Calico

Calico is a small New American restaurant at 95 Main Street with a stated philosophy of doing a handful of things extremely well rather than running a long menu. The kitchen changes with the season and with what its local farm and vendor partnerships bring in, drawing on cuisines from around the world without committing to one, and the fried chicken has become the dish regulars send people for.

The reason it belongs in a non-alcoholic directory is the cocktail page. Calico lists its mocktails by name with full ingredients, on the same page as the spirited drinks, which is a small formatting decision that changes the experience of ordering: you are choosing between drinks rather than asking what can be made without alcohol. The Midnight Sun is the most constructed of the three, built on a non-alcoholic tequila with acidulated blood orange, cherry, pomegranate and lime. An Orange Lovely runs lighter, on orange, vanilla, lime and cardamom bitters. The Hat Trick uses a house strawberry coconut water with lemon and a nutmeg demerara. Alongside them sits a single non-alcoholic beer, the N/A Golden Ale from Kit NA Brewing of Portland, Maine — a dedicated non-alcoholic brewery rather than a big-brand zero, which is a more considered pick than most restaurants of this size make.

Three mocktails and one beer is a modest list in absolute terms, and it is worth being straight about that: this is a restaurant with a thoughtful zero-proof corner, not an alcohol-free venue. Most of the room will be drinking wine. What it does mean is that a table of mixed drinkers works here without anyone being handed a soda gun, which for a town of 16,000 is a genuinely useful thing to know.

Dinner service only, Wednesday through Sunday, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It is small and takes bookings, and weekend tables go early.