worth a new "Best restaurant for post-hike dinner in Whites" thread ?

[ADK_Dreamer]

It's a good spot with great beer and very decent (limited) food: An old mill building on the river and a short drive back to Bethlehem.
In Bethlehem: Rosa Flamingos down stairs is good for an app, salad and/or pizza or dinner with many local brews, like Moat Mtn.

Thanks for the affirmation. We booked the Mulford Inn B&B as it appears we can crawl to Rosa Flamingos

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like it time to revisit the thread. There is a new barbeque joint in Gorham located at the former Pizza Hut (adjacent to Burger King). Right now its a trailer parked in the lot but they plan to have completed renovations in the building and move in by June. The owners used to run a food truck at the various fairs in the region. It not a extensive menu, definitely set up for fairs. They are doing a soft open and didn't have ribs yet but the pulled pork was tasty. The are closed Sundays and Mondays. Probably a good match with the ATV crowd.

The breakfast place at the Royalty has been empty most of the winter with no signs of it reopening. The prior operator was advertising he would be reopening it soon but that was quite awhile ago .

The other newer place which I haven't tired is Nona's, its on Exchange street where the Moonbeam Café used to be. Its Italian cuisine. It think it runs limited hours and days.

 

[peakbagger]

A few changes in Gorham to report. McDonalds is closed for major renovations further limiting quick breakfast options. Burger King seems to be a victim of franchise indifference, poorly staffed. Avoid it during rush hours and dont get trapped in the drive thru as they take your order and then there is no way to escape when they park you to deal with understaffing. Still three choices of pizza in town. I prefer the wood fired variation but to each their own.

 

[Raven]

A few changes in Gorham to report. McDonalds is closed for major renovations further limiting quick breakfast options. Burger King seems to be a victim of franchise indifference, poorly staffed. Avoid it during rush hours and dont get trapped in the drive thru as they take your order and then there is no way to escape when they park you to deal with understaffing. Still three choices of pizza in town. I prefer the wood fired variation but to each their own.

I am amazed that BK holds on. No way it turns a profit.

 

[CaptCaper]

A few changes in Gorham to report. McDonalds is closed for major renovations further limiting quick breakfast options. Burger King seems to be a victim of franchise indifference, poorly staffed. Avoid it during rush hours and dont get trapped in the drive thru as they take your order and then there is no way to escape when they park you to deal with understaffing. Still three choices of pizza in town. I prefer the wood fired variation but to each their own.

I've never had issues with BK in Gorham.. look forward to it when in a hurry.

 

[DayTrip]

McDonalds is closed for major renovations further limiting quick breakfast options. .

I found that out the hard way SAT night around 10:30PM (did a sunset hike). That is my "go to" binge location after long days. Burger King had already closed.

 

[peakbagger]

I did find it odd that the McDonalds franchise owners waited until the week before the ATV folks came back into town to shut down for major renovations. With the tight labor market, they are going to have a heck of time getting staff back to work when ready to reopen unless they arte paying them while the place it closed. In theory Burger King should have staffed up to take advantage but it sure didn't look it this past weekend. The Barbeque joint, Road Hawg, probably appreciates the business except that they are having a hard time keeping up with demand as it is, they usually run out of food most nights.

 

[DayTrip]

I thought the timing was strange too. Not sure how fast a McDonalds can get renovated and reopened. I know a lot of the ones in Southern New England are switching over to the touch screen menus and mobile ordering formats so they may not need as many people when they reopen.

 

[Raven]

The BBQ truck at Pizza Hut's old location in Gorham just became my new favorite post hike restaurant. Huge pulled pork sandwich for $8. Damn good for this far north of the Mason Dixon Line. They have some of the old tables from inside out on the sidewalk. Weird, wacky stuff.

I'm going back.

 

[TJsName]

The BBQ truck at Pizza Hut's old location in Gorham just became my new favorite post hike restaurant. Huge pulled pork sandwich for $8. Damn good for this far north of the Mason Dixon Line. They have some of the old tables from inside out on the sidewalk. Weird, wacky stuff.

I'm going back.

Oh man, that does sound good. Also, the idea of food trucks at some trail heads sounds amazing. Curious what the logistics for that would be.

 

[peakbagger]

McDonalds in Gorham reopened the walk in portion of the restaurant this morning.

The BBQ owners are running late rehabbing the restaurant. The outdoor trailer is good but limited menu. They claim when they are indoors the menu will expand considerably.

 

[Raven]

McDonalds in Gorham reopened the walk in portion of the restaurant this morning.

The BBQ owners are running late rehabbing the restaurant. The outdoor trailer is good but limited menu. They claim when they are indoors the menu will expand considerably.

Great. Although hand cut fries and pulled pork will keep me happy out of a truck. Best meal I ever had at that Pizza Hut.

 

[DayTrip]

Oh man, that does sound good. Also, the idea of food trucks at some trail heads sounds amazing. Curious what the logistics for that would be.

I've always wondered why no one has done that. Can you imagine the potential of a good food truck parked at Lafayette Place or Pinkham Notch on a SAT? Coffee and breakfast items AM and then transition to lunch/dinner food. And maybe a small assortment of good craft beers? Could probably shuttle hikers from trailhead to trailhead during non peak hours for extra cash too. Seems like it would be a pretty good racket. No idea on regulations, permits, insurance, etc but on the surface sounds like a phenomenal idea.

 

[peakbagger]

A redirect, I brought a new person up to the Northland Dairy Bar yesterday. its fresh berry pie season. Some former locals who moved away plan their vacations to the North Country to be able to line up with this time of year to get a slice. Few hikers from "away" are even aware of this tradition as the Northland is just a few miles north of the hiking hubs and to get to it requires driving though the formerly blighted Berlin (which is decidedly far less so these days). If you are staying in the area overnight for a hike its definitely worth a drive up post hike in the next month of so to try a slice. Hard to describe them but they are not cooked, its just a baked pie crust with a pile of whatever berries are in season in a light glaze. Definitely go for the whipped cream. In the past when we went for lunch we would order the pie up front as they would run out of them by the end of the meal. In general if you are looking for post hike meal its hard to beat their food as long as you realize that they have had the effectively same menu for 40 years, not much for nouvelle cuisine. Its the only place I will buy seafood in the north country as they do a steady business in it and have a good supplier.

 

[TJsName]

I've always wondered why no one has done that. Can you imagine the potential of a good food truck parked at Lafayette Place or Pinkham Notch on a SAT? Coffee and breakfast items AM and then transition to lunch/dinner food. And maybe a small assortment of good craft beers? Could probably shuttle hikers from trailhead to trailhead during non peak hours for extra cash too. Seems like it would be a pretty good racket. No idea on regulations, permits, insurance, etc but on the surface sounds like a phenomenal idea.

Yeah, you could have La-Fried-Eggs with sausage Link-olns and a Little Haystack of Pankcakes and Bacannon.

 

[Raven]

Yeah, you could have La-Fried-Eggs with sausage Link-olns and a Little Haystack of Pankcakes and Bacannon.

Bacannon? Really?



I went back today for more pulled pork after an appetizing hike of Adams. If somebody up here figures out biscuits and gravy, I'm falling off the wagon.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

We went to Mr. Pizza after a quick hike up Adams, pleasantly surprised by efficiency of staff, speed of delivery, and not bad prices. Food okay too.

How far do you have to go for Northland? Because that sounds great.

We kept seeing signs on the way to Berlin for Mary's Pizza since 1927 or something. What's that place like?

 

[peakbagger]

8 Miles from Mr. Pizza to Northland Dairy Bar, just stay on RT 16, drive through Berlin and don't cross the river. After RT 16 goes back to two way traffic after downtown just drive to the next set of lights at a bridge and keep going north about 1/4 of mile. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaur...estaurant_Dairy_Bar-Berlin_New_Hampshire.html

Marys Pizza is a very small pizza place stuck in the sixties, kitchen out back and apartment upstairs. Probably 8 tables. I am amazed it is still running as most of its business came from the papermill. Its better Italian pizza than Mr Pizza and rarely crowded. I don't think they have liquor license. (the Northland does). I prefer the wood fired pizza place just up the road from Mr Pizza.

 

[TJsName]

Bacannon? Really?

I can't believe I left out that you can get it all served in a Fran-waffle-cone-ia. They also have Kins-a-man Rolls and Liber-coffee and Liber-tea. Just be careful not to Flume Gorge yourself to the point that you Skookum-up-chuck.

 

[peakbagger]

Burger King in Gorham finally admitted what was pretty apparent for several years that the owners were unable to make a buck. Its now closed with the logos removed with a for sale or lease sign out front. Despite a lot of ATV traffic in town they have had staffing issues for several years. It led to very long waits at both the counter and drive thru and I think most people figured it out that it was not great place for anyone in a hurry. The owners run several Burger Kings and I think they got this store location as part of package deal from the previous corporate owner and it never seemed to be priority on their part. The current owner was in the paper recently and his claim was that he needed traffic from locals to generate enough year round volume but most of the locals including myself had given up going there due to very long wait times related to staffing.

McDonalds across the street is still available for pre hike grease and post hike road food. Sadly the wood fired pizza place still has not sold. The former Pizza hut is still a barbecue place. Despite claims that they would be expanding the barbecue/smoker menu substantially its pretty much the same as when they were working out of the truck. They have added fried chicken, a few non barbecue items and a weekly special . They do have a bar inside but they have gone with the standard deal with the regional distributors which is national brands like Bud and Miller with no local beers. My understanding is the distributor essentially gives them the tap system and other incentives in return to sticking with the national brands. THey do get a lot of ATV traffic but expect they limited repeat local business. The barbeque trailer in Bethel Maine has far more variety and the quality is as good or better. With the exception of the new breakfast and lunch place just up the Berlin Gorham road not many changes for the good.

Funny how Gorham is half way between the #1 and #2 Ski towns in the country (Bethel and North Conway) but doesn't get any subsidiary traffic.