In season

The new Hurricane will blow you away

By Jill Strauss

Hurricane Restaurant, #2, 29 Dock Square, Kennebunkport, (207) 967-9111

Hurricane Restaurant, Perkins Cove Road, Ogunquit, (207) 646-6348

Both venues are open weekly for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., for small plates from 3 to 5:30 p.m., and for dinner from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.

HURRICANE #2: picking up where the Riverside left off.

Brooks and Luanne MacDonald seem to have the restaurant formula — attracting tourists and locals year round — down pat. Their first restaurant, The Hurricane, which sits a stone’s throw from the ocean in Ogunquit, is almost always bustling. Now, the MacDonalds have opened a second Hurricane, in Kennebunkport, with the hope that history will repeat itself.

Some would say Brooks MacDonald was destined to open the second Hurricane at 29 Dock Square. For it was at this exact address that he first realized, 35 years ago, his culinary calling.

In 1966, The Riverview Restaurant was a typical family-style seafood establishment with two unique features. The back of it overlooked the Kennebunk River and the front boasted an ice-cream parlor accented with an antique soda fountain and candy counter. The restaurant was frequented largely by summer people from away, but the ice-cream parlor was a favorite haunt of local kids like 16-year-old Brookie MacDonald, who loved to slurp down a frothy vanilla egg cream soda.

One day, after ordering his usual drink, MacDonald spied a cook in the kitchen of The Riverview sautéing slices of eggplant. “Wouldn’t it be neat to be a chef?” he thought to himself. And then and there he decided to become one.

Eventually, MacDonald worked his way up to executive chef at Horsefeathers in Portland, before taking over the Hurricane in Perkin’s Cove, Ogunquit. The 51-year-old restaurateur’s hankering to be back in Kennebunkport, however, never really left him. At the moment he was thinking it was time to open a second Hurricane, Pat Lyna, who had owned The Riverview Restaurant for 30 years, and worked there when “Brookie” was sipping sodas, was thinking it was time to retire. It was a congenial and eerily smooth transfer of power, in spite of the fact that MacDonald’s vision for Hurricane number two did not include Lyna’s beloved ice-cream parlor. In fact, one of the first things to go was the 1906 soda fountain.

In its place now stands a hand carved mahogany bar beautifully lit by hanging halogen lights. It was here that I ordered half a dozen oysters on the half shell and a glass of Benziger Fume Blanc. Did the Blue Points glisten more than they do in Ogunquit because of the brilliant lights? Did the wine taste better because of the new Rosenthal glasses that allow for better swirling and sipping? Who can say for sure? But the snappy décor at the new Hurricane certainly doesn’t hurt the food. Neither does the view.

If you are lucky enough to get a table by the window at lunch, order a grilled haddock sandwich, slather it with the homemade tartar sauce, and slowly eat the accompanying sweet potato fries sprinkled with fresh rosemary as you watch the kayakers gliding on the water. If you can’t get a seat by the real river, it isn’t unpleasant at all to be seated by the painted one. Raina Piligian, a young artist who supplements her income by waiting tables at the Hurricane, created a mural of the Kennebunk River on the largest blank wall in the restaurant. It’s a dark and ominous scene that may put you in the mood for something profound like a bottle of Robert Mondavi Opus One. Not ready to spend $200 on a bottle of wine? There are 119 other excellent and more affordable choices. Thomas Fogarty Gewurztraminer for $29 a bottle, for example, nicely compliments the seared Yellow Fin Tuna sliced into rosy squares, served on a daikon and cabbage slaw, and drizzled with sweet and slightly spicy ginger mirin syrup.

Chef Eric Howton, who studied at the New England Culinary Institute, and worked as sous chef at the Ogunquit Hurricane for the past few years under chef Dan Moffat, has developed a light touch and a way with the Asian appetizers and entrees that I find especially appealing.

The desserts by pastry chef Stacie Blouin, on the other hand, still need refining. I applaud the granita trend catching on all over the US, and recently enjoyed the sweet espresso flavored one served at the Hurricane, but the domino sized chunks of ice piled on top of my martini glass were unwieldy.

It’s hard to believe that angel food cake could be controversial, but an oppressive wedge of butter cream came between the two layers I tried during another visit, and after awhile the richness of the filling was unbearable. If, however, the delicate, homemade chocolate leaves that decorated the coffee granita were placed in the old candy counter that is waiting to be filled with Hurricane provisions, I would buy lots of them.

There are so many reasons why Hurricane Restaurant in Dock Square is filled with good karma right now: Pat Lyna is relieved that the building in which she spent most of her life is again in the hands of a local, Brookes MacDonald is delighted that his lifelong dream has come true, Eric Howton is ecstatic to be cooking in a kitchen that is six times the size of the one in Ogunquit, and Raina Piligian cheerfully collects compliments along with tips from customers who admire her art work at least as much as her wait service.

So, go to the new Hurricane. The view is lovely, the food is imaginatively prepared, and the happiness that surrounds you is astounding.

Jill Strauss can be reached at straussj@adelphia.net