Category: Reviews

Appetite Portland has posted a list of hearty winter recommendations from Little Seoul, Kamasouptra, Bard, Havana South, Flatbread and The Front Room. Here’s a taste,

The Seafood Udon Soup at Little Seoul. Out-of-this-world kelp broth steams my pores as I plunge the depths of a great big bowl for hearty chucks of salmon, scallops, Maine shrimp, fresh veggies and thick, meaty noodles. This newish Korean restaurant is doing MANY things right (I’ll publish a full review soon), but this stellar Udon deserves a separate spotlight.

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Bayside Bowl.

Where this plan founders is that bowling alleys rarely serve good food. That is why the pub at the Bayside Bowl is such an exciting development. It is the rare alley that takes its menu as seriously as it does lane wax. You know you are in a different sort of bowling alley dining room when you inquire about a mushroom and the chef swings by with a box of his favorites for show and tell. He gets them from Maine’s Tibbetts Mushroom Company, and the current crop features some great enokitake, among others.

Portland Bar Guide has published a review of District,

If you are looking for a sophisticated place to take a date or meet up with business associates and friends with delicious hand-cured meat dishes and an abundant choice of beers, wines and drinks then make sure to add District to your favorite spots in Portland.

and Dine in Portland has published a review of Figa.

Overall, Figa Restaurant has a bright future. The staff appears to have been hand-picked, as are the ingredients, and the hard work of the chef (clearly visible in the open kitchen) will keep me coming back.

Oprah magazine included Browne Trading in their list of The Best Online Grocery Sites.

A longtime supplier of the country’s best seafood chefs, they also sell retail—though you can only get smoked fish and caviar online; for fresh fish, you have to call about the daily catch.

John Golden has written a review of Figa for his new The Golden Dish on Downeast.com.

Figa is a good addition to Portland’s dining lineup.  We’ve got the trendy and the exalted in our midst—without  too much middle of the road for relief—but Figa fits somewhere in the middle of these extremes: well conceived fare without an ounce of culinary pretention but awfully fine regardless.

An earlier review of Walter’s went live earlier this month.

Serious Eats has published recommendations on where to eat Pizza across the state of Maine. Otto, Micucci, Bonobo and Angelone are their highlights from Portland.

Italian grocer and restaurant supplier Micucci’s has a hidden bakery that serves some of the state’s most revered slices. Finding ‘The Sicilian Slab’ requires a little perseverance—it’s tucked in the back of the store, and often requires at least a short wait.

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of the 4 vendors on the second floor of the Public Market House: Kamasouptra, Peanut Butter & Jelly Time, Pie in the Sky, and Market House Coffee,

Their six to eight choices tend to veer toward the vegetarian and vegan. Some bacon did sneak into the white bean soup, infusing the broth with a smoky flavor, along with notes of celery and thyme. Kamasouptra’s blends many soups, like broccoli cheddar or roasted red pepper, but lets them maintain some bumpy texture. The bowl of red pepper had the perfect bit of spicy bite to it, followed on the palate by the pepper’s sweetness. A buttery, creamy clam chowder tasted more of vegetables than seafood.

the Press Herald has published a review of the Clock Tower Cafe which is located in City Hall,

I unfolded the wax paper and enjoyed my sandwich from the front seat of my car. Served on an English muffin, it included one egg cooked to medium with still just a touch of runny yellow yolk; a spicy, juicy sausage patty; and a just-so slice of melted white American cheese.

It was exactly what I craved. My only regret was not having enough change to buy two.

and the Examiner has published a review of Anthony’s.

The tomato sauce used in the Chicken Parm dinner was thick and slightly (but not too) sweet, and it generously covers the cutlets and the ziti with plenty left over for extracting every last drop from the plate with your garlic bread. Most likely you will have enough leftover for another meal; as with the sauce, the portions are very generous, and are more than reasonably priced.

Last year a group of Portland food bloggers and I collaborated on Thai-o-rama, an effort to eat at and review every single Thai restaurant in the city, from Siam Orchid in the One City Center food court through to the ever popular Boda in Longfellow Square. We had so much fun in 2010 that we’re continuing the project into 2011.

We’re starting off the new year with that emblem of American fast food, the hamburger, and for round 1 the group focused in on the burgers to be found at diners and sandwich shops in and around Portland. (We’ll go for the gourmet burgers, pub burgers, beef alternative burgers, etc in later months.)

You can learn as much from where our band of bloggers went (or tried to) for the burgers as from the reviews themselves. The former gives a clear indication of what eateries they thought would have a good burger and the later letting you know the accuracy of their aim.

Appetite Portland initially tried to go to Marcy’s (closed for Winter break) and ended up at the Miss Portland Diner. Soooo . . You Really Like Cats was shut out at Marcy’s and Hot Suppa but landed at Becky’s. The Blueberry Files took a direct path to Becky’s. Where is Jenner’s Mind couldn’t make it to Kathy & Dave’s or Steve & Renee’s and opted for Hot Suppa.  The Miss Portland Diner was From Away’s first choice and Edible Obsessions left town entirely to visit Harmon’s Lunch in Falmouth.

Clearly from the reviews below some choices ended up being (a lot) better than others.

Appetite Portland – Miss Portland Diner

Go to Miss Portland – get that haddock reuben, the chicken pie, a hot turkey dinner – or whatever is on special. If you need a hunk of beef, I can highly recommend the meatloaf. Just don’t bother with the burgers… read the full review

Edible Obsessions – Harmon’s Lunch

I’ve only ordered a burger one way from them: Loaded. Diced, perfectly caramelized onions, mystery red relish, mustard, meat and plain hamburger bun. Simple enough and insanely inexpensive to boot. But, let’s dote a little more on the burger, shall we? All of the components make this easily one of the best balanced burgers I’ve had because Sweet+Savory+Acidic=Satisfying. You would think that the burger, a quite respectable patty–cooked medium–all on it’s own, would be lost somewhere under all of the toppings, but it’s not…read the full review

From Away – Miss Portland Diner

The Miss Portland Diner deserves a visit. The antique dining car has been wonderfully preserved, the service is fast and friendly, and there are menu options that I thought existed on Maine menus only in my memory (Ham salad on rye? Liver and onions? Pot roast dinner?). Jillian’s patty melt was delicious, and a perfect place for anyone who hasn’t stepped outside of their normal hamburger configuration to get on the train to patty melt town. You’ll have a hard time finding a better version of this classic diner sandwich. The burger, unfortunately, with its sad, parched appearance and dusty, grainy grind, doesn’t show a lot of thoughtfulness or appreciation of the genre, and isn’t going to make anyone a fan of the place…read the full review

Soooo . . You Really Like Cats, Don’t You – Becky’s

But even through the seemingly endless rambling about how the soft bun couldn’t handle the 3 inches of ingredients in between, I was still happy with this burger. Certainly not wowed by any stretch of the imagination, but it still quite satisfied. A traditional, American-cheesed, 1/3-pounder hamburger with all the fixings you’d see at any barbecue. It’ll be interesting to see what I think of it 11 burgers down the line (assuming that I make it that far!). The $6.75 (plus tax and tip) sticker price makes me wince a little bit because it was so much on the traditional side, but by the time I left the diner, I was feeling fat and sassy. That’ll do for now…read the full review

The Blueberry Files – Becky’s

While I have ranted against the hype surrounding Becky’s brunch, I was impressed by their lunch effort. This place didn’t make my go-to burger spot, but with the good prices and the great club sandwich, I’d recommend it for a cheap, classic lunch…read the full review

Where is Jenner’s Mind – Hot Suppa!

simply put, the burger tasted great. this is not a fancy or gourmet burger, in fact its made with american cheese. but if you are looking for a really tasty burger, you are not gonna go wrong with this burger. all you got to do is find someone to split the burger and the cubano with you and you got yourself a fantastic date…read the full review

Is there a diner or sandwich shop in Portland who’s burger you think is especially stellar? If so, post a comment and tell us where to find it and what you like about it.

Figa received 4½ stars from today’s Taste & Tell review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The chef at Figa had me in the palms of her capable hands within two bites of the eggplant Napoleon ($6), one night’s appetizer special. Humble eggplant had been transformed into discs of creamy tenderness and lacy, crisp edges as slightly browned goat cheese chimed in with sour and tangy richness.