The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of the White Cap Grille.
Dining reviews practically write themselves when the experience is outstanding, and although less fun (since restaurants do represent a person’s livelihood), they are equally easy to compose when the experience involves a spectacular failure. The creative stumbling happens in the middle, when a meal is “meh.”
Since “meh” does not translate as a technical term in any culinary dictionary, let me explain.
Portland magazine has published a review of Eventide.
We learn that Winter Point Selects from West Bath are the most popular and order three, along with three Gliddens from Damariscotta, two Shallow Bays from Newcastle, two Ayock Salts from Washington State, and two Blackberry Points from Prince Edward Island. Hands down, these are the best oysters we’ve had. Accoutrements (red wine mignonette, kimchee, and angelica ice) are fanciful and fine, but we find the oysters need no enhancement.
From Away has published a book review of Portland Maine Chef’s Table.
Finally there’s a book that compiles favorite recipes from some of the most prominent, popular, accomplished cooks on the Peninsula. Portland, Maine Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from Casco Bayis perfectly packaged with glossy photos of the food, profiles of each restaurant, and insight from the chefs themselves. It is the cookbook that Portland deserves.
The latest issue of Maine magazine includes a review of Eventide Oyster Company.
According to [co-owner Arlin] Smith, the restaurant’s crudo dishes are almost as popular as the oysters, and standouts include a lightly cured arctic char served resting in a pool of raw egg yolk, and topped with creme fraiche, piquant capers, and sweet briny salmon roe. The dish is the garnished with “fried bagel”. Equally impressive is the buttery Tuna Nicoise, a raw piece of flesh crowned with a garnish of chopped hard-boiled egg and red onion most commonly found on caviar, and further complimented with a wonderfully salty and sweet taste imparted by dehydrated black-olive powder.
Unfortunately, the article is not available online, but you should be able to find a copy of Maine on local newsstands.
Map & Menu has published a review of Pai Men Miyake.
When Pai Men Miyake refers to their lunch as a tei-shoku lunch, a complete lunch, they’re hitting the nail on right the head. Of all the lunch choices in Portland, the menu at Pai Men Miyake has to be one of the best offerings.
Today’s Press Herald includes a review of Gritty’s,
Wow. I just ate the best chicken sandwich of my life.
Just had to say that right out of the gate while my taste buds are still high-fiving each other in the post-lunch afterglow. Now, where was I? Ah yes, lunch. Since I never seem to remember my carrot and celery sticks to snack on, come lunchtime, I’m typically ravenous and will knock you down should you try and block my access to food.
as well as a bar review of The Thirsty Pig and an article about the upcoming 2nd Annual Portland Brew Festival.
The event includes more than 30 brewers — some of whom will offer mead or cider instead of beer — and more than 75 different drinks, up by about 50 percent in both categories from last year. And while Sprague is offering 24 tickets for 2-ounce pours of beer, attendees are still going to have to make some choices as they wander through the building.
Flavors & More magazine has published an article on their culinary adventures in Portland. The article mentions Local 188, J’s Oyster Bar, Standard Baking, Portland Lobster Company, Two Fat Cats, Eve’s, and The Lobster Shack.
At first glance, Portland, Maine reminds me of a mini Portland Oregon – very few chain restaurants, mostly sustainable kitchens, authentic bakeries and trendy cafes, coffee bars and serious burger joints. Locally-grown ingredients preferred. Guests sit at high tops and couches and almost everyone is sipping local craft beers, a pride factor in this area of Maine. And yes, the tradition of lobster joints is still abundant and a lesson in how to preserve an honored New England tradition of lunch on the pier.
In lieu of a restaurant review, in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram restaurant critic Nancy Heiser has decided to “highlight a few things that we’ve found particularly noteworthy around the state.”
The cannelloni at Caiola’s, the fried chicken at the East Ender, the “unfailingly gracious service” at Vignola/Cinque Terre, Back Bay Grill and the Sea Grass Bistro, the buttermilk panna cotta at Bresca, and the Red radishes sauteed in duck fat at Bar Lola were all called out in the article.
The Portland Daily Sun has published a survey of six Portland coffee shops: Hilltop, Crema, Arabica, CBD on Washington, Bard and Aurora Provisions.
Traveling, local or otherwise, is not always sunny. You don’t always want to spend quality time with your family at the beach or at the hotel pool. Sometimes you want a friendly place to read the paper and have a little downtime, alone. Portland coffeehouses meet the criteria for cozy, cool and neighborhoody, and here are six of my all-season favorites within shouting distance of downtown.
Today’s Press Herald includes a bar review of Congress Bar & Grill,
The menus were tucked in between condiments in round tins on the bar. Specialty drinks range from the house-made sangria for $6 to the “JD Rita,” the bar’s spin on a margarita, for $12. There are eight beers on tap for $4 or $5 apiece, and a number offered by the bottle for $2 to $4. There’s also a selection of white, red and pink wines costing $5 to $7.
and a review of Mellen Street Market.
I ordered a steak-and-cheese with green peppers and onions for $6.49, which I thought was a fair price. The bun was chewy, the veggies were freshly grilled, and American cheese embedded underneath the meat melted into a favorable gooey mix.
The steak? Eh. So-so. It was very chewy, which disappointed me. But it was mostly chunky and not cut into strips, so it was easy to eat.
Also in today’s paper is an article about Rock Island Hop Farm in Springvale which raises hops for Sebago Brewing Bunker Brewing, and a detailed explanation from the President of the Maine Restaurant Association on what factors go into the price of a lobster dinner.
Calculating the average lobster cost at $4.25 per pound, a 1.25-pound lobster means a $5.31 raw lobster food cost for a typically served one and a quarter pound lobster. Add drawn butter, side salad or fries and a roll and you arrive at a total food cost of $6.815. This would result in a retail price of $20.63 for the meal, with a 33 percent food cost. All of that retail price except for $1.03 (5 percent profit) goes to pay the business overhead.