Fogarty’s: Where It’s Always Thanksgiving If You Really Want It To Be!

During an overnight stay in Dover, New Hampshire I was looking online for a good place to eat dinner, and my google search led me across the border to the town of South Berwick, Maine where I discovered an unassuming little restaurant called Fogarty’s.

Immediately I liked the atmosphere of this casual, cheery place, but the impressive array of homemade desserts and baked goods that greeted me as I entered the restaurant “had me at hello.” Is it wrong to long for dessert when you have yet to eat dinner? Fogarty’s will do that to you.

One of my favorite meals at any time of the year is a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixin’s: stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, cranberry sauce, gravy. I spied a turkey dinner on the menu and ordered it. Little did I know it would be, to date, the only entrée I have ever ordered at Fogarty’s after at least a half dozen visits! When you find something this good, it’s hard to stray from it. I have eaten a lot of turkey dinners in my time, and I have visited countless restaurants, but never have I encountered a meal that is so beautifully well-prepared, generously portioned, and most importantly, so delicious. First off, the turkey itself is often my least favorite part of a turkey dinner, but not here. The turkey is tender, moist, and so satisfying that I often eat half of it before I even sample the side dishes. The turkey is accompanied by a huge portion of savory stuffing, the mashed potatoes are delicious and the butternut squash is seasoned perfectly… not too sweet, but just sweet enough. Everything tastes completely fresh and homemade. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go… judge for yourself!

Now keep in mind that Fogarty’s has an enormous and eclectic menu! You can get a Maine lobster roll and fries or other local seafood, like fried clams, scallops or Atlantic salmon. There are pasta dishes, beef, chicken and pork entrees, burgers, sandwiches and someday I sincerely intend to try some of them. I have made a little progress in that direction, recently trying their shrimp and corn chowder, a butternut squash and cranberry bisque, and a clam chowder that could win an award; it was almost the consistency of a stew given the huge amount of finely minced clams that far outnumbered the chopped potatoes it contained. But as far as the entrees are concerned, my heart still belongs to the turkey!

Fogarty’s also has an impressive array of homemade pies, and again, I have become a creature of habit, ordering their chocolate cream pie every time I visit. The chocolate pudding filling seems to be a darker chocolate than is typical, and is not too sweet. It’s sandwiched between an excellent pie crust and real whipped cream. I have also tried the strawberry cream pie in the summer, but while it was different and very good, I am still firmly caught in the gravitational pull of the chocolate cream, though I typically have to take it to go after devouring such a big meal.

If you are anywhere near Maine or New Hampshire’s popular seacoast areas, take a 15 minute detour north to Berwick and check out Fogarty’s. And if you try anything  other than the turkey dinner, please let me know how it is!

Read more: Fogarty’s: Where It’s Always Thanksgiving If You Really Want It To Be!