Hot Suppa

"A Southern kitchen and bar, Hot Suppa is always there when you need it—whether you had a late night of brewery hopping in Bayside or have a big day of walking around the Old Port ahead of you. Just make sure to follow their number one rule found in the entryway: Be nice or leave! Fill up on corned beef hash and buttermilk waffles for breakfast, or the fried green tomato BLT at lunch. We also love the long list of vegan and gluten-free sides, all of which can be enjoyed under their covered and heated patio for chilly Maine mornings." - Alana Dao

"A Southern kitchen and bar, Hot Suppa is always there when you need it—whether you had a late night of brewery hopping in Bayside or have a big day of walking around the Old Port ahead of you. Just make sure to follow their number one rule found in the entryway: Be nice or leave! Fill up on French-style rolled omelets, corned beef hash, and buttermilk waffles for breakfast, or the fried green tomato BLT at lunch. Or do your own thing as the restaurant has a long list of vegan and gluten-free sides, all of which can be enjoyed under their covered and heated patio for chilly Maine mornings." - Alana Dao 2, Team Infatuation

"Hot Suppa, a fun, loud enclave of Southern feasting in an 1860 Victorian in the city’s West End, nails food with gusto. This isn’t about subtle flavors or constructed dishes put together with tweezers. It’s made-from-scratch, high-flavor specialties that ricochet between super spicy and creamy and indulgent. Dishes dovetail Southern traditions with Maine seafood, from the charbroiled oysters (with Creole garlic butter, parmesan, and French bread) to the shrimp and grits (with salty country ham and oozing melted cheddar)." - Alexandra Hall

"Hot Suppa is a New Orleans–style eatery known locally for its excellent food, homey atmosphere, $1 happy hour oysters, and strong cocktails—our favorite of these being the After Glow, an exciting elixir of tequila, passion fruit juice, and hot chili peppers. There’s a tray of hot sauces and condiments on every table, including a bottle of pickled hot peppers. True to its name, it’s not pretentious: It’s housed in a storefront with plate-glass windows with an unimpeded view of the 7-Eleven across the street, plain wooden booths and tables, old exposed brick, walls hung with local art, and high ceilings with a large fan. Hot Suppa is where we go when we get back from a long trip. It also happens to be two short blocks from our house. It’s where we go when we feel blue, raw, in need of cheer, but it’s also a place to toast a minor victory or meet good friends for a drink and a bite. Hot Suppa isn't a special-occasion place—it’s a regular place, the place we come back to. Local, familiar, and low-key, it feels like an extension of home. A little dazed from the disorientation of jetlag and reentry, we hunkered down in a booth and ordered from the friendly waitress: corned beef hash with cornbread and Maine maple sweet tea for me, eggs Benedict and coffee for Brendan. It was a cold, still-wintry early March morning, but it was warm and cozy in here, the windows steamy, the room full of a soft hubbub of voices and music. “God, it’s good to be home,” I said, chowing down. My corned beef hash was superb, not too salty, crisp, pressed on a griddle, two over-easy egg yolks seeping into it. The food there is reliably good, whether it’s catfish tacos or shrimp and grits or pulled-pork mac and cheese or Creole meatloaf. I love the Louisiana-Maine connection, which makes instinctive sense to me despite the geographical distance between them: lobsters and crawfish, Acadian and Cajun. The word suppa works in both Downeast and Louisiana accents, and spicy Southern food warms the chilled New England soul. Full and happy, we paid our bill and headed back to our house. It was time to unpack, buy groceries, sort through our Everest of unopened accumulated mail. And we were ready, we had the mojo to face it all, because Hot Suppa had welcomed us home." - ByKate Christensen