ST GEORGE, Maine — In September 2023, a destructive fire broke out in Port Clyde.
The fire damaged the roof of the Monhegan Boat Line and destroyed the Port Clyde General Store and the Dip Net Restaurant.
"There has been no answer as to what happened," Lexi Zable, owner of the Dip Net, said of the fire. "It's been undeterminable."
Zable has been working at the Dip Net Restaurant in Port Clyde since she was 16 years old.
"It's really like my second home down here," Zable said.
In 2017, she got a "promotion."
"I was approached about leasing the establishment, and then from there, I leased the property, the building, and the name, and ran it as my own," Zable said.
Now, another summer season has arrived, and Zable is ready to serve up food on the pier yet again. However, hungry customers will notice a change.
That fire wasn't the end of the road for Zable but rather a detour. Less than a year later, she and the Dip Net are back, but this time on wheels.
"Since then, my landlord, which is Linda Bean's Perfect Maine, has let us borrow their truck, and so we kind of set up shop in a more minimal way," Zable said. "We've been able to do a lot out of the truck, I feel. It's still a learning curve, still figuring things out."
Zable joked that they'll have the Dip Net Food Truck figured out just in time to close for the season, but for now, she and her staff have the rest of the summer to serve up good food.
"I was really happy that a lot of my staff wanted to come back," Zable said. "They didn't really care what they were doing as long as they can be a part of it."
Manager Leslie Turner has been with the Dip Net for several years. "It's my family, it's home," Turner said.
Now, they have a pick-up window instead of sit-down tables.
"We're just working out the kinks, it's a whole new world," Turner said. Sometimes, one step backward can lead to two steps forward.
Turner says now they can put more focus on the Barn Cafe that they took over in 2020. It's nestled right across the pier, only a stone's throw away. The Barn Cafe serves up cocktails and other alcoholic beverages, and you can bring your food from the Dip Net Food Truck to enjoy.
"We were never able to run it in the way we wanted to because it was all hands on deck at the Dip Net, naturally," Turner said. "Now we do because only so many people will fit in the truck."
It's a truck that shows this team is stronger and more resilient than ever before.
"Port Clyde has come together and tried to make it the best season possible, and I know a lot of people have put in the work to get the word out that Port Clyde is still alive and we're here," Zable said.
Zable says her landlord, Linda Bean's Perfect Maine, is working on plans to rebuild the Port Clyde General Store and the Dip Net. They hope to make the new structure look the same as the original.