Talking to Ralph and Elena Smith, you get the feeling they just don't know the meaning of “spare time.”

The Smiths are the owners/proprietors of two Boothbay Harbor restaurants, Mine Oyster and Boathouse Bistro. Elena, when not working in one of the couple's restaurants, is a full-time English language learner teacher, helping students whose first language is not English to learn the language.

She divides her time between the Wiscasset School District and RSU 12 schools. And her restaurants.

Now the couple has added a third restaurant to their repertoire: Cod's Head Fish House & BBQ in Boothbay Harbor.

The newest restaurant, which opened May 14, is on the east side of the harbor in the spot that was previously Dockside Grill. The Smiths are leasing the space from John Fish of Cap'n Fish's Boat Trips.

Ralph Smith is looking forward to a busy summer.

“We had the best Memorial Day weekend at Mine Oyster we've had yet,” he said. “It's the fourth year. It's time for it to come into its own. It usually takes five years to not have any excuses anymore.”

He said Boathouse Bistro, now entering its eighth summer, also had a thriving weekend.

“It was the busiest Memorial Day weekend we've ever had,” he said. “I think people were just cold all winter, and finally said the heck with it. I'm going to get outside. Even though it wasn't the most stellar of weekends, it was pretty nice.”

Smith said he hopes Memorial Day weekend was a foreshadow of things to come this summer.

He is slowly making some updates to the interior of his new space. There is an attractive new bar area and the kitchen has been has been upgraded with new barbecuing equipment, Alto-Shaam meat smokers.

“They're computerized to cook to a perfect interior temperature,” Smith said. “You can set the temperature to medium-rare and the meat will go into a cook and hold mode once it reaches that temperature.”

He said the smokers cook to the same temperature throughout the entire piece of meat. “It won't be well-done on the outside, and rare in the middle. And the meat stays moist and smoky.”

The location of the restaurant adds much to its allure. It sits over the water with views on three sides. On hot summer days it will be a good spot to cool off with an ocean breeze at one of the outside tables. And there will be screens in four of the big windows (on either side of the space) and new sliding glass doors on the front (overlooking the harbor).

The meats are served as entrees and in sandwiches, without sauces.

“A true barbecue meat is cooked without sauce. You add the sauces yourself, at the table. Except for chicken.

“You should always cook barbecued chicken with a base or a sauce, because otherwise it's dry,” Smith said.

All of the barbecue sauces are made in-house, and it's hard to choose. There is a bourbon style, a mustard, a chipotle and a house “Moxie.” If you order the “Trio of Sliders” you can try a different sauce on each one.

Another specialty of the house is the smoked bologna. “One of our chefs, Aric Pickens, told me about it,” Smith said. “I researched it and they call it Tennessee tenderloin.”

So how do the Smiths manage to run two already established restaurants, and another that is gaining in popularity daily?

“I have good people working with me,” Smith said.

The chefs are Pickens, who brought some of his family recipes, Brian Burdin, Devan Lamar, Brittney Meserve and Wendell Thayer.

“All of the chefs had a hand in coming up with the menu. It was a joint effort,” Smith said. “I wouldn't have taken this on if Aric and Brian weren't available.”

Cod's Head was originally going to offer a happy hour at sunset, but Smith decided that was a little confusing to people, so there will be a more traditional one, from 4 to 6 p.m. daily.

There will still be music at sunset, he said. Fridays and Saturdays in July and August there will be singles or duos performing until 10 p.m.

The menu features the barbecued meat choices: beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken, smoked bologna, St. Louis style pork ribs; and seafood items, including salmon, haddock, swordfish, lobster, codfish cakes, smoked seafood of the day, barbecue mussels, grilled skewered shrimp and pineapple, and whiskey glazed barbecue scallops (served atop house baked beans).

Another item of interest on the menu is “Catch and Cook.” People are invited to bring in their catch of the day and leave the cooking to the chefs. The fish will be cleaned and prepared (while the catchers enjoy a drink at the bar or outside on the deck) and served with a choice of two side dishes, for $12 per person.

The restaurant will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Elena Smith said she likes the idea of serving breakfast.

“I love the smells of breakfast. And breakfast on the water? There's nothing like it.”

Food will be served from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the bar closes at 10 p.m.

Check out the website for all three of the Smith's restaurants: http://bbhrg.mineoyster.net, on Facebook, or call 207-315-6369.