Grown, Gathered & Grateful: A Maine Memory in Meals

Melissa Coleman Reflects on Maine’s Farm-to-Table Roots

Melissa Coleman is a travel writer and the author of This Life Is in Your Hands, a memoir about growing up on a Maine homestead, where dinner came straight from the soil. Now, decades later, she shares her love of Maine’s enduring farm-to-table ethos—and a remote, Deer Isle restaurant that speaks her culinary language, blurring the line between memory and modernity.

Growing up, whether I liked it or not, every meal with my family was some version of farm-to-table. As back-to-the-landers living next door to Living the Good Life authors Helen and Scott Nearing, my mother Sue would send me out to the garden to pick sun-warm tomatoes or snap peas fresh from the vine for lunch. Later, when I visited my father Eliot Coleman and stepmother Barbara Damrosch at what is now the renowned Four Season Farm in Harborside, my siblings and I were dispatched to the greenhouse for Easter lettuce and carrots, or to the root cellar for Thanksgiving squash.

It wasn’t until I moved away and faced the pale offerings of supermarket produce that I realized how lucky I’d been. The same could be said for our country: after Americans abandoned small farm culture in the 1950s, many noticed that flavor—and sustenance—had gone missing from the national diet.

Enter the farm-to-table movement. After semi-retiring from farming in 2023, Eliot and Barbara have also joined the growing number of pilgrims to farm-to-table restaurants. These days when I come home for a meal, they say, “Let’s go to Aragosta!”

Located on Deer Isle’s Goose Cove, about 45 minutes from Four Season Farm, Aragosta (“lobster” in Italian) is a celebrated farm-and-sea-to-table restaurant, inn and events venue founded by Chef Devin Finigan in 2013. It’s earned accolades from Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveller and the James Beard Foundation. There’s a lovely bar, atmospheric indoor dining and deck seating overlooking Goose Cove, a greenhouse space for groups, plus three suites and nine cabins for overnight guests.

“Farm- and sea-to-table literally means designing menus around what’s harvested nearby,” Devin explains. With bright blue eyes and long dark blonde hair, she could easily play the lead in a cooking show—if she had any interest in doing so. “We don’t mask ingredients—we highlight them creatively, with minimal intervention.”

The beauty of eating at Aragosta with my family is that it’s almost as good as eating at home. Many of the vegetables and herbs come from Four Season Farm, now leased and cultivated by Molly Friedland and Caleb Hawkins of Little Red Flower Truck. They join Fine Line Farm, Yellow Birch Farm and Fountain Farm to supply Aragosta’s locally focused menu, as well as other local purveyors for non-vegetable foods.

“Wood-fired vegetables from Four Season Farm are a staple on the bar menu,” Devin says. “We use whatever’s in season—carrots, broccolini, garlic scapes—tossed in a house-made fish caramel and served with miso aioli.” That fish caramel, she adds, is made by cooking down leeks, garlic, Thai chilies and shallots, then adding fish sauce, maple syrup and lime. “It brings out umami, sweetness and depth.” In fall, the vegetables shift to cauliflower—tempura-dipped, fried and tossed in the same caramel.

When we dine in the oceanfront dining room, my dad always orders the Maine oysters—grown nearby by Aragosta and Fish Creek. Other favorites include the mushroom tagliatelle made with Down East Mushrooms grown on Deer Isle, and the potato rösti topped with crème fraîche and seasonal vegetables. For something more adventurous, Barbara might try pickled shimeji mushrooms with house ricotta, dukkah (nuts, seeds and spice mix), and mandoline-sliced root vegetables. While most proteins are from the sea—Maine cod, fluke, tuna and shellfish—there’s a rich, local Caldwell Family Farm beef plate served with carrot purée, wood-fired carrots and strawberry-beef jus made with berries from Homewood Farm.

You could say Devin’s culinary roots are home-grown too. Her childhood included a garden, a cow and the assumption that everyone lived that way. “In summer, my mom would make a tomato pie with basil, onions, garlic and a rustic butter crust,” she recalls. “My dad’s specialties were linguine with clams on Christmas Eve, and a crab dip we’ve put in the cookbook as Crab au Kevin. It’s made with pimentos, peppers and leeks, and served warm with chips.”

Her cookbook, co-authored with Peter Kaminsky and slated for release in May 2026, is aimed at home cooks and features many of the simple meals she enjoys with her daughters.

“After a busy week of service, I like to keep it easy,” she says. “My girls love fish, burgers and big salads. Annabel is all about haddock and fried oysters. Emmylou loves dipping bread into everything. But when they come to the restaurant, they go straight for the Four Season Farm carrots.”

As for mentors, Devin names Bruno Verjus of Table in Paris, France, for his ingredient-forward style. She finds continued inspiration in Kyle Connaughton’s philosophy at SingleThread in California, Francis Mallmann’s open-fire cooking in South America and Ashley Christensen’s restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina.

But her deepest inspiration comes from the farms and chefs she works with every day.

“When we plan the menu based on the weekly farm lists,” she says, “we aim for creativity grounded in fresh, beautiful ingredients.”

That’s why, for my family, Aragosta tastes a lot like home. And for my part, I’m just grateful that the farm-to-table meals I grew up with are no longer an outlier—but a movement.

Want to bring the taste of Aragosta to your dinner table? Get the recipe to make their signature dish of wood-fired vegetables with fish caramel and miso aioli.

Chef Devin Finigan’s Dining Recommendations

Winona’s for Chef Devin Dearden’s creative small‑plates.
31 Elm Street, Camden
20‑seats, reservation-only, six‑dish rotating menu with seasonal and fresh ingredients.

Burnt Cove Boil for local seafood with her daughters.
Burnt Cove at Fifield Lobster Co., Stonington
Open seasonally for local lobster and crab boils at picnic tables on the waterfront.

Tinder Hearth for wood‑fired pizza with local seasonal toppings.
1452 Coastal Road, Brooksville
2023 New York Times “Best Restaurant” open Tuesday–Fridays during summer with reservation‑lottery system.

Regards for fresh and local tacos and small plates.
547 Congress Street, Portland
Los Angeles–style cuisine inspired by Maine’s microclimates.

Ugly Duckling for exceptional pastries.
246 Danforth Street, Portland
Bakeshop featuring Portuguese custard tart pastel de nata, open early morning to mid‑afternoon.

Bar Futo, Mr. Tuna, and Duckfat for healthy-ish “fast food.”
Bar Futo: 425 Fore Street, Portland
Japanese‑inspired small/large plates.

Mr. Tuna: 83 Middle Street, Portland
Sushi bar using sustainably sourced local seafood.

Duckfat: 43 Middle Street, Portland, duckfat.com
Duck‑fat Belgian‑style frites and seasonal small plates founded in 2005.