Food&Wine profiles Biddeford, and includes Rabelais

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Think of Biddeford as Portland, Maine's quiet older sister with great taste—the one you ask for recommendations on nicely curated bottle shops and vintage clothing boutiques. A 30-minute drive south gets you from Portland to Biddeford; check into The Lincoln Hotel, a new 33-room boutique property in a former textile mill opening this summer (rooms from $299, lincolnhotelmaine.com). Visit Magnus on Water for Brunswick clams and a glass of sparkling Chenin Blanc, and carb load at Night Moves Bread, known for breads like anadama, a loaf made here with nixtamalized heirloom flint corn and molasses. For a soul-soothing cardamom bun, you'll want to head to Jackrabbit Cafe from 2011 F&W Best New Chef Bowman Brown—once you've fallen in love with his food, book a table for his nightly tasting menu at Elda, just upstairs. You'd be remiss to skip a pilgrimage to Rabelais, which has one of the country's largest selections of rare cookbooks, as well as a breakfast stop at vintage comfort food mecca Palace Diner. Oh, and that bottle shop recommendation? It's Lorne Wine. —Oset Babür-Winter