BANGOR, Maine — Prep cook Cameron Arsenault leans over his workspace, focused on the soft dough rolled into a long tube on the table before him. He cuts flour-and-potato mixture into small, uniform pieces, one at a time, until a pile of freshly made gnocchi sits beside him, ready to drop into a pot of boiling water when needed.
Much like the gnocchi, the pasta at Timber Kitchen and Bar, one of Bangor’s newest restaurants and operated by Ocean Properties Ltd., is homemade. From spaghetti to ravioli, the restaurant’s employees painstakingly craft each dish.
But the pasta isn’t the only item on Timber’s menu made by hand. Mini Wild Maine Blueberry Pie, Rustic Apple Farm Tarts and the crisp cookie spoons that decorate the Farm House Chocolate Pots de Creme are all made from scratch by pastry chef Molly Harding, who originally is from Trenton.
The menu, which was created by regional executive chef Ryan Phillips of Bar Harbor, features dishes that display a dedication to eating local, from the dried strawberry chips in their Maple Brook Farms Hand-Pulled Burrata to the Maine Lobster Bisque and the locally farmed beans in the Backyard Garden Burger.
Dishes such as these are prepared by Timber’s kitchen staff and finished off by executive chef Mattaeus Schkrioba, 29, who grew up in Windham. About a dozen other employees fly in and out of the doors leading to the food pickup station, the sounds of contented restaurant-goers’ laughter and conversation filtering in with each swing of the doors.
Schkrioba graduated from the culinary arts program at Southern Maine Community College. Growing up in the food service industry — his grandparents owned a restaurant they opened in the ’70s called Red Sands in Windham — he remembers washing dishes and the early morning wake-ups for his family members, who hustled off to bake bread.
“I never even thought of being a chef, but once you hit the real world, it’s like, ‘OK, well, that’s an opportunity,’” Schkrioba said.
He has worked at the Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks in South Portland and The Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing, New York, both of which were developed by Ocean Properties.
Ocean Properties was started in the 1950s by Thomas T. Walsh as a small Maine family business. His first hotel was The Plaza Hotel in Brewer, and the company grew from there. Ocean Properties is now one of the largest privately held hotel operating and development groups in North America and operates over 100 hotels. Timber Kitchen and Bar, one of its newest undertakings, was an important one for its owners, according to Fletcher.
“Because they’re from the Bangor area, they wanted to do something special,” Fletcher said.
Outside the busy kitchen, patrons enjoy their meals in the lavishly designed space. In the dining area, a white marble-topped bar spans the length of the room with a wood stone oven blazing behind it, firing handmade pizzas. Metal lights hanging from the ceiling create a warm glow as the illumination combines with the wood climbing the walls. Hostesses at the entryway stand behind the roots of a massive yew tree from County Laois, Ireland, complete with a top that transforms it into a functional centerpiece to greet patrons.
Line cook Jordan Vandiver, a 23-year-old from Florida, works behind the chef’s bar, providing food preparation and entertainment for patrons. From pizza making to firing desserts, he creates delicious food and an experience. On a recent evening, he slid a small, square chocolate cake into the oven, preparing the plate while it cooked, spreading a homemade sour cherry syrup as the bed for it to rest on.
“We have this mirror up here so everyone in that window can see what happens,” Vandiver said, pointing above him first and then to the window behind him, where patrons were seated and watched him intently.
He pulled the cake out of the oven, placed it on the plate and finished off the dish with chocolate twigs and a scoop of gelato.
The restaurant was carefully constructed and designed. Although most of the wood comes from Ireland, the feel of the space is rooted in Maine’s lumber mill history. Intended as a tribute to the work that built Bangor, once the lumber capital of the world, it hearkens back to the days when the forest industry reigned as king of the area’s economy. According to general manager Suzanne Fletcher, it has been met with nothing but admiration since the restaurant opened its doors on Oct. 12 of this year.
A line of wait staff emerge from the kitchen, dishes balanced carefully on their palms. They circle a table of 10 and set the plates down in front of patrons simultaneously, their efforts met with murmurs of approval and sparkling eyes ready to tuck into a feast prepared by Schkrioba and his staff.
On an average Friday or Saturday, Schkrioba and his crew turn out meals for as many as 450 people between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. in the 150-seat restaurant, which is housed in the five-story Residence Inn by Marriott on Bass Park Boulevard in Bangor.
For Fletcher, who has a long history in the food service industry, Timber’s staff is what makes it successful. Timber employs about 60 people, including several pulled from the Ocean Properties developments in Bar Harbor, where they worked during the summer.
Many patrons enjoy the professional and welcoming staff in addition to the food and atmosphere, including Paul and Cheryl Morrow, who have established themselves as regulars. The couple visits the restaurant about once per week.
“We’ve always been received very warmly, and from the get-go we’ve been treated like family. It’s nice to go some place where they remember your name and that you matter. … It’s like going to a best friend’s house to have dinner,” Cheryl Morrow said. Her favorite dish is the Maine Lobster Bisque — “it’s a must,” she said — while Paul Morrow’s is the Crab Crusted Haddock. For dessert, the two usually share the Ice Box Tasting, which offers three flavors of gelato.
As for the future of Timber Kitchen and Bar, plans are in motion to bring patrons the opportunity to enjoy more unique specialities, including the Glacier Ice Bar and Lounge, which is set to offer handcrafted cocktails at the restaurant on Jan. 29 and 30 and Feb. 5 and 6. The Morrows plan to check that out once it comes as well.
Also in the works is something they’ve dubbed “Sunday Supper,” which intends to re-create an old tradition of the classic meal Sunday evenings that brought family around the table. Though details are still being hammered out, the concept plans even mention of the ringing of a bell, a throwback to times when parents would ring for their kids to come in to eat.
Overall, the restaurant tries to create a casual dining experience, which is reflected in a comfortable and inviting atmosphere for others to relax in and enjoy.
“We don’t consider ourselves fine dining, but we do like to provide that level of service,” Fletcher said.
Back in the kitchen, Arsenault’s workspace had been cleared of the gnocchi he had been working on for the past few hours. He then disappeared into another part of the space, moving on to his next task in the busy restaurant kitchen.
