Category: Reviews

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.

This week’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Camp Pennant,

“Camp” is a unique conceptual theme for a restaurant, but Fraser not only makes it work, he and his front-of-house staff bring a transportative levity to the experience. Chef Max Mejia’s menu of comfort foods is also solid, especially a Caprese-style sandwich bookended by pizza dough baked in the restaurant’s enormous Le Panyol wood-fired oven, crisp-tender roasted broccolini topped with garlicky bread crumbs, and warm soft-baked pretzels to dunk in hops-infused mustard. It’s not perfect yet, but Camp Pennant is already a charming diversion.

and an article on how breweries are using technology to adapt to capture carbon dioxide produced during fermentation for reuse at the brewery.

The funny thing is, breweries also produce CO2, or carbon dioxide, in the beer-making process. Recently, a few Maine breweries have turned to technology newly adapted to small craft breweries that allows them to recapture the CO2 they produce and reuse it to make their beer. These closed-loop systems can save the breweries money, offer security in the event of future CO2 shortages and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.