American Eats: Maine. The Dog and Pony Tavern
There are few places that I will openly recommend to anybody in that particular area. But one of them is in Bar Harbor. And it is not the kind of place that most people who visit “Bah Habah” would expect to be high at the list of anybody’s recommendations.
Welcome to the Dog and Pony Tavern.
Maine in general and Bar Harbor in particular is known for its upscale seafood. That is not what you go to the Dog and Pony to get. You go to the Dog and Pony to get high quality local beer and pub food. You go there when it’s hot out, you just left Acadia National Park and you need air conditioning and a meal and a beer to put you right.
What’s most amazing about the Dog and Pony are these puppies.
Those are poutots. Poutine, but instead of french fries they use tater tots.
As longtime readers will know, I am quite a poutine aficionado. Poutine is, of course, the pinnacle of Canadian cuisine. But I can count on one hand the number of places in the United States that do poutine right. Usually, poutine in the U.S. is a bastardized version of New Jersey’s Disco Fries. It’s fine for what it is, but fries, regular shredded cheese and gravy doesn’t just hit like fries, cheese curds, and gravy does.
The Dog and Pony, which also serves traditional poutine in addition to poutots, does.
The Dog and Pony is one of the few places I will recommend to people going to Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is a touristy town that often has overpriced food in restaurants that are hard to get into. The Dog and Pony is probably the most laid-back place in the city to get a meal. It’s worth it.
The Dog and Pony Tavern
4 Rodick Pl
Bar Harbor, ME 04609