The front of The Contented Soles new home on Monday, Feb. 12. The restaurants owners sought a new home for their restaurant after the original building incurred significant damage during the Jan. 10 and Jan. 13 storms. (Johnathan Riley photo)
Warren Busteed and Beth Polhemus, owners of The Contented Sole, have found a new home for their restaurant after the building that housed the business for the last 19 years was devastated in the Jan. 10 and Jan. 13 storms.
According to Busteed, The Contented Sole will be moving to 32 Southside Road, where Head of the Harbor, an event center in New Harbor, is located.
The building on Southside Road is bigger than the Sole’s previous home and will provide the opportunity for the restaurant to be open longer than the seasonal constraints of the Pemaquid Harbor location.
Busteed, who also co-owns Bred in the Bone in Damariscotta, said they’re intending to be at the new location for at least five years and likely longer.
As for The Contented Sole’s original building, there’s no timeline on when, or if, it will be fixed.
Busteed and Polhemus leased the building in Fort William Henry State Park from the state of Maine. After speaking with representatives from the Bureau of Parks and Lands, Busteed said there wasn’t much optimism that the historic building was going to be fixed soon.
The bar area in the former restaurant was on pilings, and the entrance is on land, so when the storm surge came up during the January storms, according to Busteed, it cracked the concrete flooring of the bar space off of the rest of the foundation.
“The building had survived 100 years of storms up until this point,” Busteed said.
In addition, the storm surge also lifted the restaurant’s dock up and off its pilings, flooded the building, and tore off the walkway from the parking lot to the waterside of the restaurant.
“It took a little bit to comprehend the whole thing, when I first went in – I was really bummed out, because I knew everything was basically destroyed,” Busteed said. “But we have this way to pivot from one project to the next.”
In the aftermath of the damage done during the January storms, Busteed said it was heartwarming how many people reached out to see how he, Polhemus, and the rest of The Contented Sole crew were doing and to offer help.
“I was amazed at how many people reached out to see what they could do,” he said. “We’ve got a great community here.”
Busteed and Polhemus started making phone calls to people in the community right after the storm to try and figure out a new situation.
“There wasn’t much else that we could do,” Busteed said.
Then, two days after the storms, Busteed said the owner of Head of the Harbor, Debbie Dodge, called to ask if they wanted to move their restaurant to her building overlooking New Harbor.
According to Busteed, Dodge’s space hadn’t been in use recently.
Dodge, according to Busteed, had been a longtime customer at The Contented Sole and is someone they trust and have “known for 15 years at least.”
While there are some renovations needing to take place in order to make the space more accommodating for a restaurant, Busteed said he, Polhemus, and Dodge are hoping to have everything ready to open in May.
“I think it’s going to be busy,” Busteed said.
While there are differences between the two spaces — no available dock for boaters in the new space, and the architecture is more modern — Busteed is hoping to preserve some of the qualities that gave The Contented Sole its essence.
Busteed said they’re aiming to keep the heart of the menu and the soul of the restaurant alive in the new space.
“We’re not going to replicate the menu exactly, but keep some of the staples that sold well,” Busteed said.
Additionally, according to Busteed, the restaurant will still be called The Contented Sole.
For more information and updates about the restaurant’s new location, follow The Contented Sole on Facebook or email wtbusteed@gmail.com.
