A new eatery is under construction at 15 Monument Square at the former location of Henry VIII. The sign in the window promises “soup, salad and sandwiches” are “coming soon”. According to a job posting on Craigslist they plan on opening in May.
Author: PFM
Review of East Ender
The East Ender has received 3½ stars from today’s review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Barflies and dinner guests alike will want to dig into the traditional and novel items on the snack menu. Tasty trout fritters ($7) served with caper aioli and lemon have a good portion of smoked trout inside light dough. Even better are the mussels mirepoix ($10), the carrot/celery/thyme/parsley aromatic adding a subtly sublime flavor. A hunk of grilled bread is served alongside. Include a salad, and you’ve got a lovely dinner.
Review of Deux Cochon
From Away has published a review of Deux Cochon.
And boy, did I like it. This is barbecue unlike any we have seen in the Portland area, with big, pull-apart chunks of moist, mouthwateringly slow-cooked pork shoulder piled high on a warm, fluffy bun, and speared with two pieces of pickled okra. The sauce (which I insist you add by the ladleful) only enhances the natural flavors of the meat, with the mustard, the acid from the vinegar, and just a tiny bit of heat combining marvelously with the fat and the smoky flavor of the pork.
Deux Cochon and Apsara Now Open
Deux Cochon opened for business earlier this week. They’re located on the 2nd floor of the Public Market House and have taken the place of Peanut Butter & Jelly Time.
A Cambodian restaurant named Apsara has opened on Cumberland Ave.
Under Construction: Foley’s Bakery
The Business section in today’s Press Herald also includes an interview with Ed & Molly Foley who are bringing Foley’s Bakery back to life in Monument Square.
Ed and Molly Foley of Gorham started and ran the original Foley’s Bakery at 341 Congress St. from 1997 to 2002. They are returning to the baking business after taking a nine-year break to focus on raising their two sons.
Review of Scratch Baking
Scratch Baking in South Portland received 4½ stars from the Eat & Run review in today’s Press Herald.
The bagels alone are worth the trip. I had a sea salt bagel ($1.25) that was as big and as good a bagel as I’ve had. I’m not the world’s biggest bagel fan, but this one made me want more.
It was chewy (but not too chewy) and buttery tasting on the outside; light and airy inside. The sea salt added a warm flavor, and was not as salty as I thought it might have been. Cream cheese cost $1 extra, and came in a container big enough to cover a couple of bagels at least.
The Cheese Iron, Outstanding
The Cheese Iron is one of only six businesses nationwide to win the 2011 Outstanding Specialty Food Retailer Award from NASFT, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The awards presentation will take place in July at the Summer Fancy Foods Show in Washington DC.
Review of Norm’s Bar & Grill
The Golden Dish has published a review of Norm’s.
In some ways Norm’s on Congress Street in Portland is the perfect hangout to find highly seasoned fare from an eclectic bar menu. Whether it’s grilled lamb and feta with onions and tomatoes served over greens or big burgers, nicely charred and gutsy, the flavors inspire and are easy to take.
Review of the East Ender
The Portland Phoenix has published a review of the East Ender.
The balance at East Ender will work best if customers learn to reinforce the equilibrium themselves. The French-fancy stuff on the menu pulls you to a mindset of fine dining that is slightly out of step with what the East Ender is trying to do. So make sure someone at your table skips the wine for a $4 draft beer, and skips the entrée for the terrific burger (made with meat ground in-house, with enough beef cheek to keep things incredibly juicy and tender). Do French fine dining and New England casual cuisine present some irreconcilable differences? Perhaps. But as the French say about what it is impossible to reconcile between the masculine and the feminine: vive la différence.
Figa & Farrington
Down East has published a profile of Figa and chef/owner Lee Farrington.
Lee Farrington was just six when she began to understand the alchemical power of an open flame. “My earliest recollection is coring a tomato, dropping it in boiling water, and watching the peel come off,” says Farrington, who first learned to cook in her grandmother Mary’s Kentucky kitchen.