Mediterranean flavors shine at Maine’s Nina June

Chef Sara Jenkins brings her global culinary experience home to Rockport, blending Mediterranean passion and Maine ingredients at her acclaimed restaurant

WANT TO COME BACK. PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK LIKE, OH, DID YOU HAVE PROBLEMS AS A WOMAN? NO, I HAD MORE PROBLEMS AS AN AMERICAN BECAUSE FOR MOST ITALIANS, I COULDN’T POSSIBLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOD. ACTUALLY, CHEF SARA JENKINS KNOWS A LOT ABOUT FOOD BORN INTO A LONG LINE OF MAINERS, SHE LEFT AT JUST SIX MONTHS OLD WITH HER JOURNALIST FATHER AND FOOD WRITER MOTHER TO LIVE IN BEIRUT, SPAIN, ITALY AND ELSEWHERE. I ATE WELL AS A CHILD GROWING UP. I SAW A LOT, I ABSORBED A LOT. AND THEN WHEN I CAME BACK HERE, LIKE I SAID, IT WAS VERY CHALLENGING. WHAT WAS PRESENTED TO ME AS FOOD. AND THAT’S KIND OF WHAT MADE ME START LEARNING HOW TO COOK. RETURNING TO MAINE FOR HIGH SCHOOL, SHE FOUND THE FOOD AS BLAND AS A MAINE WINTER COMPARED TO THE VIBRANT FLAVORS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN TO WHICH SHE WAS ACCUSTOMED. IT LED HER TO THE AFOREMENTIONED STINT AS A CHEF IN ITALY TO STOPS IN BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND FINALLY HOME TO MAINE, WHERE SHE OPENED NINA JUNE IN ROCKPORT A DECADE AGO. WE MARRY KIND OF MY MEDITERRANEAN KNOWLEDGE AND PASSION FOR DISHES WITH THE INCREDIBLE INGREDIENTS THAT WE GET UP HERE THE SEAFOOD, THE MEAT, THE VEGETABLES, ALL OF THAT PASTA, A LEMON, LEMON PASTA WITH CRAB ON TOP. AS SARAH SAYS, IT’S WHERE THE MEDITERRANEAN MEETS MAINE. AND THEY GET ALONG JUST FINE. I HOPE THEY FEEL A LITTLE TRANSPORTED TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, TO ITALY, YOU KNOW, THAT THEY REALLY EMBRACE AND LOVE THE FOOD THAT THEY SEE, THE KIND OF HEART AND SOUL THAT WE PUT INTO IT. I WOULD HOPE THAT SOMEBODY UNDERSTANDS THAT, YOU KNOW, AND HAS A WONDERFUL, FUN TIME, A WONDERFUL, FUN TIME. A NICE SUMMATION OF ROCKPORT MAINE. ALL RIGHT. CURIOUS ABOUT THAT NAME. NINA JUNE. WELL, SARAH’S GRANDFATHER SUGGESTED IT WHEN SHE WAS BORN ON JUNE 9TH. HER PARENTS SAID, NO THANKS. I’M GOING TO STICK WITH SARAH. BUT SHE LIKED THE NAME FOR HER RESTAURANT. I THINK IT’S A GREAT NAME. IT IS. IT’S A GREAT RESTAURANT AS WELL. BACK TO THOSE BELTED GALLOWAY COWS THAT YOU SEE BEHIND US. WELL, VERY INTERESTING STORIES ABOUT THEM. THEY’RE SO WELL ADAPTED TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND INSULATED FROM THE COLD THAT WHEN IT SNOWS IN THE WINTERTIME, THE SNOW DOESN’T EVEN MELT OFF THEIR BACKS. THEY HAVE A VERY, VERY THICK COAT. TWO COATS, AN UNDERCOAT AND A TOPCOAT. MORE THA

Mediterranean flavors shine at Maine’s Nina June

Chef Sara Jenkins brings her global culinary experience home to Rockport, blending Mediterranean passion and Maine ingredients at her acclaimed restaurant

Updated: 8:31 PM EST Nov 3, 2025

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Chef Sara Jenkins, celebrated for her Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, has returned to Maine to combine global flavors with local ingredients at her Rockport restaurant, Nina June.Born into a family of Mainers, Jenkins left the state as an infant, growing up in Beirut, Spain and Italy with her journalist father and food writer mother. “People always ask, Did you have problems as a woman? No,” she said. “I had more problems as an American. Italians couldn’t believe I knew anything about food.”Her childhood abroad shaped her palate and passion. “I ate well as a child. I saw a lot, absorbed a lot. When I came back here, it was challenging what was presented to me as food. That’s what made me start cooking,” Jenkins said.After years in Europe and stints at acclaimed kitchens — including Figs in Charlestown and restaurants in New York’s East Village — Jenkins returned to Maine a decade ago to open Nina June.“We marry my Mediterranean knowledge and passion for dishes with the incredible ingredients we get here — the seafood, the meat, the vegetables,” she said. Signature dishes like pasta al limone with crab perfectly capture that marriage of Maine and the Mediterranean.For Jenkins, the goal is more than flavor — it’s experience. “I hope diners feel transported to Italy or the Mediterranean,” she said. “That they really love the food, the heart and the soul we put into it.”

ROCKPORT, Maine —

Chef Sara Jenkins, celebrated for her Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, has returned to Maine to combine global flavors with local ingredients at her Rockport restaurant, Nina June.

Born into a family of Mainers, Jenkins left the state as an infant, growing up in Beirut, Spain and Italy with her journalist father and food writer mother. “People always ask, Did you have problems as a woman? No,” she said. “I had more problems as an American. Italians couldn’t believe I knew anything about food.”

Her childhood abroad shaped her palate and passion. “I ate well as a child. I saw a lot, absorbed a lot. When I came back here, it was challenging what was presented to me as food. That’s what made me start cooking,” Jenkins said.

After years in Europe and stints at acclaimed kitchens — including Figs in Charlestown and restaurants in New York’s East Village — Jenkins returned to Maine a decade ago to open Nina June.

“We marry my Mediterranean knowledge and passion for dishes with the incredible ingredients we get here — the seafood, the meat, the vegetables,” she said. Signature dishes like pasta al limone with crab perfectly capture that marriage of Maine and the Mediterranean.

For Jenkins, the goal is more than flavor — it’s experience. “I hope diners feel transported to Italy or the Mediterranean,” she said. “That they really love the food, the heart and the soul we put into it.”