Author: PFM

The New York Times has published a celebration of food in Portland.

In the last decade, Portland has undergone a controlled fermentation for culinary ideas — combining young chefs in a hard climate with few rules, no European tradition to answer to, and relatively low economic pressure — and has become one of the best places to eat in the Northeast. The most interesting chefs here cook up and down the spectrum, from Erik Desjarlais’s classically pressed roast ducks at Evangeline, to the renegade baker Stephen Lanzalotta’s gorgeously caramelized sfogliatelle (sold out of the back of Micucci Grocery, an Italian-imports shop), to Mr. Potocki’s simple but brilliant chili-garlic cream cheese and handmade bagels.

Portland Food Heads has published a review of the brunch at Caiola’s.

Obviously, Caiola’s brunch isn’t necessarily the cheapest in town, but that’s not why people eat there, and that’s not what they’re going for. As far as a fully satisfying Sunday brunch goes in the area, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than Caiola’s.

Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Parker’s.

My heavily bearded, lumberjack of a neighbor slams an enormous paw on the bar and roars “Get ouuuta heeere!” as though a bloodlust for all things Oriole had overtaken him. Nobody notices the outburst, in part because Parker’s is this year celebrating its 20th anniversary of such displays. We’ll call this Cheers parallel #1. In the fervor of the moment, I quick-grab the menu and scan for the sportsiest possible appetizer, in this case, the first thing containing the word “buffalo.”