll- and it was absolutely PACKED with fresh crab meat mixed with mayo and very little else. DiMillo's obviously knows how tasty their fresh crab meat is, and showcased it well. Sweet and delicious, huge chunks of crab, along with the lots of the broken down meat filled the roll to such a degree that it was almost hard to eat-almost. I polished off my sandwich in record time.

John had also elected to go the Crab route-and got the Crab Club. Typical in it's presentation the club was a triple decker, layered inside with crab salad, lettuce, tomato and bacon. I stole a quick bite and really enjoyed the same lovely crab salad mixed with the smokey crisp bacon. Delicious. Our sandwiches both came with our choice of a side, my coleslaw, which I had picked knowing that I wouldn't be tempted by it, had good flavor from the bite I took, but I just am not a big 'slaw fan. John had chosen the rice as his side and ate a good amount of the heaping portion- I took that as a good review.

DiMillo's is a great starting point in Portland. Beautiful water views give you ambiance you couldn't create and a solid seafood offering with reasonable prices makes this a must hit for us each time we head to Portland.