Eating at Aunt Dee’s is like going to your grandma’s for Sunday dinner.

Or your aunt’s, or (insert relative who spoiled you here).

Additional Photos

Sylvia Gordon shows off a pot roast sandwich with romaine, tomatoes from her garden and spicy mustard. Gordon Chibroski/ Staff Photographer

The restaurant and its menu are not fancy, but the dishes prepared are the very definition of comfort food. Think pot roast and mashed potatoes. Meatloaf. Shepherd’s pie. American chop suey. Homemade apple crisp.

Just don’t look down at the floor while you’re enjoying your meal. The old, stained carpet may make you lose your appetite. That, I suppose, is what take-out is for.

Sylvia Gordon and her mother, Alice Wilson — “Aunt Dee” — run the kitchen, and these two women know good old-fashioned home cooking. Many of the vegetables they serve as sides come straight from their own garden.

The restaurant is located in a corner building shaped kind of like a slice of pie. There are only a handful of seats inside, mostly small tables with little lamps and the kind of chairs you’d find in an ice cream parlor. That makes sense, because ice cream is front and center here, with around three dozen flavors listed on the board and a freezer filled with novelty treats.

The menu, listed in a long string of boards above the counter, is huge. It includes everything from a cheeseburger for $4.25 to hot meals that come in two sizes, $6.95 and $8.95. The smaller is supposed to be a lunch-sized portion; the larger more appropriate for dinner.

There’s also a long list of cold and hot sandwiches, including fish or chicken filet sandwiches for $5.95.

Hot meal choices include dishes such as fried haddock, grilled ham, fish and chips, pot roast and meatloaf. The meatloaf and pot roast were on the specials board the day I visited, along with a hamburger patty, potato and vegetable for $6.95, and tomato soup and grilled cheese — the ultimate comfort food — for $6.75.

Each customer is offered a tall glass of ice water, but there’s also a cooler filled with a wide selection of sodas and teas. A row of shelves in the back holds chips, candies and tchochkes for those so inclined.

I tried the pot roast, which came with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as my choice of a vegetable. The choices included carrots and green beans, but I went for the buttercup squash. The meal also came with two small pieces of wheat bread with butter.

The pot roast was tender; the potatoes thick and creamy. The star of the meal, however, was the buttercup squash from the owners’ garden. It was served on the side in a small bowl and was simple and delicious, with a little melted butter swimming on top.

I felt transported back to my grandmother’s house, where the bounty of her garden filled the table at every family meal. It’s not surprising that Aunt Dee’s is a favorite at the Cumberland County Fair every year.

My one complaint about the food was that the meat, potatoes and gravy seemed way underseasoned. Be prepared to use the salt and pepper on your table liberally.

The portion sizes were very generous, and I had to take part of my meal home.

Aunt Dee’s knows comfort food. Replace that terrible carpet, folks, and you’ll get more customers dining in, and more stars in your review. 

The Features staff of The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram anonymously samples meals for about $7.

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