Cinque Terre

When chef Lee Skawinski travels around Italy each year, he's not just sourcing recipes. Strains of beans, squash, and lettuce from the area wind up on a five-acre farm in Greene, Maine, then at his Italian restaurant 45 miles from there, in downtown Portland-proving that farm-to-table cooking can have geographic underpinnings an ocean away.

What to Eat: Trenette pasta with local lobster and summer squash, a harmonic convergence of flavors.

What to Drink: Bruno Giacosa’s steely 2006 Arneis, one of nearly two dozen Italian wines by the glass.