A relatively new Facebook group that started in the Midcoast, called Restaurant Reviews for Midcoast Maine, recently posed the question: "What now-closed Midcoast eatery do you miss the most?"

It was a question worth pursuing a little bit more. Depending on the answers, it was interesting to see who had the longest roots in the community. Several people listed Peggy's Kitchen and Yorkie's Diner as their favorite bygone restaurant as well as the Salad Patch, Doug’s Seafood, Rockport Corner Shop, the Sail Loft, Pat’s Pizza and the lunch counter at J.J. Newberry's.

A little trip down the culinary memory lane revealed that Yorkie's Diner, which was located on Chestnut Street in Camden, started the way many successful Midcoast restaurants start, as a small side business, according to Penobscot Marine Museum. Erskine York ran a hotdog stand on Elm Street before opening the restaurant. Later, he published a cookbook of recipes from the diner. In 1958, he sold the restaurant and went back to running a hot dog stand.

Under the comment about Yorkie’s Diner, Patrick Rowling said, "My wife has the pumpkin bread recipe from Yorkie's … I just ate a piece this morning!"

That particular Facebook thread prompted a lot of posts that got people thinking back to the 1990s and 2000s.  Bill Batty Jr. posted that three of his favorite restaurants, Ingraham's on Richards Hill, Amalfi on Main (the first incarnation of Amalfi) and Marcel's Restaurant at the Samoset were where he and his beloved used to frequent.

Unless a restaurant had a historic following like Yorkie's or had a digital profile before it closed, like Amalfi and Marcel's, Facebook threads like these are the only way to preserve the collective memory of a favorite long-gone restaurant, acting much like a community Wikipedia. For example, anyone who remembers Ingraham's on Richards Hill in Rockport will not be able to find a shred of detail about the place online anymore. If they even had a Yelp or Urban Spoon review profiles, they’re either closed or dead links now. Trying to find photos of the place is even harder. So, it's up to us to remember Ingraham’s cozy library bar and its warren of small rooms in the white farmhouse with tables decorated with mismatched floral napkins, glasses and plates.  Everybody raved over the shrimp lollipops appetizer and house specialty, filet mignon topped with gorgonzola sauce.

Dan Bookham threw out another perennial favorite in the Facebook thread: Fitzpatrick's Deli in Camden, remembering a room “steam-filled and smelling of coffee with that perfect mix of regulars either holding court or seeming conspiratorial at their usual tables.” He posted, “That to me is a mark of a good breakfast joint (if not a gourmet experience). Kielbasa on the breakfast menu was a stroke of deranged genius, also."

Just writing this story opened a floodgate of other favorite now-closed restaurants whose time came before and ended without a digital profile. Remember Hannibal’s in Union? Guido’s Pizzaria in Rockport? Zaddik’s Restaurant in Camden? 90 Main Diner in Belfast? Or the first incarnation of the Waterfront in Belfast?

And for the Gen-Xers, who can forget the Sea Dog in Camden? For a period of time in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was the place to go to hang out with people your own age.

We spoke with a few folks who were connected to those restaurants to get a sense of what people miss the most about them.

Mike Hurley used to run the Belfast Cafe in the 1970s, which later become 93 Main.

“At the time, Belfast was a very tough, bare-knuckles working class type of place,” he said. “We were really the first foodie bar-cafe in Belfast with an extremely active night life and bar scene. It turned out that there were thousands of people who had just moved here during the back-to-the-land movement, as well as the locals who were just dying for this type of bar and restaurant.”

Sessa Salas, daughter of Gary Salas, the original owner of Zaddik’s Pizza, eventually took over the family business with her husband, Richard Worner, until the pressures of raising young children had to take precedence and Zaddik’s officially closed in 2009.

“My dad strove to have a place where families could take their kids to an affordable restaurant with good food, something that really filled a niche in Camden at the time,” she said. “A lot of people who would come in who were in their early 20s and they’d have memories they’d share with me about their birthday dinners at Zaddik’s when they were young kids or their first dates, or getting together with friends or family.”

Another daughter of a pizza maker who also worked in the family business is Michele DiGirolamo, whose father, Guido DiGirolamo, was a beloved member of the Midcoast community before he passed away. Guido’s Pizzeria, the original restaurant, started on Pascal Avenue in Rockport from 1979 to 1986 (where Rayr Wine shop is now) and then moved to Route 90 (where The Study Hall is located) until 1995.

“I still have people come up to me and reminisce about the location in Rockport because it was such a community hub,” said DiGirolamo. “They talked about Guido and how he’d share recipes and sit down with them and pour them wine. They really miss the man a lot, but also, the pizza. He had really good pizza at that time when everything was pre-packaged. We made our own dough, which was kind of a big deal. Hey, you know, we were Philadelphia Italians, we knew what to do!”

This story may open floodgates of other long-ago missed restaurants and maybe I’ll get chastised for not including them all. But, that’s what Facebook is for. Tell us about what now-closed Midcoast eatery you miss the most and raise a toast to their long-gone memories.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com