Staff Writer
FORT FAIRFIELD – Steve Adams is no stranger to the restaurant business. His parents, Willis and Pearl Adams, operated many restaurants in Fort Fairfield over the years, including Adams’ Restaurant, In Town Restaurant, and perhaps most notably, the Village Restaurant. So it was no surprise that when Steve and his wife, Vicki, moved back to his hometown from New Hampshire that they would open a restaurant.
Boondock’s Grille, located at 294 Main St., officially opened May 19.
“Things have been excellent,” said Adams. “It’s progressively gotten better and better. We couldn’t be happier.”
Formerly Mike and Maude’s, Adams bought the building at an auction in February.
“Since then, we did extensive remodeling, added walls, put in new paneling and pretty much redid the whole interior. The kitchen was originally set up for cafeteria-style cooking and we had to convert it into a line that met our needs,” he said. “It pretty much had the base skeleton of a restaurant, but then we put the atmosphere and everything in.
“Vicki designed every bit of it … all I did was provide the animals to look at,” said Adams. “The wolf is a trophy that I got a couple of years ago in Canada, and it took a couple of years to get it here. The timing of it fit in and we decided to have it mounted the way it is now and it became our centerpiece for our logo. I’m an avid hunter … that’s my passion … and that’s what we went with. My wife enjoys it, too, and it’s part of the culture up here.”
The fare is the type of food the Adams’ enjoy.
“We wanted to have a really nice place to come and have steak,” he said. “We’ve got a good selection of steak … one for just about everybody and it’s priced from a little over $10 for a full meal including the salad bar right up to a $25 T-bone. They’re all great cuts and grades of meat.
“We also have seafood and pizza, as well as appetizers and desserts,” said Adams.
While the walls of the dining area are adorned with animals Adams has harvested including deer and a turkey, the function room is decorated with several artifacts donated by the Frontier Heritage Society.
“My mom and dad’s restaurant had a lot of the old, historical photos from town that dated back into the 1800s and a lot of people enjoyed coming in and looking at that,” said Adams, “so that’s where the idea to decorate the function room in a similar fashion came from.”
The restaurant’s dining and lounge area can seat around 140 people, while the function room can accommodate 35 people. Beer and wine are sold at the restaurant, and guests can sit in the lounge and relax by the fire and watch TV while ordering some appetizers or a full meal.
“The lounge really complements the dining room,” he said.
To say that the Adams’ are hands-on owners would be an understatement.
“We not only own the restaurant, but we’re tending it all day long. We’re planning on tending it because we want it to come out the way that we want it to,” he said. “It’s really our menu. My wife bakes all the cakes and pies. She has an active hand in the line, the recipes and spaghetti sauces.
“We’re both very experienced in the restaurant business. Vicki is from Brewer, and she was actually managing a restaurant when I met her,” said Adams. “She’s been in the business quite a long time, and I grew up around it, so it was a good fit for us.”
With 20-24 employees, Adams said he is “really happy” with the crew they have.
“We have some excellent cooks and our wait staff is really good. We’ve got a good mix of some experienced workers and some new, young people,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier on that end either.”
Adams encourages people to stop by and enjoy a meal at Boondock’s Grille.
“First and foremost, we have excellent food,” he said. “It’s a unique atmosphere to the area and it’s comfortable and friendly. The food is reasonably priced and we really do have something for everybody regardless of their taste.”
Boondock’s Grille is open from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 8 a.m.-noon Sunday for a breakfast buffet and noon-3 p.m. for the full menu.
“We’ll have a standard breakfast buffet,” said Adams. “We’ll have a little bit of everything. It will be a one-price, all-you-can-eat buffet. We hope people will come and check us out.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
BOONDOCK’S GRILLE, which specializes in steak, seafood and pizza, opened May 19 in Fort Fairfield. Located at 294 Main St., the restaurant is owned by Steve and Vicki Adams. Attending a recent ribbon cutting ceremony were, front row, from left: Dee Lower, director of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce; Stacy Brooker, head cook; Stephen Adams Jr., owners’ son; owners Vicki and Steve Adams, Zack Adams, owners’ son; Janet McGillan, chamber director; and Janet Kelle, executive director of the chamber. Back row: Charlie Cormier, chamber director; Matt Jenkins, head cook; Town Manager Dan Foster, Town Councilors Ruel Flannery and John Herald, Willis Adams, Steve Adams’ father; Rep. Tyler Clark (R-Easton), Carl Young, chamber director; and Carolyn Dorsey-Durepo, chamber president.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
GUESTS AT BOONDOCK’S GRILLE can sit in the lounge and relax by the fire, watch TV and order appetizers or a full meal. The restaurant opened May 19 and is located at 294 Main St. in Fort Fairfield. Owners Steve and Vicki Adams recently moved back to Fort Fairfield from New Hampshire. Steve’s parents, Willis and Pearl Adams, operated many restaurants in the community including the Village Restaurant.
