Category: Reviews

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).

Ocotillo and Mr. Tuna were both cited in the New York Times The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024 list. Ocotillo was included for their Mushroom Breakfast Taco (taco on the right) which the Times loved as much for the mushrooms, scrambled eggs and potatoes as for “housemade salsa macha, a brick-red drizzle exploding with toasted chiles, nuts and seeds, and sweetened with roasted garlic.” Mr. Tuna was included for their Tuna de Tigre (photo on left) which the Times describes as “cubes of ruby fish are decked out in a tangy-sweet sauce of puréed coconut, lime juice, fish sauce and chiles, and crowned with a tangle of crunchy, golden shallots.”

Mr. Tuna also earned a mention in Food & Wine restaurant editor Raphael Brion’s list of 11 Unforgettable Dishes From 2024. Brion was delighted by the “off-menu special that is the tuna sashimi tasting will knock your socks right off.”

Oun Lido’s is on Esquire magazine’s list of the Best New Restaurants of 2024.

…Using Maine’s rightfully lauded ingredients, cooking in a space that’s still in the process of being built out, and tapping into hazy, precious memories of childhood, [chef Bounahcree “Bones” Kim] turns out plates that brilliantly synthesize Cambodian and Cantonese flavors. Baptized in pungent homemade prahok, a Cambodian fish sauce, his beef salad topped with toasted rice powder is a salty-sweet-crunchy-meaty mouth party…

Oun Lido’s is one of two businesses in New England and 35 establishments overall included in the Esquire list.

 

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 4½ star review of Yolked in Windham.

Both Bouchards are preposterously good in the kitchen, and Jesse Bouchard’s deft touch with seasoning deserves special mention. With barely a misstep, the duo pulls off dishes like rack of lamb with a panko crust and sundried-tomato relish, maple-vinaigrette-dressed salad of local baby greens and roasted fall vegetables, and a stunning hazelnut-and-chocolate crème brulee. Prices are justifiably high on the food side of the menu, and perhaps less so with respect to bottles of wine, but the couple are canny and have engineered a menu that allows for a spendy special-occasion meal or a moderately priced weeknight supper. Yolked Farm to Table is unmissable.

It also has a feature article on the growing number of Jamaican restaurants in Maine, and a wrap-up of vegan news from around Maine.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Thames Landing.

After nearly four months in business, Thames Landing is finding its feet, albeit slowly…If you visit, order the expertly fried salt cod croquettes, the autumn salad, and perhaps the Statler chicken. And if you’re lucky enough to drop by in the winter, try to score one of the 36 seats in Thames Landing’s new heated, plexiglass “hyperdomes” that allow for a cozy outdoor nosh, even in winter.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 4 star review of Lil Chippy.

Don’t miss the classic fish-and-chips, prepared here with local hake dunked in a vodka-and-beer batter and plated up with crisp, dark golden skin-on French fries. And don’t ignore the “Buddies” section of the menu, where you’ll find a few of Portland’s best sandwiches, all served on Little Spruce milk bread rolls. In particular, the mushroom buddy is excellent, with its layers of crunchy fried oyster mushroom, miso mayonnaise and a generous portion of cilantro. But perhaps the best dish on the menu is the fiery, beautifully balanced chicken buddy, a crunchy, deep-fried chicken thigh drizzled with charred onion ranch dressing and homemade Calabrian chili hot sauce.

Lil Chippy was launched by Ashley Wolf and William Durst on June 28th.