Time to eat!
Credit: Katherine Keenan Whether you’re a lifelong resident of Portland, Maine, or just visiting for a weekend, it’s easy to find plenty of top-notch food in this city. That’s why I was surprised to learn a new lobster restaurant had opened right off busy Commercial Street. Aren’t there already enough lobster shacks in Portland? I wondered. I decided I had to go investigate. So I went down to the waterfront to meet up with Ben Conniff, Luke’s Lobster cofounder and a Portland resident, and to check out the restaurant’s new digs (and, of course, try the lobster).

The lobster shack, updated

Perched at the end of the Portland Pier, Luke’s Lobster sits with its feet in the harbor, boats bobbing on every side. If the building weren’t so new, it might look as though it, too, could drift out to sea.  It’s a remarkable waterfront location, especially given that a year ago the pier was “literally falling into the harbor,” according to Conniff, who has rolled up on his bicycle to meet me here. Luke’s Lobster worked in partnership with the pier’s owner to rebuild it, and as a result the restaurant is actually integrated into the working waterfront: While you’re eating dinner here, local lobstermen are unloading their catch right below you. As Conniff puts it, you’re dining “in the midst of it all.”