Primo is Rockland's most celebrated restaurant and one of the best in Maine — a farm-to-table operation that raises pigs, chickens, and vegetables on site and incorporates them into a changing menu of New American cooking. Chef-owner Melissa Kelly won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast, and the restaurant draws diners from well beyond Rockland.
The menu changes daily and the cuisine is confident rather than fussy — expect wood-roasted meats, housemade pastas, and whatever the farm and the local fishing boats have produced that day. Book well in advance in summer; the restaurant operates seasonally (roughly May through October). The attached gardens and farm buildings are worth seeing even if you are eating elsewhere.