KITTERY, Maine — Pepperrell Cove recently had a special visitor as a curious humpback whale breached in and around local boaters. The latest esteemed guest to pay a visit is Neil Patrick Harris, the award-winning screen and stage actor and awards show host.
The 51-year-old “How I Met Your Mother” star and his husband, David Burtka, dined with friends at Frisbee’s Wharf on Thursday, the waterfront Pepperrell Road seafood restaurant, according to business spokesperson Barbara MacLeod.
“The famous stage, film and TV actor enjoyed a haddock sandwich while his husband ordered a lobster roll. They are visiting friends who live on the Seacoast,” she said.
Server Dilyana Djenkova, an 18-year-old York resident, waited on Harris and Burtka, who is also an actor with Broadway, television and movie credits, and two friends. According to Djenkova, Harris ordered a “Sailmaker” from the business’ cocktail list, a margarita with hibiscus-infused tequila and a house sour, to enjoy with his lunch, which included fresh oysters from Spinney Creek.
Djenkova, a Pepperrell Cove staffer for about a year working her first summer at Frisbee’s Wharf, noted the restaurant’s host first noticed Harris, leading to another staffer confirming he was Harris, not a doppelganger of the five-time Emmy Award-winning actor.
Harris told Djenkova he and Burtka were visiting friends in the Portsmouth area.
“It was very exciting,” she said. “I’ve never been in a situation like that, so it was very heart-racing, almost. It was very nice. He was very accommodating.”
Harris and company enjoyed a peaceful meal without many other customers present, arriving at Frisbee’s Wharf in between the lunch and dinner rush, MacLeod noted.
Harris, the star of “Doogie Howser, M.D.” the early 1990s ABC comedy-drama about a teenage medical prodigy, posed for photos with staff of the restaurant after dining. MacLeod said Harris requested any photos be taken after the meal.
“He was very friendly, but didn’t want to make a fuss,” MacLeod said.
“We kind of knew right off the bat, but we weren’t all over him,” Djenkova said of her and her coworkers’ celebrity sighting. “We never want to make anyone feel uncomfortable … He was really nice, very chill, very friendly. Just a regular person, which was nice.”
In 2014, Harris won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for his starring role in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” one year after he hosted the Broadway awards show.
Harris hosted the Tony Awards four times — in 2009 and from 2011-2013 — in addition to hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009 and 2013, and the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.
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