Restaurants in Fort Kent, ME

Nothing like the beautiful cliche of coastal Maine, Fort Kent, at the International Boundary where Route One ends, is a community of agricultural folks for many of whom English is a second language, after Quebecoise. Hearty fare on its menus always includes the unique local specialty known as a ploye. That’s a pancake made by pouring a circle of thin buckwheat batter onto a hot griddle, cooking it briefly but never flipping it. The underside gets crisp while the top stays soft and develops countless little holes that are porous enough to absorb substantial amounts of butter and maple syrup or to sop up the last of the gravy from a plate of pot roast. The ploye is a symbol of cultural identity for the people of Aroostook County, thought of with great affection as the daily bread of lumberjacks and as ordinary people’s sustenance, traditionally made by farm wives who had minimum resources to feed large families.