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Down EastJune 2001, by Elizabeth Peavey "Some of the finest meals in western Maine are served at this Waterford inn. Michael Myers has an impressive resume: innkeeper, plumber, sommelier, handyman, chef, house painter, concierge, dishwasher, carpenter, bartender, gardener, waiter, electrician's assistant...the list goes on. What's most impressive, however, is that he has performed these jobs-with the exception of a brief respite-concurrently since 1984 and for just one boss: himself. Michael Myers (no Mike Myers jokes, please-he's heard them all), a wiry man in his forties with a dark goatee and balding pate, is the proprietor of Lake House, an upscale historic country inn and restaurant, located in the wee village of Waterford, just north of Bridgton and fifty miles from Portland. Because there is no expedient route to Waterford, the pleasure of getting there should add to the leisurely dining experience that awaits you. Approaches from any direction wend past the area's many lakes, through thick stands of pine and fir trees and by soaring sheer cliff faces, before depositing you in the village center, or Waterford Flat, as it's also known. Flanked by Keoka Lake and nestled at the base of Mount Tir'em, this snug hamlet seems suspended in time. You will find no shops, no amusements, no tourist attractions. (Despite this, the population of the area, which is home to many summer camps and cottages, increases five-fold in the summer, according to Myers.) What you will find is a compact, shady village green surrounded by classic white clapboard homes-most of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places-a tidy church, a real estate office, and the centerpiece of it all, Lake House. This beautifully restored structure, whose beginnings date back to the late 1700s, also has an impressive resume. The first building constructed in Waterford Flat, Lake House started out as a one-story inn and tavern. With the substantial additions and outbuildings that soon followed, Lake House sprawled. After a series of owners, it became the Maine Hygienic Institute for Ladies in 1847, a sanitarium where nineteenth-century women came to soothe their distresses. Then, in the late 1880s, the inn was transformed into a luxury summer resort hotel, replete with fine dining, a ballroom, tennis courts, fountains, and a host of live-in servants. This was a time when visitors traveled to the area by water (from Portland via the Songo River and Sebago and Long lakes), and around the area by narrow gauge rail and by stagecoach, for month-or-summer long stays. This august chapter stretched into the twentieth century. Lake House lore has it that such silver-screen luminaries as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Claudette Colbert were guests. In the 1950s it became a private residence and remained as such until Myers came along. A Massachusetts native, Myers moved to Maine in 1976 after college and worked a series of jobs, mostly in sales, before turning his mind to innkeeping. When he purchased Lake House in 1984 with his then-wife, Suzanne (they have since parted), he had his work cut out for him. The building had fallen into serious neglect and disrepair. He set to the daunting task of returning Lake House to its former grandeur. He worked largely alone, rebuilding it, almost literally, from the ground up-a feat he shrugs off with an "I'm a good putterer." Putterer, indeed. Most striking as you first approach the inn is the elegant Greek Revival façade with its decorated columns and ground-and-second floor front porches, where guests can relax in Adirondack chairs. (The first-floor porch is screened in for summer dining.) A two-story ell ambles out behind the main structure and connects to an adjoining carriage house, which is painted a jaunty red with green trim. The well-tended grounds are seen to by Myers and his fiancée, Doreen Sullivan, an accountant by trade, who also helps out around the inn and in its dining room. Opposite the entry, a staircase rises to the second-floor guest rooms, the grandest of which is an expansive suite fashioned out of the inn's former ballroom, with its original spring floor. While carefully restored to period, it also features some of Myers' own imaginative touches. The bathtub-a free standing ball-claw-with-shower affair-and sink, are located on a raised stage at the far end of the room. (The private toilet, just in case you're wondering, is self-enclosed. Myers notes certain travel guides don't much care for the open-air bathing situation, but you can tell he's pleased with his handiwork. From the downstairs hall, a zag to the left through the inn's common room, with its comfortable furnishings and handsome fireplace, leads to one of two dining rooms. With its deeply varnished pine paneling, long padded banquette, and memorabilia displayed on the walls, this long, narrow hall has an old-timey Maine feel to it. The more formal (in a country-ish sort of way) dining room has pistachio-green wainscoting and trim, patterned wallpaper and a puffin motif. The room is not much larger than a living room, yet the five tables are positioned to give each diner privacy. Myers makes clear-in the form of a printed "Welcome" in his menu-that dinner at Lake House is an experience to be savored, and his capable staff backs this up. As you settle in at your table, at which a dish of cured olives is placed, you are encouraged to enjoy a beverage and ponder the menu, which favors European influences. (Myers has no formal kitchen training, per se, but learned on the job.) Fresh seasonal produce steers the menu, and there's a heavy emphasis on seafood during the summer months. After starting with a crisp salad tossed with apples, dried fruit, pecans, and gorgonzola or the creamy duck liver pate, you can try poached salmon with a pistachio salsa, trout almondine, or poached haddock with sour cream , dill, and artichoke hearts. One of the house specialties, roasted duckling, is accompanied by either Kashmir cherry sauce or a blueberry-blackberry sauce. The loin of lamb is served in perfectly cooked small medallions and arranged on a bed of minted Bordelaise. (Entrees range in price from the high teens to twenty-six dollars; appetizers and desserts are six dollars). Diners are encouraged to prevail upon Myers for an appropriate selection from his well-rounded wine list, of which he is highly knowledgeable. (Lake House has repeatedly been awarded the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.) As guests begin to fill the dining rooms, the light, piped-in classical music is drowned out by the quiet chatter, the recitation of the evening's specials, and questions about the menu. It's hard to resist eavesdropping on the answers to these questions or eyeballing the plates as they start to appear from the kitchen. When things get hopping, Myers himself will ferry out food, and he greets many of his customers by name or even joins then at their tables, if he has time. A Champagne sorbet arrives between courses, which a chilled spoon presented to you on a tray. (It's this attention to detail that distinguishes Lake House. Another example is the basket of rolled washcloths, in lieu of paper towels, in the restrooms.) Classic tableside preparations like Caesar salad and bananas Foster are conducted like low-key floorshows. As the food keeps coming, the room fills with a symphony of aromas, clinking glass and china, and happy conversation, reaching something of a swell, until, gradually, meals are finished and diners wander off to their rooms or out through the screen door for one last glimpse of the waning deep blue summer twilight. The entire evening has the feel of a perfectly orchestrated event. Call it, perhaps, the Myers' touch. He's all confidence about his operation and his abilities. In the mid-nineties, he moved to Puerto Rico and put Lake House on the market for a time. Yet, when faced with the decision of what to do next, he knew where his heart was. Resolved that he didn't want to let Lake House go, he returned with renewed vigor. "I could've done anything," he says, referring to that juncture of his life. "But I didn't want to do anything else. This is exactly where I want to be." Judging by his resume and his restaurant, he very likely could have done anything, but to contented Lake House diners, he made the right choice."
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The Lake House Bed and BreakfastA Country Bed and Breakfast Inn Located in Waterford, ME
686 Waterford Road,
Corner of Rt. 35 & 37, Waterford, Maine (ME) 04088 Copyright© 2005 The Lake House - Waterford, ME - Website optimization by Mannix Marketing |
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