Havana is a restaurant in downtown Bar Harbor, Maine, United States.[1][2] Established in 1997 by Michael Boland[3] and his wife Deirdre Swords,[4] the restaurant has received several awards, most notably for its wine list, which has achieved Wine Spectator's Award for Excellence[4] every year since 2004.[5][6] A Cubano-influenced restaurant,[7] it has an attached outdoor bar, the Havana Parrilla Tapas Bar and Grill,[8] converted from a garage in 2003.[4]

Havana
The restaurant's sign in 2019
Map
Restaurant information
Established1997 (27 years ago) (1997)
Owner(s)Michael Boland
Deirdre Swords
Head chefCassady Pappas
Food typeCuban-influenced
Street address318 Main Street
CityBar Harbor
CountyHancock County
StateMaine
Postal/ZIP Code04609
CountryUnited States
Coordinates44°23′03″N 68°12′11″W / 44.3841287°N 68.203186°W / 44.3841287; -68.203186
Websitewww.havanamaine.com

Sitting United States president Barack Obama dined at the restaurant on July 17, 2010,[3] during his family's vacation on Mount Desert Island.[9] The president had paella and the first lady, Michelle Obama, had lobster thermidor.[3][10] It was the first presidential visit to the island since that of Howard Taft exactly a century earlier.[11]

Head bartender Mark "Duffy" Dyer worked at the restaurant between 1997 and 2023.[4][12]

Boland and Swords opened a sister restaurant, named Havana South, in Portland, Maine, in 2010, but it closed shortly thereafter.[13]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Esquire included Havana in its list of "100 restaurants America can't afford to lose".[14]

References

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