CAMDEN — With Valentina in Camden, restaurant owners Olga and Mike Sanglipo promise to capitalize on Maine’s abundance of fresh vegatables and seafood.

Mike said he’s been in the restaurant business his entire life. His family has owned restaurants in Southern California, the Midwest and the Carolinas. The hundreds of boutique farms that offer an unrivaled farm-to-table opportunity drew him to the Northeast.

“You can get daily vegetables that still have dirt on the roots,” he said. In his experience in most of America farm-to-table is more idea than reality.

“By the time you actually get it it’s been two to three weeks, its been processed and cleaned. It loses some of the nutrients and flavors.”

 For Mike, Maine’s fresh seafood was another benefit of the coastal location. He said the menu is built around what is most fresh, rather than finding ingredients for certain dishes.

 “We have a bouillabaisse on the menu and we were getting fresh, local shrimp until it dried up. So we took the shrimp out and replaced it with clams that we can get fresh daily,” he said.

Mike, Olga and Executive Chef Michael MacDonnel sat down to decide on the conceptual direction of the menu, but Mike gives MacDonnel full credit for the dishes that appear each night on the final copy.

“Conceptually, the idea is finely crafted dishes from local waters and local farms. It’s right down his [MacDonnel’s] sweet spot. He’s a Mainer, he’s cooked in Maine all his life,” said Mike.

 MacDonnel say’s he began cooking with his family where their house was packed to the ceiling with freshly picked produce from his family’s garden. He was immediately drawn to the creativity and variety of cooking based on what fresh ingredients were around.

Cooking mostly in Maine, including locally at Natalie’s and the Hartstone Inn, MacDonnel has developed technique through classical French training and an understanding of flavor extraction through a Thai cooking background.

“I’d rather pull the flavor from a few fresh ingredients than put the flavor into the food from too many things,” he said.

Mike said what they are doing is applying classic techniques in a fine dining fashion to comfort foods. He calls it: “new American cuisine. Foods that people will recognize.”

MacDonnel said it’s “complicated simplicity.” He points to the menu: Local cod poached in finanhaddie broth with warm bean salad of farm fresh fava, green and lima beans with shallot dressing, steamed, herbed new potatoes, dill salsa verde.

“That’s a chowder,” he said.

The menu includes many small plates and an entrée list, as well.

“We’re looking for a dining experience in a relaxed, casual, atmosphere where they can graze on small plates and have a glass of wine. Or if they want a full meal with salad, appetizer, entrée they can do that, too,” said Mike.

The restaurant has a bar with cocktails, beer and a wide selection of carefully chosen affordable boutique wines.

It’s at 20 Washington Street, replacing From Vian Doux. It will be open all week from 4:30 with last seating around 9 p.m.