Lenore Skwanski, executive chef/co-owner of Five Vines in Portland, Maine, really just sticks with the basics: the New England native and long-time farm-to-table advocate believes that “memorable dining is less about the chef in the kitchen and much more about the fresh, seasonal ingredients.” In Skwanski’s case, many of those ingredients come courtesy of the restaurant’s own Five Vines Farm, which inspires such seasonal dishes.

Chef Skwanski travels regularly to Italy with members of his kitchen and front-of-house teams to meet with Italian artisanal cheese and cured meat producers, olive oil and balsamic vinegar producers, and internationally acclaimed winemakers. These Italian “finds” quickly make their way onto the innovative menus at each of his restaurants, and add to what rates as a truly authentic Italian dining experience. In- house, servers roam about passing out appetizers, such as Winter Point oysters with tomato horseradish mignonette, yellow- and cherry-tomato arancini with lemon-basil aioli, lamb sausage with peach mostarda, housemade mortadella, and pickled blue hubbard squash.