Fried chicken on a jumbo biscuit with sausage gravy and a drizzle of maple syrup. Beef on weck, a favorite in Buffalo, New York, with thinly sliced roast beef piled high on a homemade kaiser roll topped with caraway seeds and coarse salt. A “big smoked breakfast” with brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage, two eggs, home fries and toast.
Hungry yet?
These dishes are part of the eclectic breakfast and lunch menu at Baked on Maine, a restaurant that opened in January at 42 Maine St. in Brunswick. The space was formerly home to The Great Impasta, which is now on Pleasant Street.
Baked on Maine offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches and a dozen coffee drinks. The menu has everything from chicken biscuits to pulled pork or falafel sandwiches.
Baked goods are handcrafted by two sister businesses: Mae’s Cafe & Bakery in Bath and Brunswick’s Wildflours Bakery, which provides gluten-free treats.
Customers often are backed up to the door, waiting patiently for a seat in the small eatery that seats two dozen guests at seven tables and a half-dozen stools at a bar overlooking the street.
Its compact size hasn’t deterred customers.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Virginia Brown, of Harpswell. She and her husband, Al, were at the restaurant for the first time on a recent Saturday morning.
“It’s delicious,” she added, packing up half of her chicken biscuit to take home. “This will feed me for the rest of the day.”
Jane and Zac Champ, who live in Brunswick, were enjoying breakfast with their 4-year-old son, who nibbled on a pancake almost as big as his head. Jane gushed that the food was “really good” and the prices fair. Zac was surprised by the large portions, a comment heard from almost everyone in the restaurant that day.
Sitting at the bar was Portland resident Anne Nadzo, a brisket sandwich at the ready. She said she was housesitting in Brunswick and thought the restaurant was worth trying. She was so impressed that she had already texted three friends in Portland: “We need to come here. It’s worth the trip.”
Baked on Maine is co-owned by Ryan Ballard, of Brunswick, who serves as chef and general manager. Ned Horton, who splits his time between Harpswell’s Bailey Island and Nashville, Tennessee, is the other investor. Horton fully owns Mae’s, which he bought in 2021; and Wildflours, purchased in 2023.
“It’s been a lot of work collaborating between the three entities,” Horton said. “We’re still getting our feet wet.”
Annaka Hildreth, general manager at Wildflours, said there is confusion among customers who are wondering if the gluten-free bakery still exists.
“We get calls daily,” she said, and they reassure customers the Cumberland Street business is open.
Stephanie Kipp is the pastry chef for both Mae’s and Baked on Maine. A standout is her humongous cinnamon roll with icing.
You aren’t seeing things if you find Ballard, Horton, or Kipp at either Baked on Maine or Mae’s. In addition to her baking for both locations, Kipp is the assistant general manager and a host at Mae’s. Ballard is general manager of both Baked on Maine and Mae’s, while Horton checks in on both.
But the spotlight is on Baked on Maine, the new kid in town.
“We couldn’t be happier with the community’s reception,” said Ballard, who lived in the Buffalo area as a youngster. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It’s amazing.”
Ballard, who has been a chef at several Maine restaurants, said the idea for Baked on Maine started coming together after The Great Impasta moved out. It took six months to renovate. The crew put in hardwood floors, among other changes. “It was just very dark in there,” Ballard said.
Working with Ballard at Baked in Maine are his son and daughter. He is training his son, Kristopher, to take over as kitchen manager. Daughter Jordan, along with Kaylee Creamer, takes food orders at the counter, where customers pay their bills. There is no waitstaff and seating is on a first-come basis.
A long glass case features colossal, yummy-looking cookies and pastries, along with bags of granola. Gluten-free chocolate, raspberry and carrot cake cupcakes shared the space with gluten-free bread and red-pepper-and-feta quiche on one recent day.
On the wall behind the counter is a large television showing rotating scenes of snow-covered evergreens, mountains, canyons and waterfalls.
Horton said he and Ballard enjoy working with the public, with Ballard the food and restaurant guru and Horton the “idea guy.”
Horton grew up in Vermont, where his parents owned an inn. “A little bit of that hospitality is in my blood,” he said. He also owns Tin Cup Coffee in Nashville, among other properties. “I’m accustomed to being a host,” he said.
Horton is a Bowdoin College graduate whose extended family has lived in Harpswell since the 1940s. When he was a boy, he said, “They’d stick me on a Greyhound bus in the summer and send me to Harpswell.”
He and his wife, Dr. Juli Horton, an infectious disease specialist, may eventually retire to their home on Garrison Cove. Cousins Mary and Chuck Weatherill live on Orr’s Island.
Looking ahead, Horton and his team realize space is limited at Baked on Maine. They can’t expand outward, but they’re looking up — at a potential second floor.
In the meantime, there will be a few more tables outdoors in the summer “if we can squeeze them all in,” Ballard said.
