Chow Maine has published a review of a recent meal at Bar Lola.
With a friend in town, I had dinner out for fun — and Bar Lola made the evening something to write about even if I didn’t take any notes. The dishes were memorable without them. For $36 each, we enjoyed a five-course meal that was simply terrific.
El Rayo received 3½ stars in this week’s Taste & Tell review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
BOTTOM LINE: Most items at this vibrant Mexican taco place, or Taqueria, cost $6 or less, and better, are great to eat – and the more expensive, delicious drinks, spiked with good liquor, reveal the owners’ roots in fine dining.
In addition to reviewing the restaurant, the article provides details on the owners plans for the old Popeye’s location “a long-term plan to demolish the old Popeye’s building up the street and build a Mexican dinner restaurant” and a mobile home now parked at El Rayo. “An Air Stream trailer is undergoing renovation and was intended to serve as a bar area for the outdoor seats, but it could be incorporated into a new addition” .
Taste & Tell has moved back to the Sunday paper after a few weeks in the new Wednesday Food & Dining section in response to requests from MST readers.
Siano’s Pizzeria received 4 stars from the Eat & Run column in today’s Press Herald. “Siano’s is a neighborhood restaurant that rises a notch above.”
The article also mentions that “Siano’s has done so well in this part of Portland that the owners, Joseph Pompeo and Chris Grant, are opening a second restaurant, double the size, in Freeport in September.”
The blogger at Where is Jenner’s Mind has published her take on two restaurants that are “guarenteed good meal[s]”. The Porthole and Caiola’s.
there are two places that seth and i go to on a regular basis and we know we will always get a good meal. and i have never written about either of them! in the portland food blog-o-sphere, both restaurants have gotten their fair shares of reviews, but let me tell you why i love caiola’s and the port hole.
The Portland Phoenix has reviewed the outdoor dining experience to be had at Twenty Milk Street.
The string lights in the trees, and the bamboo fence fronted by a sea-rose hedge, give it the feel of the sort of leafy garden dining found all over Vietnam. Old-fashioned lanterns hang over many tables. Watching the waiters complete the long traverse from the 19th-century building in formal attire adds to the colonial feel. Customers seem to embrace the mood — dining in a desultory fashion, laughing rambunctiously, and talking themselves into extra rounds of drinks.
Chris2fer has reviewed Kon Asian Bistro.
I highly recommend Kon to get your Asian fix on. It’s not pricey and I love a good themed restaurant. I think it has become my new favorite (sorry, Panda Garden!).
Also – KHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!
Portland Food Heads has published a review of The Corner Room.
I really wanted to like The Corner Room – really, I did. And because this experience was so terribly awful, I may have to give the place one more shot at some point, just so that I can rest easy in the possibility that this meal was a fluke rather than a representation of the restaurant in general.
Portland Bar Guide has reviewed the Dry Dock.
Bright and sunny, with two floors to choose from, the Dry Dock can accommodate you, your family and all of your friends with casual service and a reasonably priced food and drink menu.
Upon seating myself in the bar area, I was offered their famous shrimp Bloody Mary ($5.75) by our perky waitress Eileen. “No thanks and gross,” was my answer, but apparently folks absolutely love this drink.
The Portland Phoenix has published a review of The Salt Exchange.
And Salt Exchange is good enough if you are going to treat the little people who make your life meaningful to a nice dinner out. They even open early for dinner — at five — a family-friendly touch. For adult fare, Salt Exchange could do with a bit more seasoning. Children like to experiment, and the cuisine at Salt Exchange is experimental as well. Sometimes that method is slow to achieve its best results. The Salt Exchange clearly has, as Brooks would appreciate, grand designs and high ambitions. It may take a bit more time to get there.
The new issue of The Maine Switch includes a feature article on Portland’s favorite bartenders.
Here in booze-loving Portland, we’re lucky to have an abundance of excellent bartenders. Which explains why when Switch reached out to readers, friends, bar flies and the Twitterverse asking for the names of the city’s favorite drink mixers, we were flooded with responses. We took the top suggestions, stirred them with our own bar experiences and these nine individuals rose to the top. Here they share outlandish bar stories and hangover cures, plus pepper us with drinks both beloved and loathed.
As well as a restaurant review of The Frog and Turtle, a guide to Maine beer and an interesting piece on the Maine Local 20 Project. Maine Local 20 is an effort by MOFGA to determine how well matched Maine’s food production and consumption are.
In contrast, we don’t grow nearly enough carrots to supply our local needs, which explains why the vast majority of carrots on grocery store shelves are trucked in from California. Right now, carrots are grown on roughly 30 acres of Maine farmland, but this would need to jump to about 700 to 800 acres to support Maine’s carrot habit. Even though Maine has a short growing season, carrots are a root crop that stores well and could be stockpiled for the winter.