Category: Reviews

Bon Appétit continues their reporting on Portland with short pieces on the seafood, bakeries and breweries here as well as a look at the 2009 runners-up for America’s Foodiest Small Town.

Great bakery towns: Paris, obviously; San Francisco, too; and, of course, New York. But Portland, Maine? It may sound like hyperbole, but one flaky croissant from Standard Baking Company and I guarantee you’ll believe it, too. Portland (and everyone I asked had no explanation as to why) has a startling number of first-rate spots for baguettes, muffins, and other baked goods.

Bon Appétit blogger Andrew Knowlton rolled out his second day of coverage for Portland. In today’s post he lists off his “Essential Portland Maine Itinerary“. 30 local business from diners to fine dining made the list.

Duckfat received a score of 7.5 out of 10 in a review from Portland Food Heads.

Sometimes disappointing, sometimes overwhelmingly hearty and fulfilling, I still turn to Duckfat again and again for a quick bite in Portland. Rob Evans has expressed interest in turning the restaurant into a small franchise, with plans to open up numerous Duckfats throughout New England. No matter your feeling on franchising, I can’t imagine a concept like this failing – even if they set one up in the middle of the cold Vermont woods. In fact, I’d imagine it’d be pretty cozy.

Kon Asian Bistro has received 3½ stars from this weeks Taste & Tell review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The spectacle of Buddha lost in meditation at the head of a pool makes Kon Asian Bistro intriguing from the moment you walk in. Choose well from the menu and your enjoyment will be sustained, but avoid the shrimp and escolar sashimi.

The Farmer’s Table received an overall grade of C+ from The Breakfast Club.

overall, my experience at the farmer’s table was highly disappointing. people who come to portland for the first time may be blinded by the great scenery on the picturesque commercial street and be more accepting of a barely mediocre brunch, but if this restaurant wants to make it through the winter with us mainers, they really need to step it up…a lot.

Portland Bar Guide has reviewed the North Star Music Cafe.

If you want to meet with your fellow humans in a spot that celebrates the primal, the raw, and the unadorned, come to the purist’s paradise at the North Star Café.

Type A Diversions has published a brief review of Paciarino.

Paciarino is my absolute favorite Portland “cheap eat.” Whether dining in for lunch or dinner – or grabbing pasta from the cooler to cook at home, time and again, the pasta does not disappoint.

Type A Diversions endorses the lobster roll from the Falmouth Sea Grill as her favorite this summer, for comparison you can find her 2008 thoughts here.

The best lobster roll I’ve had this season was at the Falmouth Sea Grill. It’s hard to beat the oversized high quality, toasted, buttered bun filled with an abundance of fresh lobster and a view of Casco Bay.