2. Prism Glass Cafe
City: Rockport, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 230-0061
Address: 297 Commercial St.
Description: When this purple place opened on Route 1, people at first didn’t know what to make of it. Was it a gallery? Or a cafe? Turns out Prism Glass Cafe is actually both, combining “high-design glass art” with high-design food art. The Boston Globe has called it a “one-of-a-kind experience,” and it’s that, too. The fare injects traditional New England foods—read seafood and steak—with Italian tastes, so you might find swordfish puttanesca one day and Tuscan meatballs marinara on another. Lobster is well represented, but meat-and-potatoes people should have no fear. The entrees are quite artful themselves, and the glass is fascinating to look at, making a meal here as much a visual as a gustatory treat. The combination of glass gallery and cafe is unique, but it works.
3. Rockport Corner Shop
City: Rockport, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 236-8361
Address: Main and Central St.
Description: This is the sort of cool diner you wish you had in your hometown, the kind where they still sling hash, friends meet over a real burger and fries, and the coleslaw’s good. Open only for breakfast and lunch, the place serves up some good eggs and French toast, and lunchtime brings BLTs, grilled cheese, tuna melts, and a wide variety of diner favorites. Good milk shakes, good service, good times. Good people-watching, too, when the Maine Media Workshops are in session across the street.