Road food in Maine

Up and down the Maine coast, there are spots that serve up some great food. Here are ten dishes that, using fresh ingredients, inventive preparation, and various ethnic touches, make the meal worth a drive. –Jonathan Levitt/Globe Correspondent

Chase’s Daily – Pizza

96 Main St., Belfast

It is a pleasure to come in from the cold, grab a seat at the counter, and order one of Lafage’s pies —maybe with a salad of hardy winter greens. In the summer, when the farm is in full swing, the pizzas will be topped with farm-fresh everything, including sweet corn, fresh arugula, heirloom tomatoes . . . But even now, in late winter, Chase’s Daily delivers a sincere sense of place.

To drink: a glass of beer.

Home Kitchen Café – Huevos Rancheros

650 Main St., Rockland

homekitchencafe.com

For this dish, chef-owner James Hatch makes his own corn tortillas, soaks and simmers black beans, and poaches a couple of eggs in salsa. The dish is topped with sour cream, fresh avocado, cilantro, and plenty of spicy ranchero sauce. ‘‘People say that it’s the most authentic huevos this side of California,’’ says Hatch.

To drink: Rock City Coffee (roasted in Rockland).

Long Grain – Pad see ew

31 Elm St., Camden

Chef-owner Ravin ‘‘Bas’’ Nakjaroen, originally from Bangkok, is putting his own nostalgic and progressive spin on Thai home cooking and street food. For pad see ew he makes wide rice noodles from scratch, stir fries them with local kale and collard greens, local eggs, sweet, salty soy-based sauce, and chicken, pork, or locally made Heiwa tofu. The dish is topped with pickled jalapenos.

To drink: Kikusakari Taru Sake, aged in cedar barrels.

Morse’s Sauerkraut – Choucroute garni

3856 Washington Road, North Waldoboro

morsessauerkraut.com

This is a delicious mess of smoked, brined, bone-in pork chop (‘‘Kasseler Rippchen’’) from Schaller + Weber in New York, smoked sausages, potatoes, and a pile of sauerkraut cooked slowly in goose fat with apples, onions, caraway, and juniper berries. Eat the whole plate and you could sleep outside in the snow.

To drink: mulled cider.

Pai Men Miyake – Pai tan ramen

188 State St., Portland

miyakerestaurants.com

The dish begins with a rich broth of pork and chicken bones, simmered for hours with ginger and aromatics. The rich broth is ladled over a bowl of noodles, and topped with pork belly, soymarinated egg, scallion, and nori. Many of the pigs and chickens are raised organically on chef-owner Masa Miyake’s 3-acre farm in Freeport. To drink: Hitachino Nest Beer from northeast Japan.

Petite Jacqueline – Fluke meuniere

190 State St., Portland

bistropj.com

The elegant fluke meuniere (‘‘millers wife’’) is fluke (summer flounder) dredged in flour, pan fried in butter, and served with lemon, capers, and fines herbes on a pile of bright green haricot verts. ‘‘In France, the dish is traditionally made with sole. We can get beautiful fluke year round right from Casco Bay and the Gulf of Maine,’’ says managing owner Liz Koenigsberg.

To drink: French 75 (gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, champagne).

Nosh Kitchen Bar – Cheeseburger with french fries

551 Congress St., Portland

noshkitchenbar.com

This burger is a patty of ground beef and pork griddled crispy and served on a brioche bun with American cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, and tomato. The fries are the best in town, thick cut, crispy on the outside, and light on the inside. Nosh serves food until last call (which is just before 1 a.m.) every night.

To drink: local beers on tap.

Schulte & Herr – Potato pancakes with house-cured lox

349 Cumberland Ave., Portland

schulteundherr.wordpress.com

The food is hearty and homemade — German classics prepared with a light hand and local ingredients. The potato pancakes are crispy and golden brown. The salmon is cured with salt, sugar, orange juice, and dill and served with the horseradish sauce, capers, and sliced cornichons.

To drink: bring your own beer (for now).

Suzuki’s Sushi Bar – Omakase

419 Main St., Rockland

suzukisushi.com

Owner Keiko Suzuki Steinberger is passionate about local seafood. She knows which urchin divers can find the fattest, fullest, sweetest urchins, which crab pickers pick the cleanest lumps of crabmeat, and where to find the fishermen with the snappiest catch. Working to the sound of classic jazz albums played all the way through, Steinberger prepares her omakase with whimsy and precision.

To drink: the ‘‘working man’s’’ sake, served hot: Genbei San No Onikoroshi.

Tu Casa Salvadoran – Menudo/plato montanero

70 Washington Ave., Portland

tucasaportland.com

The plato montanero here is a ridiculous spread of yellow rice; pinto beans; avocado; fried plantain; giant, thin-cut ribeye steak; and crema. It pairs nicely with the menudo, a rustic stew of honeycomb tripe and hominy, seasoned wi th chili peppers and lime and known as the ultimate cure for a nasty hangover.

To drink: homemade horchata (rice milk seasoned with cinnamon).