New Executive Chef in Scarborough Restaurant Comes With Michelin Star Experience

The Black Point Inn's restaurant just went from fine dining to even finer dining.

The executive chef at the Chart Room on Prouts Neck (the restaurant of the Black Point Inn) is new. Michael Bergin has family ties in New England, and after spending years in New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C., he decided to come to Maine.

According to Mainebiz, chef Michael got his inspiration for his love of Italian food from his Sicilian grandfather. But he spent years cooking French cuisine at some of the best restaurants in America. He had worked as a sous chef at Michelin-starred A Voce in New York. After all that French experience, he made a change. He told Mainebiz,

I decided to look at my career at this point. My grandfather is from Italy and he shaped who I am as a person. I wanted to move away from French cuisine.

From French to Italian, he moved to another Michelin-star restaurant.

What's the big deal about a Michelin-star restaurant?

What makes being rated a Michelin-star restaurant is how rarely this rating is handed out. The rating system has been published since 1900 in guidebooks from the French company Michelin. It's one of the highest honors in fine dining. There are under 200 restaurants in the United States rated with Michelin stars. To put that into perspective, there are nearly 750,000 restaurants in the country.

Chef Michael has been in Maine since 2020. He wanted to start a restaurant with a friend, but COVID hit, and that project was dropped. He's very excited to be the new executive chef at one of the most beautiful spots in Maine, with a stellar reputation for the food. And that was before a Michelin-star experienced chef was there.

If you have started salivating, you'll have to wait just a bit longer to find out the menu and make a reservation. The season won't start until May 10.

But Chef Michael did share with Mainbiz that the menu will include lobster rolls, fried clams, and boardwalk-style fish and chips. The tartar sauce will be made with homemade pickles and mayo.