Bite Into Maine

A Great Place for a Snack or a Bite to Eat

You would expect to find an award winning restaurant in Portland’s Old Port, the foodie capital of all things delicious, or at one of the tourist-favorite diners found along the coast …. But you wouldn’t think to find a national award winning restaurant at a mini strip mall off Route 1 in Scarborough. For the best iconic Maine dinner of Lobster Rolls, chowder, and whoopie pies, “ayuh”, you can’t get any more Maine than that. You must try Bite Into Maine. Bite Into Maine has been featured on The Cooking Channel, The Food Network and in USA Today, Time Out Magazine, Vogue, and Condé Nast Traveler the latter magazine wrote “one of the best lobster rolls in the state and worth the wait”. Their lobster roll was also named the #1 Sandwich in Maine by Food & Wine Magazine. The restaurant was just listed in the 2023 Portland Press Herald’s list as one of the top 75 Greater Portland Best Places to Dine.

Bite Into Maine was founded by the husband-and-wife duo of Karl & Sarah Sutton back in 2011 as a 72 square foot food cart at the Portland Head Light along Maine's ruggedly beautiful Atlantic coast. Back then, the idea of a “nontraditional” lobster roll was unheard-of; they were topped with butter or mayo, and that was it. But the Suttons had a brilliant idea: offer mayo flavored with ingredients like chipotle and wasabi, used in ways that don’t overwhelm the sweet, delicate flavor of the lobster.

Their new concept took off, and since then Bite Into Maine has expanded to three locations operating year-round out of a vintage Airstream trailer at Portland’s acclaimed Allagash Brewing Co, Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth (with the food truck) and at The Commissary on Route 1 in Scarborough for dine in and take out.

Bite into Maine offers a rotating selection of soups and “chowdahs” such as clam and seafood, along with lobster bisque. Each fresh baked roll is topped with 4.5 oz. of locally sourced fresh Maine lobster. You can order the traditional Maine Style with Light Mayonnaise and Fresh Chives Roll, the Connecticut Style with Hot Butter Roll, the Wasabi Mayo Roll, and the Picnic Style Roll which includes a layer of coleslaw, hot butter, and a dash of celery salt. Lobster also makes an appearance in the Lobster Grilled Cheese Sandwich composed of fresh lobster meat tucked between fontina and sharp white cheddar cheeses with chipotle aioli. And if you really want an over-the-top sandwich, there is the Lobster Mac and Cheese Grilled Sandwich… enough said.

Ironically, even though we were surrounded by all things lobster, my friend and I went with their house-made Maple Chipotle BBQ sauce Pulled Pork sandwich that came with pickled onions on a buttery grilled ciabatta roll with a side of coleslaw. It was a chilly day and this sandwich heated us up. But our next visit will include a lobster roll, maybe the Wasabi style … speaking of heating things up. Give them a try.