PRESS & REVIEWS
The 18 Essential Maine Restaurants
From a lobster and chorizo roll by Portland’s Old Port to wood-fired pizzas at a farmhouse brewery, here’s where to eat all across Maine - KATE MCCARTY, JULY 21, 2022
While we’re of course proud and pleased to be included in this list of fantastic restaurants all over Maine, we can only imagine the difficulty the author had choosing. We’d choose to expand the list and add so many others, including:
Primo in Rockland of course; our neighbor right across the street from Havana, Salt & Steel in Bar Harbor; Hearth & Harbor in SWH; our sister restaurant in Northeast Harbor, Copita; our other sister restaurant on Little Cranberry Island, the Islesford Dock Restaurant & Gallery; Le Mu in Bethel; Provender in Ellsworth; the Hichborn in Stockton Springs; and so, so many other amazing restaurants all over our great State!
Read the full article here: 18 Essential Maine Restaurants
MAINE CLASSICS- MAINE DECOR MAGAZINE 2023
A handful of treasures have earned an enduring place in the culinary canon—like Fore Street, still argu-ably the O.G. of exquisite New England cuisine. After a reno to its interior and menu, Miyake’s inno-vative sushi bar shines as brightly as ever. The lavish dishes and impecca-ble service at Natalie’s just seem to be getting more and more splendid. Elda’s ever-changing tasting menu continues to be a splurge-worthy adventure, and Havana looms large in our pantheon for its heady swirl of excellent South and Central Amer-ican fare, high-octane mojitos, and freewheeling energy.
In Bar Harbor, Havana Has Become an Unlikely Classic
In a tourist town that used to be known for straightforward tastes, the Latin-fusion restaurant invented its own niche.
We were delusional,” Michael Boland says of 1999, the year he and his wife, Deidre Swords, opened Havana, on Bar Harbor’s Main Street. “We shot too high. For the entire first summer, we decided we’d change the menu every single night.” And while using local, organic produce is so commonplace these days that “it’s almost lost its meaning,” Havana has done that since its early days, hosting special dinners with no ingredient from more than 100 miles away — no olive oil or pepper and only salt harvested in Lubec. Plus, that was all at a time when a nice night out in Bar Harbor probably meant a lobster dinner or steak and potatoes. No matter. For legions of locals and travelers alike, Havana became the go-to for upscale eating on Mount Desert Island, and the restaurant counts some notable somebodies among its guests — President Barack Obama has stopped in for dinner, as has Martin Scorcese. Martha Stewart, a seasonal resident of nearby Seal Harbor, comes in multiple times every summer. In the first year of the pandemic, when restaurants across the country were in crisis mode, Esquire published a list of 100 restaurants that America “can’t lose” — Havana was the only place in Maine to make the list.
By Jesse Ellison
Photos by Nicole Wolf
From our July 2023 issue
Down East Magazine
18 Best Restaurants in Bar Harbor, Maine
Vacation Idea/Dream Vacation Magazine - By VI Staff on May 7, 2021
Couples traveling to Bar Harbor can dine at quaint waterfront restaurants in the city's historic downtown district and enjoy excellent Maine cuisine, highlighting Maine lobsters and locally-sourced seafood catches.
https://vacationidea.com/restaurants/best-romantic-restaurants-in-bar-harbor.html
1oo Restaurants America can not afford to lose
Esquire Magazine - December 29, 2020
Havana is listed has one of 100 restaurants we can not afford to lose in Esquire Magazine (only one listed from Maine).
https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/amp34864761/restaurants-america-covid-19-pandemic-service-industry/
What a wonderful way to enjoy NYE dinner. Take out from Havana! Amazingly wonderful food, imaginative presentation, a split of champagne (from Albuquerque!) AND lots of leftovers for lunch!
Hats off to Havana owners Michael Boland and Deirdre Swords for tonight and for all you do. These two knuckleheads are two of a kind friends, parents, entrepreneurs who are holding it all together through this volcano we knew as 2020.
Dinner is served on Grandma Mamie’s vintage china. If there was ever a turn-of-the-last-century dame that faced bad times and adversity head on and came out on top, it was that wacky broad Mamie. Seems fitting we would dine on her dishes tonight.
Facebook - Rob Elston-Pollock
PHOTO: JAY CARROLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNA
Why Maine Is the Perfect Road-Trip Destination for Fall
Lobsters, treasure hunts and really low Covid-19 numbers. This 3-day getaway up the coast of southern Maine is the ideal antidote to cabin fever.
....tourism is half of what it was last year, which presents a clear upside to autumn roadtrippers: No more leaf-peeping logjams. For a primer on rusticating in southern Maine, head due north on Route 1 and follow this three-day itinerary: Day 3 Drop your bag and then drive 17 minutes to Bar Harbor’s Havana, where the Latin-inflected menu features seafood paella, lobster moqueca (a Brazilian stew) and Pisco sours (318 Maine St., Bar Harbor, havanamaine.com).
8/25/2020 I BOSTON Magazine I TRAVEL GUIDE
Boston Magazine Travel Guide: Glamp Your Way Through Rustic Bar Harbor, Maine Whether your idea of getting back to nature involves hiking through the wilderness or roasting s’mores outside your luxe glamping tent, you’ll find your happy place in this rugged Maine sanctuary by the sea.
by NATHAN TAVARES· 8/25/2020, 10:09 a.m.
5/29/2020 I BANGOR DAILY NEWS
After a slow summer start, Bar Harbor businesses fear for survival
The numbers are in for Memorial Day weekend, traditionally considered the start of Maine’s summer tourist season, and the returns have hoteliers and other businesses in Bar Harbor fearing that 2020 will be a bust.
By Bill Trotter May 29, 2020
OCTOBER 5, 2019 I Mount Desert Islander
Young Bakers Get Creative: Havana, Choco-Latte, and the Neighborhood House sponsor kids baking competition.
Kids Bake Off M.D.I. 2019
October 5th - Havana restaurant, Choco-Latte Cafe, and the Neighborhood House sponsored a Kids Baking Competition for kids in 4th and 5th grade from Mount Desert Island Community Schools. Young bakers were provided with basic baking ingredients, and equipment, and what they come up with was truly amazing!
SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 I martha up close and personal
A Guest Blog from Darron Collins, President and Alumnus, College of the Atlantic on Share the Harvest Farm Dinner by Havana
Share the Harvest Farm Dinner -images by Martha Stewart
The College of the Atlantic, a private liberal arts institution in Bar Harbor, Maine, continues to nurture young men and women who are passionate about the environment.
COA was founded in 1969. Its focus areas include environmental sciences, marine mammal habitats, and sustainable food systems. The students come from around the world and many graduates stay on to work as entrepreneurs, farmers, and teachers. I have been involved with COA for some time. Whenever I am in Maine, I try to attend some of the college's cultural events. I’ve also hosted a few receptions and dinners at Skylands.
Earlier this month, COA hosted a student-led fundraising affair at its farm - one of two on-campus that supply the school with organic produce, eggs, and meat. Because of my very busy work and travel schedule, I was unable to attend. COA's President and alumnus, Darron Collins, offered to share some photos from the event and information about the work the students are doing to help less fortunate area residents - enjoy.
"Share the Harvest" is a thriving program on MDI and throughout Maine’s Hancock County. For the sixth year running, we’ve worked collaboratively with the COA-alumnus owned restaurant, Havana, to hold a farm-to-table fundraiser for the program out at COA’s Beech Hill Farm. Despite threatening weather, more than 70 guests came to support and celebrate the extraordinary work of these COA students. If you would like to find out more about the program, please click on the following highlighted link and visit Share the Harvest.
MaineLife Media
Makes their Way to Mount Desert Island featuring the Bar Harbor Inn, Havana Restaurant, Mount Desert Island Ice Cream, and Kebo Valley Golf Club.
Maine Life - Season 4 Episode 16
Havana at 25:15
The 18 Essential Maine Restaurants, Winter 2019
The answer to the question, "Can you recommend a restaurant?"
by Adam H. Callaghan and Kate McCarty Updated Feb 7, 2019, 8:00am EST
Road Trip: 4 Days on the Maine Coast
by BRAD RICKMAN
July 31, 2018
Portland, Camden, and Bar Harbor—the top three tracks on Maine's Greatest Hits album—are the ones you want to revisit again and again.
Road Trip! Brad Rickman made your next Maine coastal road trip easy with a few tips and key destinations from Portland, Camden, and Bar Harbor. We are thrilled to make the Bar Harbor list, and we are in good company.
Sustainable MDI III
April 25th 2018, owners & staff members of MDI restaurants, cafes, take-outs & catering companies came together with A Climate to Thrive (ACTT) to find effective, practical and economical ways to tackle the growing environmental and health crisis of single-use plastic waste.
We’ve developed a local pledge program to reduce plastic and styrofoam for the upcoming season and get compostable products composted.
Healthy Acadia November 2017
Havana partnered with Healthy Acadia and are donated $2 per entree sold on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the month of November to support cancer prevention and treatment services in Hancock and Washington counties. Join us and Dine out for a good cause!
Our friends at The Maine Mag stopped by and had this to say…….
MAINE MAG JUNE 2016 Photography: Nicole Wolf
HAVANA - Listed as One of Top Ten restaurants in Maine.
Rated in the top ten of Unique Restaurants In Maine June 2016 ||||
We are thrilled to make any top ten list, let alone being listed as number 2 in Maine. Recognition is always sweet and we are listed with some other great places, so we are in good company.
These 10 Unique Restaurants In Maine Will Give You An Unforgettable Dining Experience |||| Michelle Starin
The Ten Most Highly Rated Restaurants In Maine |||| Michelle Starin
FOOD REVOLUTION DAY! May 20th 2016 ||||
On the morning of May 20th, MDI Hospital partnered with Havana to host a hands-on cooking demonstration and food education session at Conners Emerson School as well as an evening fundraiser for the Conners Emerson greenhouse project. Havana head chef Josh Crotty and MDI Hospital’s Marisa Marinelli taught fifth and sixth graders from Conners Emerson School how to make their own vegetarian tamales.
Food Revolution Day |||| Jamie Oliver's
Special thanks to Peter Logue for the creation of this Video.
SEAFOOD THROWDOWN at the Commonground Fair 2014 ||||
Seafood Throwdowns are designed to be fun events that help the public understand the ecological, social, food system, and economic importance of locally caught seafood and community-based fisheries. The event was sponsored by Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and Penobscot East Resource Center. Its purpose is to educate the audience about under-appreciated species using locally caught seafood. That’s not all. The chefs could only bring with them 3 of their favorite ingredients from their home-base. They were then given $25 and 15 minutes to find the rest of their ingredients from the fair’s farmers market.
Seafood Throwdown: 2 Local Chefs, 1 Mystery Fish|||| Bangor Daily News
(*Havana was Victorious! )
FOOD REVOLUTION DAY! May 16th 2014 ||||
On the morning of May 16th, MDI Hospital partnered with Havana to host a hands-on cooking demonstration and food education session at Conners Emerson School as well as an evening fundraiser for the Conners Emerson greenhouse project. Chef Alex Klein led the students in preparing chimichurri.
Food Revolution Day |||| Jamie Oliver's
MAINE MAGAZINE'S JULY 2012 ISSUE ||||
Mount Desert Island
Location: Mount Desert Island
48 HOURS-July 2012
Photographs + stories by Maine magazine staff:
Kevin Thomas, Susan Grisanti + Kate Gable
The New York Times ||||
36 Hours in Bar Harbor, Me.
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT I JULY 14, 2011
For something more exotic, try the red-walled Havana (318 Main Street; 207-288-2822; havanamaine.com), the Obamas’ choice when they visited last summer. The paella with lobster, mussels, clams and chorizo ($29) is worth the stop.
Excerpt taken from Bangor Daily News (7/18/10):
“It’s pretty amazing,” Havana owner Michael Boland said of the Obamas’ visit to the restaurant in Bar Harbor on Saturday night. He said he, his wife, Deirdre Swords, and several members of the Havana staff got to chat with the president and first lady during their meal.
“They were very easy to connect with,” Boland said. “They were really genuine.”
The Obamas talked with Swords and Boland about yoga and about their daughters, the restaurateur said. Boland and Swords also have two girls, Zoe, 4, and Juno, 6 months.
The president had paella and Mrs. Obama had lobster thermidor, according to Boland. Both had martini cocktails and, for dessert, the president had tres leches, a traditional Latin-style cake, and the first lady had flan.
After eating, the first couple posed for photos with restaurant staff, and when time came to pay, the president used his credit card, leaving a “very generous” tip, Boland said.
“He passed that test with flying colors,” he said, adding he plans to keep the credit card slip. “It’s got his signature on it. It’s pretty awesome.”
Cranberry and Chorizo Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Fresh from Maine
COOK-September 2010
By Annemarie Ahearn
Photograph by Russell French
Never has an author captured such a range of culinary talent in Maine. This book is a testament to the effort made by area chefs to bring sustainable consumption to the forefront and quality cuisine to the table.
Make it at home.
Cranberry and Chorizo Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
(Chef Aaron Horvath, Havana Restaurant, Bar Harbor)
The New York Times ||||
WHAT’S DOING IN: Mount Desert Island
By Wayne Curtis | August 5, 2001
“Some of the island’s zestiest and most creative dinners are served at Havana, 318 Main Street, Bar Harbor, (207) 288-2822, which features local fare prepared to a salsa beat. Selections from the Latino fusion menu include Jamaican jerk rack of lamb and chili-coated salmon served over Cuban black beans.”
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/sparkly-charm-and-bebopping-fingers