The Maine Restaurant Association has chosen Chef Rick Hirsch, owner of Damariscotta River Grill (in Damariscotta, of course) as its 2010 Chef of the Year. Chef Hirsch will accept the award on March 30 at the organization’s annual awards event in Portland.
“Rick Hirsh exemplifies what is so great about Maine’s restaurant community … He is an innovative chef who owns and operates his own successful restaurants, he consistently supports local community efforts and charitable projects, and he gives Maine hospitality a great name,” MeRA’s chairman of the board Mary Dysart Hartt, co-owner of Hermon’s famed Dysart’s, announced in a press release.
Chef Hirsch and his wife and GM Jean Kerriga opened the Grill in 2003. The seafood-heavy menu is focused on “regional, upscale comfort food” and the restaurant features themed events such as blues and art nights, a wine club and a Wine Spectator Award-winning wine list.
The Grill was also awarded the association’s Restaurant Neighbor Award in 2008 for its ongoing commitment to the local community — a value that I’ve discovered is the connecting cornerstone of nearly every lasting family-run eatery in the state. I look forward to trying the Lobster Cakes and Duck Confit Risotto when I’m home this summer — and to ask Chef Hirsh what kind of crazy numerology/accounting he’s into. There’s not a round number on the menu.
Jessica Strelitz is a contributing writer to Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
