Category: Reviews

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Magnus on Water. The Biddeford restaurant earned a 4 star rating.

Magnus on Water switched from ingredient-driven, farm-to-table fare to Peruvian-inspired food when they brought on Chef Rafael Zimmerman in late 2023. It was a bold move. But Zimmerman and the highly appealing Magnus staff crafted a tight menu of thoughtfully constructed small plates and entrees that introduces customers to new dishes and ingredients while reminding them of familiar foods…Co-owner Brian Catapang’s bar program delivers exceptionally well-balanced cocktails with layers of flavor that work in harmony, as in the refreshing, crisp Black Mamba aperitivo.

The Portland Logbook has published their take on The Best Coffee Shops in Portland, Maine.

Portland, Maine, might be small, but its coffee scene is anything but. Whether you’re looking for the perfect cortado, an expertly pulled espresso, or a hidden café serving some of the best coffee in town, Portland has no shortage of top-tier coffee shops.

The list features: Another Round, Bard, Burundi Star, Double Great, Moonday, Night Moves, Rwanda Bean, Smalls, Speckled Ax, and Tandem.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 3½ star review of Low Stakes Lodge.

The kitchen delivers strong takes on classic steakhouse comforters like French Onion Soup, and simple sides like green beans and mashed potatoes — mere afterthoughts at lesser operations — are executed here with thought and care. The chefs can also be counted on to serve your steak to textbook medium rare. If you’re splurging, the prime-grade ribeye is a must, while the more budget-friendly bavette steak fully satisfies at about half the price. Leave room for baker Jacky Gerry’s rotating selection of layer cakes.

This is the first review written by Tim Cebula who is now the paper’s restaurant critic.

Wine Enthusiast has published their list of the 10 Essential Bars in Portland, Maine.

Portland has entered a modern drinking era, where luxe cocktail bars sit alongside classic, beloved breweries and a new generation of drink makers expand the local palate. We tapped the industry professionals creating this infectious energy around Portland’s drinking scene for their picks of the best bars in town. 

The list features: Room for Improvement, Lambs in South Portland, Maine & Loire, Regards, Papi, The Jewel Box, Bubba’s Sulky Lounge, Blyth & Burrows, Five of Clubs, and Maine Beer Company in Freeport.

The 2025 list of semifinalists for the James Beard Awards was just released. There are 10 semifinal nominees from Maine:

• Outstanding Restaurant – Havana in Bar Harbor.
• Emerging Chef – Jason Eckerson and Kate Hamm from Fish & Whistle in Biddeford.
• Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker – Brant Dadaleares from Gross Confection Bar.
• Outstanding Hospitality – Taj Indian Cuisine in South Portland.
• Best New Bar – The Abbey in Brunswick.
• Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service – Mary Allen Lindemann from Coffee By Design.
• Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service – Nathaniel Meiklejohn from The Jewel Box.
• Best Chef: Northeast – Lee Frank from Lee Frank’s in South Berwick and Wells, Jordan Rubin from Mr Tuna, and Jake Stevens from Leeward.

Update: After publication the Beard Foundation changed the restaurant designation for Lee Franks from his place in Maine to his establishment Otis Restaurant which is located in Exeter, NH.

Elsewhere in New England there were 8 semifinalists from Rhode Island, 4 from Vermont, 12 from Massachusetts, 3 from Connecticut and 2 from New Hampshire.

The final list of nominees (10 for Best New Restaurant and 5 for all other categories) will be released April 2nd, and the awards ceremony will take place on Monday, June 16th in Chicago. The America’s Classics award winners will be announced February 26th.

Related information:

• Maine Award Winners, Nominees and Semifinalists – a complete list of Maine award winners, nominees and semifinalists from 2008 to 2025.
• Award and Nomination Process – the award nominations process.
• Award Categories – the 2025 list of categories and eligibility requirements.
• James Beard in Portland – James Beard taught a set cooking classes in Portland in 1964.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a 4½ star review of Mr. Tuna.

 Jordan Rubin’s menu continues to showcase some of his greatest hits. And in nearly every case, they are indeed great: gingery, Sriracha-fired spicy crunchy shrimp maki, lush and oniony toro takuan packed with offcuts of incredible fatty tuna. Most maki can also be ordered as conical hand-rolls. Don’t call it a throwback. Look further and you’ll discover that, from its neon and pastel, blond wood and Scandinavian pop-inspired digs, this evolution of Mr. Tuna is a fully realized restaurant. The Rubins serve nuanced cocktails like the margarita-like Mrs. Tuna, alongside sake, wine, beer and nonalcoholic drinks.

The Bollard has published a review of Finestkind in Saco.

My wife ordered the Red & Black Lumberjack ($15): smoked brisket, fried egg and horseradish sauce sandwiched between hash browns. The combination of flavors and textures was amazing, and I could have eaten an entire plateful of the lean, fall-apart-tender meat. 

Congratulations to LyAnna Sanabria and Lucky Cheetah on being included in the 2025 Imbibe 75 list.

LyAnna Sanabria, the co-founder and beverage director of Papi was recognized for the mentoring program she established. “Unofficially dubbed TiTi as a play on the Spanish word for ‘auntie,’ the seasonal program focuses on giving active Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latino bartenders the chance to upskill their abilities within Papi’s high-volume environment rather than building new bartenders from the ground up. Sanabria also intends to use the still-evolving program to promote greater inclusivity within the bar community, a desire stemming from her experience as a fledgling bartender in San Francisco.”

The new Old Port bar and restaurant Lucky Cheetah was also highlighted in the list. “Opposite the storied cobblestone way of Portland, Maine’s Wharf Street, a modest staircase leads to an unlikely subterranean world ensconced in cheetah carpeting, scarlet millwork, and Slim Aarons high-society artwork. This is Lucky Cheetah, a fusion of Victorian-era Hong Kong dim sum houses and 1950s Monte Carlo grandeur, with a Champagne and dumpling menu to match.”

The Imbibe 75 is an annual list put together by the magazine’s editors of the “75 inspiring people and places that will shape the way we drink in 2025.” The full article isn’t yet available on the Imbibe website.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of Magissa.

Since then, they, along with co-head chef Dillon Houser (East Ender), have been preparing Greek (and slightly Greek-adjacent) dishes that are inspired by or taken from Klosteridis’ family recipes. With the exception of a few seasoning hiccups, dishes at Magissa are enjoyable. Don’t skip the ultra-garlicky htipiti mezze spread and the oddball, yet sublime fried kalamari, seasoned with just a few specks of Old Bay. If it’s cold outside (or you’re just really hungry), you can’t go wrong with a bowl of feta-fortified polenta topped with a ragu made with Magissa’s magical loukaniko, a lamb-and-pork sausage spiced with orange zest and toasted fennel seeds.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a 4 star review of Off Track Pizza.

Operated by a trio of Via Vecchia veterans – Mark Hibbard, Josh Miranda and chef Mitchell Ryan – this casual, retro-inspired restaurant serves exceedingly tasty, supersized 18-inch pies and individual slices with flavor profiles that range from classics like sausage and fiery cherry bomb peppers, pepperoni topped with oven-singed “crispy cups” that pool with spicy oil as the pizza bakes, and the Ur-pie: a classic red-sauced cheese pizza that’s not only fantastic tasting, it’s affordable ($4.50/slice and $25 for an enormous pie).