Float Away

When the floor rocks at DiMillo’s, it’s not just because of the drinks

The stools are affixed to the wooden floor around the 50-foot oval bar at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant and Marina (25 Long Wharf, 207.772.2216; dimillos.com) in Portland, Maine. Not that the 57-year-old converted ferry is unsteady: “We’re storm headquarters. Our regulars flock to the bar during a nor’easter because we’re stable,” says Steve DiMillo, part of the family clan that’s made this a libational landmark for decades.

DiMillo’s isn’t one of those dinner-party cruise boats with a bar. The 206-foot-long boat, a decommissioned car ferry, is firmly anchored adjacent to DiMillo’s Marina. But loyal locals don’t come here for the novelty of the setting. “DiMillo’s makes an excellent martini, and I’m an Absolut extra dry man,” says Sean Chase, a Maine native who discovered the saloon about five years ago.

Chase, a former merchant marine, is one of the more creative cocktail aficionados I’ve met. “I actually have a Heineken with my martini,” he says, giving homage to the classic boilermaker — a whiskey and a beer. “Great place,” he muses. “I can look out on the Fore River and all those yachts, my martini comes in an aesthetic curved-stem glass, and the free happy-hour food is unbelievable.”

Like all great saloons and dining joints, DiMillo’s has a rich history. The late patriarch, Tony DiMillo, put his name, Anthony, on the door of his first restaurant, on Fore Street, in 1954. Five locations later, it’s now his last name that’s in lights. But DiMillo’s remains a family affair, with Steve’s brothers Johnny and Dan, twin sister Stephanie, brother-in-law Tony, mom Arlene, and aunts Jay and Jeanette. And all have a personality that warms the place on cold Maine days.

A crew of four bartenders is at your service at any given time, and they know their craft. Joe (who likes to stay on a first-name basis) says if DiMillo’s has a house drink, it is the Jumbo Bloody Mary: Absolut Peppar combined with a spicy house Mary mix, garnished with a plump jumbo shrimp and celery and served in a 14 oz. hurricane glass, $10. Sans shrimp it’s $6. Joe whips up lots of cosmopolitans, manhattans, and martinis, again at reasonable prices. The Bombay Sapphire Gin martini is a mere $7. A little south, in New York City, you could double or triple that tariff.

The same generous pricing policy goes for beer and wine. Local microbrews Shipyard and Geary’s fetch $3.25 a glass. Miller draft is $2.50. DiMillo’s house wine is Sycamore Lane, and a 6 oz. glass is $5.75. Kendall Jackson from Napa is $6.50. Something with more cachet? The celebrated and rare Opus One cabernet is $199 a bottle.

Mainiacs, as they proudly call themselves, aren’t big name-droppers. But I did learn that George H. W. Bush, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Joel, Julio Iglesias, and athletes from the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics have been aboard DiMillo’s. Says Steve: “They come here because they’re comfortable and not bothered.”

Part of that vibe comes from DiMillo’s regular crowd, which ranges from 20-year-olds who tie up their boats in the port to 40- and 50-somethings who like the tried and true. “We pour the standards and classics here,” Joe says.

This month, Continental Sommelier David Gordon, who lends his award-winning expertise to New York’s Tribeca Grill and other restaurants, recommends three wines from labels owned by some of the top sommeliers in the United States.

Petit Chapeau Côtes du Rhône 2005, $12
Daniel Johnnes, wine director for Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group, blends a lovely, ripe wine produced mostly from old grenache vines near the village of Rasteau in the Rhône Valley.

Parr Selection Chardonnay “Sanford & Benedict,” Santa Barbara 2005, $45
Rajat Parr, wine director for Michael Mina, harvests his grapes earlier than most producers, which yields a leaner, crisp style of chardonnay that has more in common with great Chablis than most other California chardonnays. 

Sirita Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2003, $50
This balanced and rich wine produced by master sommelier Larry Stone, formerly of Rubicon Restaurant in San Francisco, is from two top vineyards in Napa Valley. — D.G.