Category: Reviews

Portland Portland Peter Eater has published a review of Elsmere BBQ,

Now it’s official – the Portland area has a new BBQ restaurant that is ready to serve your BBQ needs. Go now so they stay in business. I want to make sure this one is around for a while. They deserve to be and I can only imagine everything will continue to get even better as they hit their stride. After all, they just opened.

and The 207 Foodie has published a review of Empire Chinese Kitchen.

Empire is worth trying. If you A. Love Chinese food, B. Need dim sum in your life, C. want to try something new or are just curious, then Empire is for you. Having a dim sum restaurant in Portland, Maine just shows how great of a food city we live in, so take advantage of another new place to try!

Both The Blueberry Files and The Golden Dish have published reviews of Empire Chinese Cuisine based on their opening day first impressions.

Even so, there were a few small things that Empire could work on, but I trust that they will improve. Overall, my impression of the food was very positive and combined with the location, the atmosphere, and the great bar (and bartender, obvi), I’m sure Empire will make many people very happy.[TBF]

The menu is very concise but full of enough options. Parlaying its stance as a dining establishment serving Chinese soul food — comforting and delicious — what has emerged is a new neighborhood haunt that Portlanders have long wanted and can now embrace  without hesitation. [TGD]

 

The Blueberry Files has published a review of East Ender,

As we walked past the table on our way out, I overheard one of the men say, “this place is underrated.” And I have to agree. You don’t hear much about it, but the East Ender is quietly serving damn fine food.

The 207 Foodie has published a review of Salvage BBQ,

Salvage is a worthy restaurant to try. If you like Barbecue and Southern flair, you have no excuse not to try this new hot spot! The food is great and the prices allow you to get more food in one sitting than you could possibly eat! What’s not to love?

Peter Peter Portland Eater has published a review of Yosaku,

While I am not someone who has had a lot of sushi, I can tell you that Yosaku is a solid choice. I don’t really have anything to compare it to, but if you aren’t fond of traditional sushi, I can definitely say that Yosaku might still have something for you.

and Binga’s Stadium is top of Pig Trip’s list of their favorite BBQ wings.

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of the Portland & Rochester Public House,

Lobster cakes were served with a searing hot smear of red chili harissa and pink pickled shallots. The sauce and the breading of the cake obscured the flavor and texture of the lobster a bit, but it was still a nice dish. The scotch eggs, quail eggs encased in ground lamb, are served with the meat very rare on the inside. The lamb is nicely seasoned and works well with some bitter curly endive.

and Serious Eats has published a review of the Small Axe burger.

A few weeks ago, the Small Axe Truck debuted its burger, the Smokestack Lightning ($8), and proclaimed it the best burger around. Ordinarily, I’d say that’s a bold statement to make, but in this case it might well be true.

The Golden Dish has compared and contrasted Elsmere’s and Salvage’s approach to barbeque.

Elsmere and Salvage will not havee to duke it out tfor the number one spot because they are two equally great additions to our dining Mecca.  Whether you take the bridge to the outer limits of South Portland’s Elsmere BBQ or traverse the seedy byway of Lower Congress Street to reach Salvage BBQ each is a rewarding pilgrimage.

Foodie Journey has posted their idea for a Portland food crawl: Bayou, Thirsty Pig, Eventide and Nosh.

Meredith Goad has penned a southern-fried review of Salvage BBQ for Maine a la Carte.

The hush puppies had obviously just come out of the fryer, so while I waited for them to cool down enough to handle I stole a bite of the barbecue and lawd have mercy…..Portland finally has some decent, southern-style pulled pork! No more abominations forced upon us like pulled pork sandwiches covered with slices of tomato and onion! That’s just so, so wrong.

The Press Herald has published a bar review of Gather.

Happy hour is usually just Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and features beer and wine for $3, but customers are encouraged to check the restaurant’s Facebook page for updates about drink specials (lemon-thyme Prosecco for $8 was recently featured) and bar snack specials.

Chef Chad Conley’s starter menu gives an idea of what the bar snacks could be: Deviled eggs, meatballs, Bangs Island mussels, kale, ricotta and walnut fritters, just to name a few.

A pair of Boston Globe reporters have written about their experience on a Maine Foodie Tours walking trip in Portland.

We were on a culinary walking tour in Portland offered by Maine Foodie Tours. The 2½-hour jaunt through the historic Old Port and along the working waterfront introduced us to some of the city’s best purveyors and took us to its liveliest markets. Along the way we learned a little about the city’s unique and colorful history.

Living, Eating and Aging in Portland Maine has published a review of Blue Rooster.

I never meant to become a regular, it just happened.  It was unexpected and quick.  It literally took one bite from my first Red Eye Breakfast sandwich and I was hooked faster than a drug addict and his first crack experience.  Pork belly, hash browns, “red eye” mayonnaise, fried egg, all on a buttermilk biscuit.  The perfect breakfast sandwich even if they don’t open until 11AM…

Living, Eating and Aging also published reviews earlier this year of Po’Boys and Outliers.