After a few weeks, we had eaten our fair share of lobster rolls, fresh oysters and Maine seafood. All delicious, but our taste buds were looking for a change of flavor. We got this and more at Hartstone Inn’s Electric Daisy Restaurantone of Camden’s best restaurants with a focus on sustainable, locally sourced dishes and crazy fun from Chef Dustin Shockley.
At the helm from December 2022, Shockley’s creativity has been given free rein Hartstone Inn When he arrived. He transformed the menu at long-time favorite Camden inn’s restaurant, taking it from its long-standing traditional focus on classic French dishes to delicious, impressive, wonderful surprises with every course – all at a reasonable price for such perfection.
“I wanted to be recognizable and comforting, but I also like to push the envelope – from the flavors on the plate to the creative process we use to put it on the plate,” Shockley told me.
Recognizable and comforting? Think, for example, sirloin steak and pan-seared New England hanger. Sounds normal enough. But then comes Shockley’s twist when he pushes that envelope: Soura that has a less creamy ramen-based broth and pickled mushrooms adorn the steak. And everything is not just a delight to the palate – it makes me roll my eyes to the sky in sheer delight. But it is also a visual feast. My husband and partner, Michael, and I wanted to just look at the culinary art – but then our stomachs convinced us to pick up our forks and knives and dine.
What is that electric margarita at the Hartstone Inn restaurant?
Let’s talk about this thing called the electric margarita, after which Shokle named the new iteration of the beloved Camden restaurant. “Electric Daisy” is what the beautiful little yellow flower “Szechuan Button” is colloquially called. It’s something you find Shockley slipping into his entrees and desserts – and anywhere else he can sneak it. It’s something he first tried a decade ago – “and I’ve been in love with it ever since,” he said. An innocent daisy-like flower, “Spilanthes oleracea,” as it is known botanically, adds an electric tingle to your tongue and mouth. Not that spicy and certainly not hot or painful, but rather an amazing tingling sensation bordering on exciting
We were so charmed, we had to ask for a sample – and we got a bud from this sweet little margarita they brought to our table, looking rather lonely on a plate. Just pinch a petal or brush it with your tongue and your mouth goes zippity-do-dah. Put it on a plate, as Shockley does, and it adds a zoom you can’t quite place, almost like the subtle sparkle in some wines that just lights them up and adds a touch of whimsy. If you get the three-course menu, as we did – a great deal at $65 in 2023 for its gourmet goodness – you’ll have some sorbet between the first and main courses. Our palate cleansing sorbet that night was called ‘Lemon Tingle’. We loved his lemonade – only to learn when we chatted with Shockley later that the bite had been enhanced by some electric margarita. That was it! For the curious, this flower is also called toothache plant, paracressus, buzz buttons, Sansho Buttons, tingflowers, eyeball plant, peek-a-boo plant and jumbo plant.
Modern? No. Shockley said he doesn’t really like modern culinary descriptors like “molecular gastronomy,” which you might use to describe his cooking and recipes. Instead, he said he just likes to use things in different ways. Consider this Szechuan button. I call his style “complex simplicity”. Interestingly, the descriptions of its menu items sound delicious, but don’t let go of the little secret ingredients or touches you might discover when you dine at the Hartstone Inn’s Electric Daisy.
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“My head is bouncing all over the place,” she said. I create “whatever comes out of my crazy, random head.”
And kudos to that, we say.
Dinner at the Hartstone Inn in Camden Maine
A MidCoast Maine dining staple for several decades for inn-goers and others alike, the Hartstone Inn in 2021 had a change of ownership. Restaurant and hotel owners Michael and Mary Jo Salmon sold the inn and restaurant. Salmon, as chef, focused on classic French food with a Maine twist, and the new owner, Oneil Khosa, wanted something a little different.
He and his team found Shockley, who went to high school in Maine and worked in restaurants around the country for twelve years as he worked his way up the culinary ranks. Shockley arrived at Hearthstone Inn at the age of 39 and immediately combined his love of local, sustainable, Maine food and ingredients with his penchant for Asian influences and his familiarity with local Maine farmers. Remember the ramen-style broth on the traditional soru, or the pickled mushrooms with the steak? You have it. Not necessarily Asian in the face, but hidden hints here and there.
Today, the kitchen at the Hartstone Inn’s Electric Daisy restaurant in Camden offers a three course menu and in late 2023 introduced a new menu concept offering small, medium and large plates to mix and match and share (or not!). Yes, yes, this little electric daisy will pop her head here and there.
Our dining experience at Electric Daisy in Camden
For our dinner, Michael and I tried different dishes from the three course menu. Michael started with the New England saura, who said it was super fresh and not as heavy as traditional sautés, with the flavor of the bacon and thyme butter coming through clearly. Later, we discovered the secret to the ramen broth that kept it from being too heavy.
I started with a dish called “young broccoli”, which sounded so simple (see cover photo). What I was handed surprised me with its wonderful mix of ingredients that went so far beyond the baby broccoli, adding a sunny side up egg with a beautiful runny yolk, potato chips and some salmon roe, with a carrot vinaigrette. The flavors came together beautifully.
HITT Tip: If you would like to recreate the Shockley’s Young Broccoli dish, it is available for free to members of our Subscribers Club. Joining our club is of course free, with more download books and benefits. Sign up by clicking here.
For our network I choose it hanger steak in pan, which proved to be a great tasting change from Maine seafood. It arrived cooked exactly as I had requested (rare), with a fan of slices spread over a bed of farro grains with pickled mushrooms, as well as dollops of beautiful green salsa encircling the dish.
As a fan of well-crafted black bass, Michael chose the “crispy skin black bass”, which is not always easy to get right. It was “wonderful,” he said, with the fish flaky and moist. It was accompanied by jasmine rice, baby squash and kimchi chutney, which added a light tart bite to the fish.
Then we went for dessert! We had to decide with scissors who got what: Michael had it chocolate terrinewhich was suitably rich and velvety, garnished with Amarena cherry, vanilla anglaise and tiny crunchy chocolate pearls for that texture.
Usually a chocolate lover, I got the instead pistachio ice cream — partly because I’m also a nut for anything fig and there was a fig compote with it. It was a somewhat lighter dessert: a scoop of pistachio gelato on a plate is spread with compote, topped with a swirl of white chocolate and served with some rich little cookies. I dipped and wiped until it was all gone!
From start to finish, Shockley’s menu and presentation was divine perfection, already leaving us dreaming of a return to what must be one of Camden’s best restaurants. The intimate bar also serves some nice drinks.
Now about this Young Broccoli Dish recipe: Shockley shared it with us exclusively for our subscribers and it’s really worth trying at home. It’s not that complicated and will definitely impress your family or guests.
