Sassafrass Cafe in Bar Harbor

“When you walk in here, we just want you to feel nourished,” says Kira Kendall, who co-owns Sassafrass Café in Bar Harbor with her mother, Amanda.

What began as Amanda’s farm-to-table catering company twenty years ago has grown into a café centered on care and good food. The name honors their Virginia roots and the sassafras tree, long valued for its healing qualities.

The menu focuses on simple, thoughtful cooking: a rye-starter waffle with Maine maple syrup and blueberry jam, savory congee bowls topped with chili crisp and a jammy egg, and handmade biscuits served with miso butter and heirloom tomatoes. Mushroom toast, housemade broths, and baked goods from local bakers fill out the offerings.

The space, which continues to grow, feels like an extension of their kitchen at home. In one of their newly-opened rooms, a long farm table sits near the fireplace, and a 1930s apple ladder wrapped in white lights hangs above. “People bring us things all the time,” Amanda says. “Paintings, books, candles. It’s like the café keeps growing through everyone who walks in.”

From the beginning, the goal was to create a place where people could stay awhile. “We wanted something steady,” Kira says. “A place that stays open, even when the island quiets down. Somewhere you can count on for a good meal and a familiar face.”

FAMOUS FOR:
We really can't say it better than one of their recent Google reviews where a visitor declared, "In a city where lobster and seafood reign, Sassafrass Cafe feels like a portal to Narnia. It has laid back energy with a whimsical pull."

ADDRESS:
1317 ME-102 in Bar Harbor, ME

WEBSITE:
sassafrass.me

photos by Peter Logue