Dockside and Delicious: A Five-Lake Lunch Crawl Through New Hampshire's Lake Region
Photo: lobster roll lakeside deck New Hampshire summer view, via newengland.com
New Hampshire's Lakes Region gets a lot of postcard love and not nearly enough lunch credit. The water gets the glory; the food gets treated as an afterthought. That's a mistake. Between the old-school lake-town taverns and the dockside shacks that have been frying clams since before anyone said "food scene," this stretch of the state eats better than it advertises.
So we built a crawl. Five lakes, five lunches, roughly a long weekend if you pace yourself. Bring sunscreen and an elastic waistband.
Lake Winnipesaukee: The Classic, Done Right
Start big. Winnipesaukee is the headline act — 70-plus square miles of water, a dozen towns, and enough boat traffic in July to qualify as a second highway system. Lunch here means a deck seat in Weirs Beach or Wolfeboro with a lobster roll that's mostly lobster and minimally fuss. The best versions around the big lake keep it simple: butter or mayo, a griddled bun, a bag of chips, and a view of the MS Mount Washington chugging past.
Pair it with something cold and local from a Lakes Region brewery taproom — several now pour within a few minutes of the waterfront.
Squam Lake: The Quiet One
Squam is where On Golden Pond was filmed, and the lake retains that same hushed, pine-lined elegance. The lunch scene matches: fewer shacks, more understated spots serving good food to people who came by kayak. Look for a sandwich shop or general-store-style café in Holderness or Center Harbor — the kind of place where the turkey club comes on house bread and the iced tea is actually brewed.
This is the crawl's palate cleanser. Order light. The afternoon is long.
Ossipee Lake: The Sleeper
Down in the eastern corner of the region, Ossipee Lake flies under the radar even by New Hampshire standards. The surrounding towns — Ossipee, Freedom, Effingham — hold some of the most pleasantly unpretentious eating in the state: riverside pubs, barbecue trailers, and diners where the fried seafood platter could feed your entire pontoon. Prices run gentler here, too, which your wallet will appreciate by day three.
Lake Sunapee: The Polished One
Sunapee, straddling the border with a sailboat-heavy crowd, leans a little more refined. Newbury and Sunapee Harbor offer spots where lunch comes with a cloth napkin and a wine list that takes New England producers seriously — think a crisp New Hampshire-made white or a Finger Lakes riesling alongside a proper salad niçoise or a bowl of fish chowder. It's the most "wine country" stop on the route, in spirit if not in geography.
Umbagog: The Wild Finish
End at the top. Lake Umbagog sits up along the Maine border, ringed by wildlife refuge, and the drive north is half the reward. Lunch options are rustic — a general store, a roadhouse, a burger with a side of loon-watching — but that's the point. By the time you're eating a cheeseburger within earshot of the Androscoggin, the crawl has traced the full arc of the region: from busy decks to empty shorelines, same great bread basket everywhere.
The Rules of the Crawl
A few ground rules we learned the hard way: book waterfront seating ahead in July and August; always ask what came off the boat versus the freezer; and never, ever skip dessert at a general store. Five lakes is a lot of water. Five lunches is just enough to prove the Lakes Region deserves a seat at New England's food table.
