These Maine restaurants serve up complete menus from incomplete kitchens

 Chef Duncan Biddulph, left, and pastry chef Ashley Robinson work in the kitchen at Elizabeth in Portland. Because the kitchen has no exhaust hood, the chefs carefully curate their menu with dishes that won't produce smoke or grease vapors, and work on three portable induction cooktops and a Rational combi oven with internal venting filters. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer) Twenty-one years ago, I learned about the importance of proper kitchen ventilation the hard, deeply embarrassing way. I was a cook at The Old Inn on the Green in the Berkshires, and chef-owner Peter Platt had been invited to do a dinner at the James Beard House in New York City. It was a big deal; our crew planned for weeks and prepped for days beforehand. On the night of the event, I was searing squab breasts in two pans, the fatty skin sizzling and popping as it rendered. They were browning beautifully, and the smoke coming out of my pans wasn’t anything the exhaust hood at our restaurant wouldn’t have been able to handle. But the hood in the cramped and quirky Beard kitchen — a retrofitted residential kitchen in the lower belly of James Beard’s former brownstone — was apparently not up for the task. I was blissfully unaware that my smoke was filling the low-ceilinged room until Beard House staffers rushed to open the back door and windows before the alarms went off. I imagined coughing, teary-eyed guests vowing to steer clear of the squab course. I was mortified. Boy, the difference a good hood can make. Though it hums in the background like white noise, the exhaust hood is one of the most vital pieces of equipment in a restaurant kitchen. Without one, a restaurant can’t practically — or legally — produce smoke or grease-laden vapors. In a hoodless kitchen, you can’t sear, grill, broil or deep-fry. Steaks and chops? Out of the question. Stir-fries? Please. Crispy-skinned salmon? French fries? Charred veggies? Nope, nope, nope. But hoods are also notoriously expensive, often running in excess of $50,000 or more, depending on labor and installation. So to cut costs, some restaurants open without kitchen hoods, finding smart, innovative workarounds that still let them offer ambitious dinner menus. Advertisement Chef Ben Jackson worked such smokeless wonders with just two induction burners and a convection oven at the original Drifters Wife on Washington Avenue that it earned a James Beard Award [nomination for Best New Restaurant](https://www.pressherald.com/2017/02/15/maine-chefs-restaurants-up-for-coveted-james-beard-awards/) in 2017. Winona’s in Camden, Table Bar in Gardiner and Elizabeth in Portland all have hoodless kitchens, and no walk-in refrigerators to boot. Chef Duncan Biddulph of Elizabeth smiles and shakes his head almost in astonishment at how they’re able to pull it off. “I walk past Street & Co. pretty much every day, and I see into their kitchen with their 12 burners and two deep fryers and big char grill. We have three induction burners and two ovens, and that’s that. It’s unreal.” [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/42462041_20250703_Winonas-Review_8.jpg) Winona’s chef and co-owner Devin Dearden works in his open kitchen in downtown Camden in 2025. The workspace is equipped only with two induction burners, a convection oven and an Instant Pot. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) [Purchase this image](https://dev.mainetodaymedia.com/smugmug/upload.php?data=%7B%22src%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.pressherald.com%5C%2Fwp-content%5C%2Fuploads%5C%2Fsites%5C%2F4%5C%2F2026%5C%2F06%5C%2F42462041_20250703_Winonas-Review_8.jpg%22%2C%22caption%22%3A%22Winona%27s%20chef%20and%20co-owner%20Devin%20Dearden%20works%20in%20his%20open%20kitchen%20in%20downtown%20Camden%20in%202025.%20The%20workspace%20is%20equipped%20only%20with%20two%20induction%20burners%2C%20a%20convection%20oven%20and%20an%20Instant%20Pot.%20%28Daryn%20Slover%5C%2FStaff%20Photographer%29%22%7D) RISING TO THE CHALLENGE “If I had a full kitchen with a grill, it would be much easier to execute service,” said Winona’s chef and co-owner Devin Dearden. “But I’m embracing where we’re at with it. And rather than getting frustrated, I try to take it as a challenge. By having these limitations, I’ve gotten to places I wouldn’t have gotten.” Think of all the great art that’s been made despite — or perhaps because of — limited resources. The Beatles recorded their ground-breaking “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on primitive four-track tape machines. When his mechanical shark malfunctioned, Steven Spielberg was forced to cut the villain’s screen time in “Jaws,” likely making it a much better film. Dr. Seuss made a $50 bet with his publisher that he could write “Green Eggs and Ham” with only 50 words. And in a small plot point in the new season of the Hulu series “The Bear,” the chefs have to improvise when (minor spoiler ahead!) the restaurant’s stove and ovens shut down unexpectedly, forcing the staff to figure out another heat source to make a dish intended for an important diner. The same applies to working in [kitchens that are purposely less than fully equipped](https://www.pressherald.com/2024/08/18/when-her-oven-broke-she-turned-to-the-toaster-oven-and-was-amazed-at-what-it-could-produce/). “Because there’s such an absence of resources, to be able to execute on the same level, if not better, magnifies the talent, thought and care of the people behind the cuisine,” said Elizabeth owner Alex Wight. Advertisement In the fall of 2024, Wight was charmed by the small, rectangular space at 47 Wharf St., and envisioned it as the perfect spot for her French wine bar and restaurant concept. But she wanted Elizabeth’s menu to include bistro classics like steak frites, and the open kitchen there lacked a hood. She knew it’d be expensive to install one, and asked hood vendors for estimates. “I really wanted to confirm for myself that it was not a possibility,” she said, and by the time the fourth vendor reiterated that it was a six-figure job, “I was very, very certain.” Wight came across a [San Francisco Standard article](https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/09/hoodless-kitchen-san-francisico-restaurant/) about Bay Area chefs making do and even thriving in hoodless kitchens. “That’s when the wheels started turning,” she said. She learned that celebrated spots like Ha’s Snack Bar in New York City operated without an exhaust hood in a small space with just induction burners and rice cookers, “but they’re turning out this incredible food.” Wight was also used to dealing with constraints. Her Great Diamond Island restaurant, Crown Jewel, uses [disposable, compostable service ware](https://www.pressherald.com/2023/06/11/restaurants-make-the-extra-effort-for-the-environment/), because the island’s wastewater restrictions mean the 35-seat restaurant could have only 14 seats if they used plates and utensils that had to be washed. “One of the lessons I learned over the past nine years on the island is that limitations don’t necessarily have to be dead ends,” Wight said. “If anything, they force you to be creative and resourceful.” DISHES THAT MEET THE EQUIPMENT The chefs she hired to run Elizabeth, Biddulph and his wife, pastry chef Ashley Robinson, hadn’t worked in hoodless kitchens before. But Wight said they were “unfazed” by the prospect. Advertisement “Duncan’s response was that every kitchen has its challenges and necessitates workarounds, and this would just be our challenge here.” It helps that along with its three induction burners, Elizabeth is equipped with two Rational combi ovens, state-of-the art electric ovens with precise temperature and moisture control settings and self-contained ventilation systems that mitigate heat, odor and vapors. “Everything takes places in that oven, from baking cakes to searing and long, slow braises,” Biddulph said. “We even make stocks in there to keep from completely steaming out the entire restaurant.” [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/43666674_20260623_hoodless_2.jpg) Pastry chef Ashley Robinson stirs a sauce on a portable induction cooktop at Elizabeth. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer) The dishes are tailored to the equipment: While white fish often gets a pan-sear to brown the top, Elizabeth’s halibut roasts in moist heat. They can brown and crisp duck confit legs in the oven, too. Because they can’t fry crab cakes on the induction burners, they bake Jonah crab soufflés instead. And Biddulph has been tinkering with ways to get a steak frites twist on the menu, too — slices of roasted sirloin topped with peppercorn sauce and pommes allumettes, ultra-thin fries that cook in seconds over medium-low heat before getting crisped up in the oven. They also found some dishes that wouldn’t work. Parisienne gnocchi, the crisp pâte à choux dumplings they loved in their R&D phase, couldn’t adequately brown and crisp without smoke-producing high heat. Gougères were too time- and space-consuming, and also needed a lower temperature from what the ovens are normally set at during service. Not having a walk-in refrigerator means Biddulph and Robinson stock up for little more than one service at a time. Biddulph takes ingredient deliveries almost daily, and hits the Portland Farmers’ Market twice a week. It’s more problematic for Robinson, because as she puts it, “pastry lives at scale,” and there isn’t room in Elizabeth’s reach-in coolers and freezers to store as much of her own ingredients and pastry dough as she’d like. But she appreciates the equipment they do have, in part because the electric ovens and induction burners keep the open kitchen — and by extension, the restaurant — much cooler. She said if they had two standard convection ovens instead, people wouldn’t be able to sit at the bar. Advertisement “I’ve worked in places with giant wok burners and wood-fired grills, and standing next to them is a tough physical experience,” Robinson said. “Induction cooking is such a different physical experience as a cook, and it’s ultimately more humane.” [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Table-Bar_062626.jpg) Billy Rosser checks the browning on the meatballs at Table Bar in Gardiner, as sauce simmers on the induction burners. (Photo by Nicole Wolf Photography) ‘IT’S ABOUT THE SIMPLICITY’ Wine bars and cafés without fully equipped kitchens often make do with limited menus built around simple countertop appliances like panini presses. Table Bar in Gardiner served red snapper dogs and popcorn for its first year. But in 2023, they turned to Jimmy Leftis, a cook at the original Drifters Wife, to help them design a hoodless open kitchen for their small shop. Leftis stayed on as their first chef, putting out dishes like pork sausage with chard, celeriac and chutney and honey custard tarts from their induction burners and the small convection oven co-owner Billy Rosser calls a “commercial toaster oven.” Rosser said the key to pulling it off is relying on pristine local produce and seafood that doesn’t need much manipulation to shine. “It’s about the simplicity of it,” he said. “It’s something you could do in your apartment.” They find some foods won’t fly at Table Bar, like the pork chops they wanted to do for Valentine’s Day. “We’re pretty conscious of what we’re doing,” Rosser said. “If we try something and it puts off too much smoke or leaves an aroma, we just don’t do it. It lets us know pretty quickly.” Still, they’ve been able to do refined and compelling dishes like chicken ballotines, black trumpet risotto and rabbit ragu with polenta. Rosser is pleased with their current menu’s meatballs in marinara. “It’s like our ode to a burger. We can’t do cheeseburgers, but we can do a really good meatball.” Advertisement IN SEARCH OF A GOOD SEAR When Dearden and his partner, Hannah Adams, were considering [opening Winona’s in Camden](https://www.pressherald.com/2025/07/30/winonas-in-camden-earns-4-stars-for-marvelous-micro-seasonal-food/) in 2024, they found that adding a hood to the Elm Street space they loved would cost as much as $50,000. “We couldn’t justify opening that far in debt,” he said. But he’d cooked at the former Zadie’s Oyster Bar in Manhattan’s East Village, a hoodless kitchen that still found ways to serve a variety of cooked oysters. He also knew his friends at In a Silent Way in Wiscasset made their own hoodless, induction-burnered kitchen work. “In the beginning, I was optimistic about being able to get some caramelization on things in the oven, like throwing a chicken skewer to roast in the oven,” said Dearden, who works at Winona’s on two induction burners, an under-counter convection oven and an Instant Pot. “But it kind of just, like, steams. I’ve embraced steam as much as I can. “I’m corralled into having to do a lot of steaming and poaching,” he added. “Any type of caramelization I do achieve, I do with the absence of oil in the oven.” He browns the cut sides of turnips in a dry nonstick skillet before finishing them in the oven. He’s had success putting color on meat and fish by roasting them in a lidded skillet, “like an oven within an oven.” He even figured out that roasting salmon coated in blackening spices — infamous for generating Vesuvian billows of smoke when seared on the stovetop — works just fine in a lidded pan, which contains the smoke and steam. “The part of the fish in contact with the pan will blacken, and the rest of the fish will steam and cook through,” he said. “It worked really well. And I was excited to be able to serve something that wasn’t poached.” Caramelized coatings like the date molasses he paints onto lamb kefta and [his Moxie glaze](https://www.pressherald.com/2018/06/06/it-takes-moxie/) for pork rillettes give the proteins deeper color as well. “I kind of work a lot with illusions, I guess,” Dearden said. Advertisement [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/42462041_20250703_Winonas-Review_9.jpg) Dearden is able to brown and crisp pork pavés at Winona’s by roasting them in his oven inside a lidded pan. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) [Purchase this image](https://dev.mainetodaymedia.com/smugmug/upload.php?data=%7B%22src%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.pressherald.com%5C%2Fwp-content%5C%2Fuploads%5C%2Fsites%5C%2F4%5C%2F2026%5C%2F06%5C%2F42462041_20250703_Winonas-Review_9.jpg%22%2C%22caption%22%3A%22Dearden%20is%20able%20to%20brown%20and%20crisp%20pork%20pav%5Cu00e9s%20at%20Winona%27s%20by%20roasting%20them%20in%20his%20oven%20inside%20a%20lidded%20pan.%20%28Daryn%20Slover%5C%2FStaff%20Photographer%29%22%7D) The hoodless kitchen model saved Dearden and Adams loads of startup cash, and also gives them much more flexibility if they eventually move their concept to another location. “Any street level space that feels good and we could visualize as a dining room could work,” Dearden said. “We have many more avenues.” Dearden said his guests are often impressed when they learn how bare-bones his kitchen really is. “It’s usually at the end of the meal, when they’re going to the bathroom and they kind of peer into the kitchen. ‘You did all that out of _this_?'” But gratifying as those compliments are, Dearden would prefer to be known for what he puts on the plate, rather than how he gets it there. “I’d rather people just be simply impressed by the food. If they’re also impressed by my limitations, that’s just a garnish on top.” Copy the Story Link Tagged: [maine restaurants](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/maine-restaurants/) [](https://www.pressherald.com/author/timothy-cebula) [Tim CebulaStaff Writer](https://www.pressherald.com/author/timothy-cebula) Tim Cebula has been a food writer and editor for 23 years. A former correspondent for The Boston Globe food section, his work has appeared in Time, Health, Food & Wine, CNN.com, and Boston magazine,. [More by Tim Cebula](https://www.pressherald.com/author/timothy-cebula)