With winter upon us our thoughts turn to delightful evenings spent indoors, preferably somewhere cosy and warm, with good food and fine wine. A fireplace would be lovely too. Well, at Natalie’s we’ve got all that and more, just waiting for you.

Executive Chef Geoffroy Deconinck recently introduced a new menu and we’re certain there enough tempting items on it to encourage you to visit us one evening soon.

For appetizers Chef is offering a winter salad of Vegetable Crudités and Citrus Segments in a Grapefruit Vinaigrette; a Butternut Squash Soup; Seared Scallops with Braised Endive and Black Truffle Sauce, and the ultimate winter temptation: Baked Local Apple with Blue Cheese, house made Duck Prosciutto and Candied Walnuts.

The new menu main course options are Butter Poached Lobster with a winter truffle crust, celery root, rutabaga and shellfish foam; Roasted Monkfish with cauliflower, cranberry beans, kale and matelote sauce; Roasted Long Island Duck Breast with wild rice, squash, confit leg and cranberry marmalade, and what has quickly become a signature dish of Chef’s - Beef Duo with seared Rib Eye, Guinness braised short ribs, onion puree, parsnips and jus de braisage.

Natalie’s also offers a 3 course tasting menu and for a very special dinner experience we have a five course Chef’s Tasting Menu with items that are not featured on the a la carte menu.

As always, dinner at Natalie’s begins with a light amuse-bouche and the meal concludes with a mignardise.

If you are in the mood for something a little more casual, we also offer a bar menu, the perfect excuse to enjoy a cocktail from our award-winning (and included in the The American Cocktail) bartender Tom Laslavic and a delicious dish. Bar offerings include oysters, lobster bisque, Guiness braised short ribs, lamb bolognese, our Moroccan lamb burger with frites and spicy aioli and a selection of cheeses.

Bon Appetit!

These days of warmth and sunshine are an especially great time to be a Chef because it means that gardens are bursting at the seams with fresh produce. At Natalie’s, we source locally whenever we can, and in the summer the kitchen takes advantage of all the wonderful flavors available.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources can tell you exactly when your favorite seafood is in season. Luckily for those in Maine, lobster is in season all year round. Especially lucky is that summer – right now – is the season for soft shell (or new shell) lobster, which many believe is a sweeter lobster.

Not many in other parts of the world know that lobsters shed their hard shells as they outgrow them. This time of year is a treat for people visiting (or living) in Maine; no one else will get to experience the soft shell lobster because they are so tender at this stage they do not survive long-distance transportation, unlike hard-shell lobsters.

This is an especially great time to come to Natalie’s and experience our Four Course Lobster Tasting Menu. It changes daily and elevates lobster to new culinary heights. You may enjoy your meal on our porch overlooking the harbor while you watch the lobster boats and sail boats go by, or dine in the luxurious comfort of the dining room in the Camden Harbour Inn.

Curious about what else you might find at markets or in our restaurant these days? The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association offers some really useful information about what’s seasonal during each month of the year. What are farmers harvesting throughout the summer?

-    Berries and stone fruits, including blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, and peaches are in season at various points throughout the summer. You can also find cucumbers, peppers, peas, summer squash, melons and tomatoes.

-    Hearty vegetables, such as beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, onions, and potatoes are widely available. There is also broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, radishes, turnips.

-    Aromatics, such as celery, fennel, garlic, leeks, scallions, shallots, and herbs are in season. So, too, are greens of all shapes and sizes: lettuces, kale, chard, bok choy, mustard greens, arugula, beet greens, and so many others.

If you’re planning a visit to Camden, we hope you’ll visit us at Natalie’s for some amazing preparations of Maine’s finest local ingredients.

Bon Appetit!

We’ve just introduced a new summer menu celebrating summer’s bounty and highlighting the flavors and ingredients of summer in Maine in each dish.

Maine summer for many starts with strawberries in June, continuing with raspberries and blueberries and moving on to plums and even peaches in August; tomatoes, sweet late-summer corn, cucumbers, peppers, squash, lettuces and greens all make an appearance, too. Of course we also have our fair share of local cheeses, meats, and fish. Maine chefs are presented with this irresistible temptation all summer long; lucky us.

Our new menu stays true to Chef Geoffroy Deconinck’s classic French roots while infusing influences as disparate as the Far East and Down East. Enjoy our menu on the porch overlooking the harbor and the village of Camden, or relax in luxury in our comfortable dining room.

Try a mesclun salad with local goat cheese (August is Goat Cheese Month) or salmon tartare made with garden-fresh herbs. Or perhaps a grilled local lamb kebab with cumin and feta salad will tempt you? As always, Maine lobster is an option, as is local halibut with chorizo and smoked paprika.

Cucumbers are in season, and we have a refreshing new cucumber gazpacho with cherry tomatoes and mint yogurt. Our oysters will be served with yuzu and cucumber foam. Sweet corn also starts appearing as summer progresses; our Maine lobster is roasted and served with corn puree and sugar snap peas for a true New England summer dining experience. We are also offering a corn risotto with English peas and cherry tomatoes.

For dessert, light, summery flavors abound; try Drambuie and Navan Vanilla Liqueur in your after-dinner coffee (for Smooth Sailing, as they say). Vanilla crème brulee is served with house-made white peach sorbet and rhubarb marmalade, and the French classic Peche Melba is served with house-made vanilla ice cream, shaved almonds and berry sauce.

Throughout the summer, Natalie’s offers the new menu for a la carte dining and 3- and 5- course tasting menus. We also offer the 4-course Lobster Tasting Menu Grand Cru.

No matter your menu choices, our Sommelier Alex Marchesini can suggest the perfect wine for your meal.

We look forward to serving you soon and sharing in summer’s abundance.

Natalie’s Summer Menu
Appetizers

Oysters of the Day

Maine Chilled Fruit De Mer
Daily fresh caught selection of Maine’s bounty

Mesclun Salad
Farm fresh served with cherry tomatoes, local goat cheese, Parmesan baskets and dressed with an Aged Red Wine Vinegar and Mustard

Chilled Cucumber Gazpacho
Summer medley of green peppers, cherry tomatoes, mint yogurt.

Lobster Bisque
Accompanied by a lobster claw tempura seasoned with seaweed salt.

Salmon Tartare
Prepared with herbs from our gardens, a hint of Worcestershire shaved radish, croutons and served
on a bed of cucumber Carpaccio

Local Sea Scallops
Served with Hon-Shimeji mushroom, tomato coriander sauce and baby Bok Choy.

From the Sea
Roasted Maine Lobster
Accompanied by a corn puree, Royal trumpet mushrooms, sugar snaps and micro green salad

Local Halibut
Pan seared served with chorizo, smoked paprika a medley of peppers and broccolini

Scottish Salmon
Pepper crusted with an heirloom tomato ragout, white balsamic vinegar and a bean salad

From the Land
Roasted Duck
Mushroom Risotto, Cherry Marmalade and Celery Leaves

Grilled Local Lamb
Eggplant Caviar, Braised Meat, Kebab, Cumin and Feta Salad

Wagyu Sirloin Beef
Pan seared accompanied by vegetable brochettes, Swiss chard

Desserts
Selection of Sorbets
Daily changing selection of homemade sorbets

Vanilla Crème Brulee
House-made white peach Sorbet and rhubarb marmalade

New York Cheesecake
Almonds, vanilla and raspberry sorbet

Molten Chocolate Cake
Served with homemade vanilla ice-cream

Peche Melba
House-made vanilla ice-cream, shaved almonds and berry sauce

Selection of International Cheeses

Our Executive Chef, Geoffroy Deconinck, traveled to New York last month to compete for the title of best Lobster Roll against all-star chefs from around the country – and we’re proud to say his lobster roll came in second place as determined by the panels of judges: Donatella Arpaia, Harold Dieterle and Katie Lee.

It was a hot and humid night and the happy crowd of 1,000 enjoyed sampling lobster rolls from Maine (served by us) to California – but we believe the best lobster experiences are in Maine. After all, lobstering and eating lobster are what coastal Maine is all about.

Our Maine Lobster Indulgence package at the Camden Harbour Inn includes a two-night stay in a luxury suite with an a la carte champagne breakfast each morning (lobster eggs benedict perhaps?).

A highlight of the package is a 2-hour lobster cruise aboard the Lively Lady Too. During the cruise the captain will haul up traps, take out the live lobsters, and band them. He will also demonstrate how to determine whether the lobster is hard shell or soft shell, male or female, and how to measure it.

For dinner, enjoy Natalie’s famous four-course Grand Lobster tasting menu. Prepared by Chef Deconinck, who was nominated for Food & Wine’s 2011 People’s Chef Award, this is the only menu of its kind, taking lobster to new culinary heights well beyond the traditional steamed lobster.

For a lobster experience unlike any other, visit us this summer. This luxury package starts at $299 per person based on double occupancy and is available during the summer months (June-September).

Spring is a foodie’s favorite time of year in Maine; it signals abundance at Farmer’s Markets after a long, cold, potato-ridden winter, it means the promise of more bounty to come, and the excitement of ingredients and techniques old and new; the next big thing and the tried and true.

At Natalie’s at Camden Harbour Inn

Fiddleheads served at Natalie's at Camden Harbour Inn

we take this seriously, sourcing from local purveyors as much as possible and coordinating our menu offerings to the seasonal availability of ingredients.

Early spring in Maine brings treats like fiddleheads, garlic scapes, ramps, even wild mushrooms. It progresses to asparagus, greens, and lettuces. The cornucopia of Maine-grown produce grows and grows, with its berries and other fruits, apples closing out the harvest through late fall.

At Natalie’s we anticipate the influx of these products from our local providers. We look forward to being able to incorporate locally grown and gathered produce during Maine’s short, but abundant, growing and harvesting season. We are lucky enough to be ocean side, with year-round access to fish and other seafood (what would a sea-side restaurant in Maine be without lobster?), but it is the excitement – spring fever, if you will – of early season local produce that really gets us going.

On our menu the bounty of spring is easy to spot in such refreshing dishes as the Carpaccio of Beets with Goat Cheese Panna Cotta, Spring Salad and Balsamic Vinaigrette; Scottish Salmon served with Crusted Yukon Gold, Fiddleheads, Sugar Snaps and a Herb Sabayon; Chilled Carrot Soup, Red Radish, Orange Segments and Lime Zest, and the Asparagus Risotto with Preserved Lemon and Spring Garlic Foam. And that’s just a few of the dishes from our first course section to get you started!

What a wholesome way to welcome the busy season.

With our new Executive Chef Geoffroy Deconinck in place and making himself at home, a few menu changes have already made his influence on the dining experience at Natalie’s apparent.

On our Chef’s Tasting Menu Chef Deconinck has introduced a salad with duck prosciutto, cured in-house. The salad is an enticing combination of green asparagus with chilled bearnaise and a sauced egg, and of course the duck prosciutto.

On the a la carte menu as a first course Chef has created a refreshingly non traditional salad of peekytoe crab on guacamole with shaved breakfast radish, grapefruit segments and yuzu juice. The citrus of the grapefruit and yuzu juice bring out the natural sweetness of the peekytoe crab and are complimented by the smooth texture of the guacamole.

Another new first course option is a wild mushroom soup, a flavorful Fall dish with pumpkin seeds, green scallion, croutons and featuring lots of local mushrooms.

We also have two new entrees on the menu, a comforting and delicious lamb bolognese with house made papardelle, vegetable brunoise, oregano and parmesan cheese. This dish is sure to be popular through the winter months, it’s a soul satisfying dish.

For a new lobster preparation we are serving lobster crusted with chorizo, with roasted red and yellow peppers, espelette pepper, smoked paprika and broccoli. The chorizo and the lobster are a great pairing of flavors, salty, sweet and spicy.

For Maine Restaurant Week we’ll serve two menus, a three course dinner menu for $40 per person in our dining room and a $20 three course bar menu at the bar or in the lounge.

Maine Restaurant Week Bar Menu
First Course
Broccoli Soup with preserved Summer Black Truffle

Second Course
Beef Ravioli with Tomato Compote and Parmesan Foam
Or
Roasted Hake with Vegetable Couscous and Mint Béarnaise

Dessert
Baby Basmati Rice Pudding with Lime Leaf and Green Cardamom

Maine Restaurant Week Natalie’s Restaurant
First Course
House Made Salmon Gravlax with Dill, Potato Latkes and Sour Cream

Second Course
Lamb Duo of Roasted  Lamb Tenderloin and Braised Lamb with Fall Vegetables
Or
Monkfish Medallions with Yellow Curry, Coconut Rice, Eggplant and Dried Fruit

Dessert
Pistachio Crème Brulee with Raspberry Sorbet

We’ll be introducing new menu items over the next few weeks and would love to hear from you, our guests. Let us know what you think, we value your opinion.

See you soon!

We’ve been busy in the kitchen here at Natalie’s working on our new dinner menu. While for many summer is a time to simply relax and enjoy the beautiful ocean in the Midcoast, perhaps while sailing or sunbathing, we are in full swing here during the busiest time of year for us (but don’t worry, we also find time to enjoy the outdoors and take full advantage of the season).

Summer, and its bounty, supplies us with such an incredible variety of great items to work with and we enjoy introducing local delicacies to our guests. This summer, in addition to our always-popular Lobster Tasting Menu (available only in the summer and fall), we are offering several new items focused on flavors of the sea. For an appetizer we have oysters of course, currently we are serving the creamy Bagaduce Oysters
with Nori Dressing, cucumber and chanterelle mushrooms. This combination really highlights the natural sweetness of the oyster, while adding some earthiness to it with the chanterelle. Our oysters always provide that incredible briny taste of ocean and salt that is considered to be unequaled by many and is so special to Maine.

We have also added a truly summery dish of Lobster with a Silver Queen Corn Waffle, Local Lobster Mushrooms and Basil Cream. The Silver Queen Corn is one of the best corns we’ve had, and it comes from a nearby farm in Damariscotta. Another new lobster dish for us is a Lobster Soup with Thai Green Curry, Lime Leaf and Ravioli.

Seafood lovers will enjoy our appetizer of Charred Squid with Marinated Penne, Herbs and Chorizo Oil. The dish has the zip of lemon and a touch of heat from the chorizo oil making it a refreshing salad.

Grilled Black Angus Beef with Artichoke and Horseradish Puree and local foraged mushrooms has already proven to be a popular dish, as has our Lamb Three Ways, we’re serving loin, belly and tenderloin in a delightful trio with eggplant provençal and garlic flan.

Desserts this time of year should be relatively simple. We’re currently serving a Meyer Lemon Tart with Crème Fraiche and for fruit lovers, a Blistered Tree Ripened Peach with Peach Sorbet and a Crepe filled with peach and Crème Fraiche. Both desserts balance the simple flavors of summer fruit with the tartness of Crème Fraiche, creating a light, yet fulfilling conclusion to any meal.

Please let us know what you think of the new menu, and Bon Appetit!

Chef Vongerichten is to foodies what Eddie Vedder is to rock fans and Tom Brady is to sports fans. The energy in his restaurants resembles crowded stadiums before the band takes the stage. It’s the stuff of dreams. So for me it was a dream coming true to be able to cook alongside Chef Vongerichten.

Together with Melissa Kelly (Primo restaurant in Rockland), Michael Leviton (Persephone Boston and Lumiere in Newton) and Jean Geroges Vongerichten (among many restaurants: Jean Georges New York) we were asked to prepare a five course dinner to raise funds for ICEC (Island Culinary and Ecological Center). ICEC is a non-profit that teaches people the benefits of healthy eating and cooking, using regional and sustainable products.

I was asked to create the appetizers and used Frenchman’s Bay diver urchins, Bagduce, Long Cove and Damariscotta oysters to prepare a raw bar of oysters; a Nori and Matsutake “cocktail” and Kombu butter, poached quail egg, sea urchin with a cauliflower and urchin emulsion.

Jean Georges prepared a Stonington Lobster and Frenchman’s Bay sea urchin potato butter, five star nursery green apples and chili. Melissa’s highlight was the coffee rubbed and slow braised pork with wild apples and local ginger. Michael created a sweet corn soup with Stonington Peekytoe Crab and a corn and basil fondue.

It was a culinary highlight I will always remember.

At Natalie’s at Camden Harbour Inn we just launched our new a la carte menu and a new bar menu will be launched next week. First feedback I got is amazing; I hope y’all come in to join us on our culinary journey.

Savoir Gourmand! Lawrence Klang, Executive Chef