Primo opened in April 2000 and quickly developed a New York-like buzz as one of New England's best. The restaurant, owned by Chef Melissa Kelly and pastry chef Price Kushner, occupies two nicely decorated floors of a century-old home a short drive south from downtown Rockland. Kelly graduated first in her class at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and won the 1999 James Beard Foundation award for "best chef in the Northeast." Her Italian-inflected menu reflects the seasons and draws from local products wherever available: Start with an appetizer such as mushroom pie with white truffle oil, steak salad with Vidalia onions, ale-battered soft-shell crab, planked quail, or a cream of (Maine) asparagus soup. The prosciutto is house-cured. Seasonal entrees might run to saffron tagliolini with steamed mussels, Maine lobster with peas, grilled leg of lamb with ricotta gnocchi and fava beans, rhubarb-glazed duck, or seared halibut over a corn-risotto cake paired with local fiddleheads. Finish with one of Kushner's inventive desserts: perhaps warmed Belgian chocolate cake, an espresso float, a rhubarb-strawberry tartlet with vanilla gelato and strawberry sauce, homemade cannoli, a bowl of hot zeppole (small Italian doughnuts) tossed in cinnamon and sugar, or a crostata made from local apples and sided with pine-nut-and-caramel ice cream. The wine list is outstanding. It's hard to get a last-minute table here during peak summer season, but, failing that, order off the menu from the cozy upstairs bar.
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