Category: Reviews

USA Today has published a review of Nosh.

No matter what you choose you will probably like it because the food at Nosh is creative, carefully prepared and impeccably sourced, presenting a unique take on classic comfort foods in a neighborhood setting with a fun, family-friendly vibe and reasonable prices. Nosh also has an extensive list of craft beers, wines and specialty cocktails. It works equally well for lunch, dinner or late-night party spot, and presents a different side of Maine dining with no lobster whatsoever on the menu.

Malcolm from over at From Away has put together a list of his 10 favorite breakfast sandwiches in Portland for Serious Eats.

You know those bleary mornings after drinking a little too much (OK, a lot too much) when your eyes refuse to focus the next morning? And your skull feels twice as big? Yeah, those are breakfast sandwich mornings.

Sfphotocraft has published a review of Vignola/Cinque Terre.

The anti pasta was good.  It had shrimp, mussels, oysters and clams.  It was a nice bite of a taste of the taste of Maine, with some interesting sauces to spice up the bites.  I was a huge fan of the oysters, they were local and had a nice sweet taste to them.  It would be hard to screw up this plate as we were in Maine and seafood is everywhere.  My next course was the mushroom pizza. I loved the crisp, thin and crispy, but not overly so. The best part were the mushrooms…

Map & Menu has published an endorsement (with beautiful photos, as usual) of the outdoor seating area at El Rayo.

I’m going to regret doing this, because I already hate waiting for open picnic tables on the gorgeous days, but I strongly recommend that the next time the sun comes out, and you find yourself in Portland, grab a seat, a drink, and a taco, and kick back to enjoy the Maine summer.

Diningsense has published a review of Boda.

Boda is an example of a restaurant that really benefits from its location in a semicircular restaurant row in the Arts District, and the energy of each restaurant builds off of each other. There is a French restaurant in Hyde Park (Chicago) whose motto is “Hyde Park to Paris and Back” and I think this is the sort of philosophy that characterizes many ethnic restaurants in this country, which market themselves as though they were transporting the diner to a foreign culture. In the case of Thai restaurants, this involves assenting to an Orientalism that makes the restaurant nothing more than a cliché. I appreciate how Boda is able to avoid such artificial exoticism, introducing a new facet of Thai cuisine to Maine while at the same time integrating seamlessly within the geographical setting.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes! has published a review of Bakery on the Hill.

The cupcake was everything I would ever want in a cupcake. The cake was moist, had a great chocolate flavor and the frosting was light. I love a good butter cream, don’t get me wrong, but there are often times when it is much too heavy for the cupcake that it is paired with. This was the perfect pairing of frosting and cake. Both were light and sweet, however neither was too sweet…

The Porthole received 3½ stars from the review in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.

Check out casual Porthole for fresh seafood that comes from the market right on the wharf, as well as soups, salads, grilled sandwiches and other land-based items, including flatiron steak or poutine with hand-cut fries. All this is served in a no-frills atmosphere — a working wharf in downtown Portland. The food is very good, the experience fun and the prices not too heavy on the wallet. Breakfast is popular here, too.

The Golden Dish has published a review of Spread.

But there’s more to this place than a stiff drink. Spread is a contender for some serious dining. Portland is not in short supply of these stylish new-American dining establishments, which can tend to mirror each other. Spread makes its mark by draping the flavors of fusion fare over a home-grown culinary vernacular.