Category: Reviews

Po’Boys & Pickles has received 4½ stars from the Eat and Run review in today’s Press Herald.

Our favorite choice was the Louisiana gumbo, a flavorful mix of chicken, tender Maine shrimp, small slices of Andouille sausage, rice and just enough seasonings to clear your sinuses without being too much. It’s spicy enough for folks who like their gumbo hot, but not so spicy that it should scare away the timid.

Broke 207 has published a cheap eats alert and review of Peanut Butter and Jelly Time.

oh, and the bread! i got organic crunchy peanut butter and raspberry jelly on aroostook wheat. liberally applied, diagonally sliced, comfort food perfection. i got the sexy sandwich above, bottled water, and baked cheetos for a little over $5. apparently, if you’re extra snacky or want to share, you can even get 2 for $5.

Prompted by item 7 on Margo Mallar’s 2009 culinary bucket list a group of Portland food writers are working together to eat and write our way through all of the Thai restaurants in Portland. This gives us a reason to try out the full breadth of Thai food in the  city and gives everyone a way to read multiple points of view of the same restaurant at the same time.
Sala Thai on Washington Ave was our first stop and five food writers have published so far; I’ll add links below as other posts appear. The reviews seemed to be mixed:
Portland Food Heads writes “the folks at Sala Thai are putting out solid food that happens to be worthy of attention” and enjoyed the Pad Thai which “Happily, Sala Thai does the dish correctly.”
Appetite Portland and her husband didn’t enjoy the Pad Thai but did wrote that they “fared much better with the Tamarind Duck. Served in a tangy (if not exactly spicy) brown sauce, the duck was well-seasoned, perfectly roasted, and boasted just the right amount of fat.”
Columnist Margo Mallar from the Portland Daily Sun visited Sala Thai for a pair of lunches. She reports disappointment in the texture of her Pan Fried Noodles but enjoyed The Ginger-Scallion Tofu, “nicely marinated soy curds in a sauce that was well balanced between pungent and mellow.”
Edible Obsessions has gone experimental in her form by posting the notes of her visit. If I’m able to decipher her hand writing it looks like the she found the atmosphere “odd but nice…without being campy” and that the most notable dish was gorgeous with lots of vegetable but packed more of a heat punch then expected.
The Blueberry Files ordered a mix of plates including her favorite Thai dish Laab Gai. She writes “while I wasn’t disappointed, this Laab Gai didn’t quite live up to my (admittedly high) expectations. It could have used more veggies underneath, and while I got a great lemongrass zing every other bite, I wasn’t blown away by the seasonings.”
Where is Jenner’s Mind rated her meal at Sala Thai as “good, but standard. all the food was flavorful, but other than the dumplings, nothing stood out”. With regard to the dumplings she wrote, they were “pan fried to a beautiful crisp, and topped with little bits of fried garlic. i tried to scoop up as many bits of garlic onto my dumpling before dipping it into a slightly sweet tamarind sauce.”
For my part I’d say the food was good overall, but what stands out more for me were the friendly attentive service and the atmosphere, PFH called it “not unlike sitting down in sitting down in the living room of an elderly relative” and I’d agree.

Appetite Portland has published a review of Nosh Kitchen Bar.

My duck confit sandwich featured shavings of braised duck leg, candied orange and cherries, fresh greens and cotija (a hard Mexican cow’s milk cheese) — all piled on a thick white bread grilled until brown and dripping with butter. Heavenly.

The Press Herald has published a new Bar Guide write-up on Sonny’s.

With the same style of cooking as Local 188, but with that South American flavor, Sonny’s uses local sources, organic foods and humane meat choices. Chances are you have already heard raves about the yam fries ($4), but the acarage (it resembles a black bean and shrimp fritter, $10) also is a nice place to start. It’s cold outside, so try the pozole rojo (chicken stew) for $9 or the mariscada del noche, a portion large enough for two, filled with scallops, mussels and clams.

The Press Herald has published a new Bar Guide write-up on Sonny’s.

With the same style of cooking as Local 188, but with that South American flavor, Sonny’s uses local sources, organic foods and humane meat choices. Chances are you have already heard raves about the yam fries ($4), but the acarage (it resembles a black bean and shrimp fritter, $10) also is a nice place to start. It’s cold outside, so try the pozole rojo (chicken stew) for $9 or the mariscada del noche, a portion large enough for two, filled with scallops, mussels and clams.

Yosaku has received a B grade in a review that appeared in the new edition of the USM Free Press.

If you’re craving Japanese cuisine, or just looking for a new spot for a night out, be sure to check out Yosaku. Just make sure to go on a day you aren’t in a rush. The food is always great, but the service is 50/50.

Appetite Portland has published a review of the prix fixe menu now offered on Sundays at Vignola.

For entrees, Adam picked the roasted lamb leg and I chose the pork saltimbocca. An artistic fan of balsalmic reduction and basil oil provided a dense and herby slathering sauce for Adam’s slightly gamey lamb. He pronounced the meat tasty if slightly overcooked. Paired with root veggies and mashed potatoes, it was a satisfying, if uninspired, meal.

Hugo’s came it at #25 on the 2010 Opinionated About Dining list of the 30 Most Important Restaurants in the United States.
Maine claimed 6 of the 15 slots on OAD’s list of the top restaurants in New England, and of those 5 are in Portland: Hugo’s (#1), Fore Street (#5), Miyake (#6),  Bresca (#9) and Evangeline (#14).