Biddeford has been named to Food and Wine magazine’s list of cities with a food scene to keep an eye on.
Food and Wine highlighted Magnus on Water, whose chef Ben Jackson was nominated as a semifinalist in the 2022 James Beard Awards. Night moves Bread, the Palace Diner and Jackrabbit Cafe, along with its sister restaurant Elda, were also featured by the magazine.
The city’s food and drink bookstore Rabelais, Lorne Wine and the new upscale Lincoln Hotel also made Biddeford stand out to the editors.
Biddeford, Maine’s sixth-largest city with more than 21,000 residents, is located about 25 miles southwest of Portland in York County in the southern part of the state. The former textile mill city has undergone major redevelopment in the past decade to add upscale housing, retail stores and a diaspora of food and drink establishments.
This isn’t the first time that Biddeford has garnered attention from national food and drinks editors; when Portland was named “City of the Year” by Bon Appetit in 2018, Biddeford got a shout-out as the “best reason to drive 18 miles south” to sample its eats.