A Week of Gastronomy

Or, how we spent our anniversary week dining "at home" in Nashua, NH, but not exactly in our own home. Instead, we dined at downtown restaurants, all within walking distance of the mill apartments, many which have a historical connection.

Here's an account of the places we dined at during our week-long celebration. Spoiler alert there is a lot of food photos in this post, so you won't go away hungry or maybe you will.

Monday, we dined at Martha's Exchange housed in the city-block long former Merchants Exchange Building on Main Street. 

Merchants Exchange Building, 185 Main Street, Nashua, NH, dates from 1872

The original Martha's dates to 1936 when Katherine Fokas, immigrated from Greece, and founded Martha's Sweet Shoppe named after the popular Martha Washington Candy. This vintage sweet is made with a sweet coconut, toasted pecan and maraschino cherry filling then dipped in chocolate. 

Onion rings, tomato, lettuce, bacon made for a huge-looking burger

Over the years, it was expanded and renamed as Martha’s Sweet Shoppe and Luncheonette which had 28 stools and was the most popular lunch spot on Main Street. In 1985, it transformed again and was renamed Martha's Exchange. In 1993, Nashua’s first micro-brewery opened on site with the addition of a bar which was originally used in one of Al Capone’s Chicago speakeasies.

Tostao's Tapas-Bar

Tuesday night it was tapas and sangria at Tostao's, a Spanish tapas style restaurant on Main St in downtown Nashua. The building, which now houses the restaurant formerly housed a movie theater. To our surprise, we learned that Nashua is recognized as being the first city in the state of NH to premier a moving picture in 1896. Between 1896 and 1947, eight moving picture theatres existed downtown.

This site housed two movie theatres. The Tremont  had a grand opening in May 1917. This 1,200-seat, “cool” ventilated and independently owned theatre  premiered daily double feature family-friendly programming and popular films. In the mid 1920s, it was renovated and reopened as the State Theatre.

Gone With the Wind & The Blob wall jural

This mural on the side of Tostao's plays homage to Nashua's movie theatre history. We watched its spray-paint application several years ago by Positive Street Art.

Tapas at Tostao's included chicken, empanadas and spinach dip

We enjoyed a selection of tapas on half-price tapas Tuesday. These went well with glasses of sangria, red for Patrick and white for myself.

It was another night for specials as we enjoyed a selection on half-price tapas Tuesday. All were enjoyed with glasses of sangria, red for Patrick and white for myself.

Surf Seafood  on Main St in Nashua, NH

Wednesday was our actual 25th wedding anniversary date celebrated with outdoor dining at Surf Seafood on Main St. The weather was perfect as we enjoyed sangria, New England clam chowder, a crispy dragon shrimp appetizer, baked seafood entree and a slice of the famous tall cake dessert. 

This building housed the former Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) which was created in 1926 and was the largest public utility in the state for decades before declaring bankruptcy in 1998. It was sold to Northeast Utilities, which is now Eversource Energy, which is the electrical supplier in Nashua.

Appetizers and entrees at Surf Seafood, Nashua, NH

The tall cake is a signature dessert at Surf. We were hoping for chocolate one, but there is only one flavor per week on the menu, so maybe next time.

Appetizer, entrees and dessert at Rambling House, Nashua, NH

Thursday night's dinner was at Rambling House, a family-owned and operated farm, restaurant and craft brewery located at 57 Factory St within a 2-minute walk from our apartment. Here, we enjoyed an appetizer of lobster rangoon with entrees of roast ruck and roast pork. TaleSpinner Brewery and Rambling House opened to the public in 2022. It's became a favorite of enthusiasts of local and sustainable sourcing, farm-to-table fare. It features seasonal menus with outdoor dining on the third floor deck. We opted to dine indoors. 

Wine was enjoyed as we toasted ourselves, once more.

Riviera Nayarit on W. Pearl St in nashua, NH

All good things come to an end and on Friday, we closed out the dining week at Riviera Nayarit, a Mexican-style seafood and grill on W. Pearl St. It specializes in various seafood dishes inspired by the region of Nayarit, a nearly 200-mile stretch of coastline in Mexico, where its owner, Karla Gutiérrez, was raised on seafood.

This was a week for sangria enjoyed with seafood entrees of enchiladas and chimichangas.

Certainly, this was one of the most unusual anniversary celebrations we've ever enjoyed. In past years, we've taken road trips with overnight stays and dining out. Staying home and dining out was a wonderful alternative thanks to the variety of restaurants in downtown Nashua, all within walking distance of our apt. We could easily have dined in more. Dining out was not inexpensive, but we had a great week. This milestone anniversary was well worth the expense of dining locally and in some deliciously interesting places. It's back to cooking at home and a lot of walking.

Donut Miss Frosty's

Most people think of lobster or other seafood when considering food choices in Maine, but there's other indulgences as well. In Brunswick, ME, that means donuts.

Selection of donuts at Frosty's Donut Shop in Brunswick, ME

Since we missed celebrating National Donut Day on the first Friday in June last month, we made up for that oversight last weekend.

Frosty's, 54 Maine St, Brunswick, ME

Frosty's founders, June & Bob Frost

Frosty’s Donut Shop is located in the heart of downtown Brunswick, ME, ironically on Maine Street. It was established in 1965 by Bob and June Frost. Within a few years, their selection of traditional donuts, from glazed to frosted became well known in the area leading to a faithful following. Customers either made a stop here as part of their daily routine or found a reason to travel to Brunswick. (Luckily, we were already there for another event.)

The donut shop became an “iconic institution” in the community and recognition in regional and national recognition in publications such as Downeast, Travel & Leisure, and Saveur. 

The current name and location were not the original shop. The Frosts had originally bought into a Spudnut Donut Shop franchise for an initial investment of $5,000. They opened it near Bowdoin College in Brunswick. 

Vintage Spudnut Donut Ads

Spudnut shops, which predated Dunkin'® Donuts, were selling about 400,000 spudnut donuts made with potato flour annually. The American franchise grew to more than 300 shops at one time. While the parent company no longer exists, about 35 independent shops remain open in nine states. The name was originally coined by company founders Al and Bob Pelton of Salt Lake City, UT, who created a dry potato mix which made it feasible to franchise their creation.

The original recipe is based on a German folk recipe. Spudnuts were advertised with the slogan Coast to coast—Alaska to Mexico. Over the history of Spudnuts, there were over 600 stores throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. A bow-tied donut character, Mr. Spudnut, appeared in ads, restaurants, and parades. In the late 1960s, there were 315 franchise holders, with combined annual sales of $25 million. Spudnut shops were the largest doughnut franchise in the U.S.

Two years after the Frosts relocated to the Maine Street location, business became slow and the shop name was changed to Frosty’s. (I'm not sure if the donuts continued to be made with potato flour.)

Bob and June Frost maintained the popular Frosty’s Donut Shop for 46 years until Bob closed its doors in June 2011, shortly after June's death. 

Nels Omdal and Shelby St. Andre

In 2012, Nels Omdal and his wife Shelby St. Andre, a local couple, who had also been loyal customers purchased Frosty’s. Omdal had a background in food production and restaurant management and his wife had experience in business and finance. They felt they had the skills and drive needed to grow the business throughout the state.

They didn’t know anything about making doughnuts.

The couple stayed faithful to the recipes and business model developed by the Frosts and Bob worked with them in the kitchen. The basic donut recipe remained the same. (Bob Frost died in June 2019 at age 85. )

Running the donut shop meant long hours. After taking over Frosty's, its new owners served donuts 7 days a week.  They expanded the business to four more retail locations throughout Maine—Augusta, Bath, Gardiner and Freeport—and delivered breakfast items to over 40 locations statewide. When the Covid pandemic hit, all shops were voluntarily closed. The Gardiner and Freeport closures closed permanently to maintain the long-term health of the company according to its owners.

Grenville & blueberry fritter

If you're in Brunswick, ME, on a weekend and looking for a sweet treat, stop into Frosty’s at 54 Maine St. The donut shop is open Friday to Sunday, 7 am to 2 pm, takeout only, no delivery. The menu includes raised donuts, cake donuts, rings, glazed twists, and bagels as well as hot and cold drinks.

In 2023, Frosty’s owners opened a production facility in Brunswick and now deliver breakfast items to over 40 locations throughout the state.

Although ALL of the donuts looked delicious, we can personally recommend the fritters. Grenville enjoyed a blueberry-filled one and mine was the traditional apple-filled variety.

Not only were both were both delicious 😋 but, of course, calories don't count when traveling 😉. . . isn't that right?