Kitchen manager Miles Oberting, 18, and his father, Kip Oberting, 55, in the dining room at Dennett’s at the Wharf in Castine. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Earlier this year, the seaside Down East community of Castine once again faced the prospect of a summer tourist season without a restaurant at its anchor venue, Dennett’s Wharf.

The restaurant that opened there in the 2022 season wouldn’t be returning, as the former general manager and his team left Maine to pursue opportunities in New York City. Even more troubling than the vacancy was the fact that the historic 19th-century structure had been seriously damaged by winter and spring storms, suffering up to four feet of interior flooding and losing its massive waterfront deck and a three-season porch.

But in March, the building’s owner, Kip Oberting, decided the building could still host a restaurant – at least a smaller one, operating on a limited schedule – this season. He recruited his 18-year-old son, Miles (still in high school at the time), to helm the kitchen, and his 24-year-old niece, Apple Lieser (who was old enough to sell a drink), to run the bar, and they enlisted a number of their friends for other staff roles. After months of sometimes frenzied repair work, the new restaurant – now called Dennett’s at the Wharf – was almost ready for its health inspection in June, one of the last major hurdles it needed to clear before relaunching, against all odds.

Yet the place still needed to be whipped into inspection shape in short order. So Lieser wrote a post on the town’s Facebook page asking for help. (The Facebook page is officially titled, “You know you’re from Castine, Maine if…” and the unofficial answer could certainly be “you’re doing everything you can to help someone else from Castine in their time of need.”)

Lieser recalled that the day before the health inspection, “About 40 volunteers from Castine came in and deep-cleaned everything, and helped me set up the bar shelves. This place went from a construction site to sparkling in two hours during a heat wave.” The next day, another roughly 40 volunteers arrived at the restaurant to help move heavy equipment.

“It really was waves of people who helped make this happen,” Oberting said, noting that the effort to get the restaurant up and running for the season also involved teams of builders and craftsmen, including one contractor aptly nicknamed “Speedy.” “It was like rolling support staff. Everyone was willing to sacrifice to make it come together. Everyone was asking what they could do to help.

“Elderly ladies came in looking for things to do,” Oberting added. “One of them said, ‘I am great at cleaning bathrooms.’ All of these people were just taking it upon themselves.”

On a recent Friday night, locals Gary and Carolyn Brouillard, who owned Dennett’s Wharf for 21 years until the early 2000s, were in the newly reopened Dennett’s enjoying a drink at the bar. They noted that townspeople also donated thousands of dollars to help rebuild Eaton’s Boat Yard, the property next door that was also severely damaged by the storms earlier this year.

“When the chips are down and somebody’s in trouble here, a lot of things happen,” Gary said.

“We like our community,” Carolyn added. “It’s what life is supposed to be.”

Maria English, 18, right, a runner at Dennett’s at the Wharf, delivers drinks to a table. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

AN OBLIGATION TO HELP

Dennett’s Wharf has been a focal point in Castine for decades. It’s long been the town’s largest family restaurant, a commercial centerpiece of the waterfront, and it has employed countless local residents over the years.

“Dennett’s Wharf has been so important to this town for so long,” said Lieser, noting that the restaurant helps bridge local dining options, like the more upscale experience people enjoy at the Pentagoet Inn & Wine Bar on Main Street and the super-casual meal they can grab at nearby Danny Murphy’s Pub. “My mom’s first job was here, my aunt’s first job was here. It’s one of the only restaurants in this town, and it’s a place that anyone can come to.”

So sentimentality plays a part in the town’s desire to keep the restaurant running. But there are also pragmatic concerns.

“In a small town like this, every business is essential for the lifeblood of the town and its viability as a tourist destination,” said Matt Powell, co-owner of the Pentagoet. “Seeing the devastation (at Dennett’s) from the storm, we were very concerned with how the 2024 season would shape up. Not having enough dining options can really limit guests wanting to come to town.

“It was our obligation as members of the Castine community to help out as best we could,” Powell continued. “(Pentagoet co-owner George Trinovitch) and I knew we could be a source of knowledge, especially to a young team.”

Lieser worked at Dennett’s as a server when she was in high school, and had also been a server and made drinks at the Pentagoet, but she had no previous experience running a bar. So Powell walked her through her first alcohol order for Dennett’s, and helped her set up the bar for maximum efficiency. He also consulted with Miles – whose professional kitchen experience amounted to working as a summer prep cook at his aunt’s former restaurant, The Patio Café at Castine Golf Club – on how to configure his kitchen equipment and streamline the operation so a back-of-house staff of two or three could handle the workload.

“It’s been a steep learning curve, but things have been working really well,” Lieser said.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Miles Oberting said. “We’ve been learning a lot, and to have it be so collaborative has been great.”

Bernie Higgins, owner of Danny Murphy’s, also helped advise Lieser and Oberting, and even gave them some tap handles they needed on the bar for opening day. “I just want to make their life easy because I need them open,” he said. “Castine is a busy little town and all businesses can help here.

“When I heard they were going to (reopen the restaurant this season), I was so ecstatic,” he added. “I can’t handle that many people here, so it helps me out. I have 50 seats, and it’s been pretty much full since the end of June. It’s sad when I’m telling people it’s an hour-and-a-half wait to get a table, and they’re waiting because they have no place else to go.”

Kip Oberting said he’d considered selling the Dennett’s property after learning in December that the previous restaurant wouldn’t return this season. Then after the two January storms, Oberting was focused on getting it back up and running.

But a third storm in April, which took out what was left of the restaurant’s deck, gave him pause.

“That was the first time I thought, ‘I don’t know if we can pull this together,'” he said.

The plan was to run the restaurant four days a week from July until sometime in September (though they’d have some staff turn over toward the end of the season, since Miles and many others would need to leave for school in late August). Because they had less space to work with after the storm, the operation would serve fewer customers (a maximum of about 70) using about a dozen staffers, compared with more than 30 staff for the past two seasons.

Following roughly $200,000 in repairs, including new wiring, flooring, walls and foundation work, the physical property was close to operational shape in early summer. But it still needed plenty of work to be ready for customers in July.

Oberting said he knew his son and Apple would figure out how to run the kitchen and bar. “My biggest fear was that I wasn’t going to deliver them the building, and they would have already invested all this time and effort,” he said. “Even up until a week before our health inspection, I was exasperated. I thought, there’s a 50-50 chance we have this building ready in seven days.”

Apple Lieser, 24, poses for a portrait behind the bar at Dennett’s at the Wharf in Castine, where she is bar manager this summer. Lieser is the cousin of the 18-year-old kitchen manager, Miles Oberting (who can’t legally drink, much less serve a drink unless supervised). Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

LEARNING ON THE JOB

After committing to the project in mid-March, Lieser and Miles Oberting spent most of the run-up to Dennett’s opening preparing themselves for their new roles as bar manager and kitchen manager, respectively.

Lieser visited her friend Meredith McBranch in Washington state in May after recruiting her to work at Dennett’s bar this summer. McBranch was graduating from Whitman College, Lieser’s alma mater. The two spent a month developing their mixology skills and trying out their concoctions on all their friends at the school.

“We’d do a different alcohol each week, like a bourbon week with Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, then a gin week or a tequila week,” Lieser said. “It was so fun, and we got all the feedback from our friends – a little more of this and a little less of that.”

Now, with the Brouillards seated at the Dennett’s bar, Lieser heaves a keg of Bissell Brothers’ Substance IPA to the bar’s tap lines. “This will be the second time I’ve ever changed a keg in my life,” Lieser said, undaunted and smiling wide. At 24, she is the oldest staffer at Dennett’s.

Lieser said she and McBranch are finding ways to keep from being stumped by unfamiliar drink orders. “We have a little hidden spot here,” she said, pointing to a spot behind the bar, “where we can look up recipes on our phones. We’ve had to learn a lot of drinks on the fly. Some people have kind of talked us through making them.”

In the kitchen, Miles works with his friend, Eric Ashton, 20, of Hanover, New Hampshire, who mans the flattop griddle. Apple’s younger sister, Sadie, and Emrys Murnik of Blue Hill, both 16, are there to help prep, set up orders and expedite.

When you walk into Dennett’s, you place your order at the host stand, and runners bring your food to your table, a system they chose instead of table service to keep things simple. Lieser said they’ve been averaging 15 minutes of wait time between ordering and receiving food, an impressive turnaround for a young, green crew at a brand-new restaurant. It’s possible, Lieser said, because of how the menu was developed.

Miles Oberting, 18, poses for a portrait in the kitchen of Dennett’s at the Wharf in Castine, where he serves as kitchen manager. Oberting’s friends and family round out the staff. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Miles said veteran pros like Higgins and Powell impressed upon him the need to offer menu items they could prepare mostly in advance, because cooking to order would bog them down. Dennett’s offers six main dishes: chicken or pork tacos; a chicken salad sandwich (lifted with his aunt’s permission from The Patio’s repertoire); a lobster roll; a double-smash burger; a hot dog; and three-cheese mac and cheese.

“The menu has been designed so that we can serve as many people as possible with not that many people working on it,” Miles Oberting said.

Miles first got seriously into cooking during the pandemic lockdown. He learned the craft from his mom and YouTube videos, and often fed his family during that time, including his four brothers. Powell said he emphasized to Miles that there is a big difference between liking to cook and cooking in a professional kitchen – it’s a distinction the young chef seems to both understand and respect.

Miles, who just graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and will be headed to Tufts University in the fall, recently earned his ServSafe certification to meet the state’s commercial food safety standards.

Isaac Oberting, 17, a runner at Dennett’s at the Wharf, delivers drinks to an outside table. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

ROOTING FOR SUCCESS

Lieser and Miles seem to take suddenly running the town’s most popular restaurant in stride. Lieser said when Dennett’s opened this season, “there was a line all the way around the corner, but we managed it pretty well.” And of course there always seems to be outside help when needed. On the Fourth of July, for instance, 10 of their family members – including all four of Miles’ brothers – came in to lend a hand however they could.

“People have been really supportive,” Lieser said. “No one thought we would be open this summer, and everyone is so happy that we are.”

“This young (staff) brings a non-jaded attitude, and I think people feel that,” Kip Oberting said. “The young kids as a collective are figuring it out, and they don’t have baggage. You can feel it as a customer, and people are pulling for them.”

Oberting isn’t sure what will happen with Dennett’s next season. He’d like to see it stay open for a longer period, but it’s too early to say if the young team will be available again. Regardless, he’s less inclined to sell the property now.

“As a customer – I’m their No. 1 customer – I like the food they do,” Oberting said. “They’re having fun and learning. And people that come in are so positive just because the place is here. From my own selfish perspective, it hits the sweet spot between what the town needs and what I enjoy. It’ll be harder to let go of now than it was six months ago.”

Powell was among Dennett’s first customers at their June 30 soft opening. “The team in the kitchen are definitely young and bright-eyed,” he said. “I will say the food is good. I’m happy to see dishes like tacos and lobster rolls being served there, and they’re tasty. And the drinks are nice and strong, which will go over well with the Castine community.

“I’m amazed the place is even up and going,” Powell continued. “What the storm did to it, I didn’t think it had a chance to be running this summer,” he said. “I’m impressed by the enthusiasm of the team, and how quickly they’ve risen to the occasion to offer another dining destination for Castine. Dennett’s Wharf has been a huge community hub for decades. The whole town is rooting for this team to succeed.”