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BY BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer 01/11/2009

FARMINGTON — Opening a restaurant is a risky undertaking in the best of times. But in an economic downturn?

“People tell me I’m crazy opening a place in this economy in the dead of winter,” said Peter Benoit, owner of Peter’s Seafood and Steak at 479 Fairbanks Road in Farmington. He opens the restaurant Monday.

“I’m not looking to get rich. I just want to pay my bills and make a decent, honest living and serve good food at prices people can afford,” he said.
“We won’t be competing with anyone (downtown). We won’t be doing subs and pizzas; we’re not upscale and we’ll have beer and wine but we won’t be a bar,” he said. “We figured this area could use a nice little restaurant.”

For more than 30 years, Benoit worked in restaurants in Maine and Cape Cod; for the past 13, he was the cook at LaFleur’s in Jay where he was known for his seafood buffet. Peter’s will be his first business.

Benoit has some ideas that come from years of observing and listening to customers.

These include offering a lunch menu all day, which means that less expensive, smaller portions, can be purchased all the time, depending on the customer’s appetite and wallet. Patrons can also order, one, two or three pork chops.

“The lunch menu won’t disappear after 5,” he said. “My mother’s in a nursing home now, but when she ate out, she always said the portions were too large. I want to give people a choice all day. Why should they buy more than they want?”
Another plan is to offer prime rib on Saturday nights and all day Sundays in three sizes, starting at $8.95 and going up to king-size at $15.95.

The menu will be simple. It will have assorted fried, broiled and baked-seafood dishes, all made with fresh, not frozen, fish, he said. There will be T-bone and rib-eye steaks, chops, and daily specials as Benoit has time to make them, and vegetarian and chicken dishes. Everything will be made from scratch using his own recipes, including his specialty crab and clam cakes, soups and chowders, he said.

Benoit said he and his wife, Barbara, have spent the past weeks cleaning in preparation for the opening. There will be a new floor in the kitchen, the walls and ceiling are freshly painted, and a new food preparation area is being set up.
They also are considering building a deck around the southern side and having a take-out window.
The location has had a history of restaurants. The property is now owned by Brad and Chanda Luker of Industry, who built an ice cream shop next door last year where they sell Maine-made hard and soft ice cream.

Peter’s will be open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, and until 9 p.m. on weekends.


Betty Jespersen — 778-6991
bjespersen@centralmaine.com

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