Eating Out in New Hampshire

By Billa

On Reddit (a forum-based social media platform), someone asked, “What is the food of New Hampshire?”

Here are some of the answers from the site:

Gas station fried chicken

Terrible local chains that locals insist are great

Boiled dinner - Yum!

The worst Chinese food possible

Apple cider donuts

If you own a restaurant in New Hampshire, you’d better have baked haddock on the menu or old people will riot

Accordingly, my food expectations were not too high when we embarked on a road trip to New Hampshire in mid-August.

Portsmouth harbor - the bridge connects Portsmouth with Kittery, Maine

Portsmouth has many beautiful flower gardens

We stayed in 4 different towns. Our first stop was Portsmouth, a coastal town that was charming and walkable with a lively downtown area filled with restaurants.

Fire pits are popular throughout New Hampshire. This fire pit is at a restaurant in North Conway.

Next, we stopped in North Conway - home to Kancamagus Highway, a scenic drive in the White Mountains, many hiking trails, and a touristy railroad ride.

Flume Gorge

Part of the trail leading to Flume Gorge - I found it to be a challenging hike

The third town was Franconia. It is known for Flume Gorge, a natural chasm that is a 2 and 1/2 mile nature hike in the White Mountains with waterfalls, natural pools, covered bridges, and a wolf’s den along the way. 

Archie and friends comics were created by Bob Montana, a resident of Meredith. This sculpture is part of an Art Walk that we were fortunate to come across in our visit to Meredith

Finally, our last stop was Meredith, a quaint town on the shores of the State’s largest lake, Lake Winnipesaukee.

I wouldn't categorize any one meal that we had as excellent. However, occasionally there were some outstanding dishes. Here are the ones that stood out for me:

The dining room set for breakfast at the Nutmeg Inn

My favorite breakfast - in Meredith we stayed at the Nutmeg Inn bed and breakfast. The inn dates back to 1763. For breakfast, the first morning, we were served a first course of berries and yogurt, followed by a fluffy, light, and slightly spicy Mexican frittata. There were also homemade scones and toast available.

My favorite drink - In North Conway we stayed at the White Mountain Hotel where we had dinner the first night at the Ledges restaurant. I ordered a strawberry lemonade and Martin had the strawberry and blueberry lemonade. Both were excellent - fruity, and not too sweet or too sour.

My favorite soup - To celebrate our wedding anniversary, we dined at the 1869 Room in the Wentworth Hotel in Jackson, New Hampshire. The roasted tomato parmesan soup was hearty, tangy, and full of umami. Sliced scallions floated on top.

My favorite entree - although almost every restaurant we visited in New Hampshire did indeed have haddock on the menu, I thought the haddock we had at Chef Joe’s Bistro in Franconia was exceptional. Haddock is a mild, delicate fish with a very subtle flavor. Accordingly, the chef at Joe’s Bistro treated it aggressively. Martin had haddock parmesan, whereas I had Portuguese haddock with a sweet and sour cinnamony tomato sauce. It was so flavorful!

My favorite dessert - In Portsmouth, we ate in Cure, a restaurant owned by Chef Julie who had competed on Chopped, a Food Network show that we enjoy watching. We were served a chocolate peanut butter tart with whipped cream and a caramel sauce. It was beautiful to look at with a rich, decadent taste. So good! 

So while we encountered a lot of mediocre, subpar food, there was also was some really good food in New Hampshire, But the good stuff was the exception, and I'd have a hard time picking a restaurant where I had a great meal from beginning to end.