Down home country cookin’ and legendary pit barbecue are making their way up to Scarborough.

As rib joint Famous Dave’s agrees to compromise on the color of its roofs, Cracker Barrel moves forward in its negotiations with the town. The two restaurants are looking to join anchor store Cabela’s in a retail development off the Maine Turnpike on Haigis Parkway.

On Thursday, representatives from Cracker Barrel, developer New England Expedition and the town met with landscape architect Terrence DeWan to discuss alternative ways for the store to be visible from the highway while still complying with town and state sign regulations.

“I think we made some progress,” said Town Manager Ron Owens, who would not reveal the specific ideas that were discussed, but said the goal was to create a sign that would be on the developer’s property and visible from the highway without being particularly tall.

According to Owens, state regulations that do not permit highway signs are the most problematic for the company, which does not yet have any Maine locations.

Cracker Barrel spokeswoman Julie Davis said the restaurant is geared toward the traveling public, with 40 percent of customers stopping off during road trips. She said people make a point to hit a Cracker Barrel while they’re on the road, which makes it essential to have highway visibility.

“Otherwise, people won’t know to stop,” Davis said.

Owens said the sign will be most important as the company is establishing itself in the state.

“Maine represents new territory,” he said.

Meanwhile, rib joint Famous Dave’s, which debated with the planning board over the color of their roofs, has settled on changing the main roof to green, as the town requested, while keeping the decorative roofs the company’s signature red.

“They’ve concluded now that that’s not such a bad idea,” Owens said.

Now that the town has offered its help to Cracker Barrel, it’s a matter of waiting to see if the developer and the restaurant can come up with something that will work for them.

“A lot of ideas were generated, but at this point they’re just ideas,” DeWan said. “Whether or not they’re workable is part of the excitement of the process.”

Davis said, even if the Haigis Parkway location doesn’t work out, the company will keep looking for locations in the community. But Owens is far from giving up on this site.

“There’s reason to be optimistic,” he said.