Category: Reviews

Booze, Fish & Coffee has reviewed the C-Squared restaurant at the new Westin.

C2 at The Westin Portland Harborview, Portland, ME — Do you know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby. You can’t bring this kind of food here and hope to compete with the amazing restaurants in this town. While not truly horrible, C2 is just kind of…meh. We’re in Portland, Maine, a wondrous playground of dynamite local seafood and world-class farm-to-table choices, not to mention a craft beer scene that’s exploding right now. But at C2, you’d never know it. The menu is uninspired, a collection of ho-hum offerings that are perhaps a step above the national chain restaurants, but not much above.

Piccolo has made it on to the Find Eat Drink list of the top 50 restaurants they “want to eat at in 2014”.

Aptly named (piccolo translates to small) with a handful of seats, chef Damian Sansonetti is cooking rustic Italian cuisine from Central and Southern Italy and using all local ingredients. Sansonetti worked as the chef de cuisine at Bar Boulud in New York and his wife, Ilma Lopez, is the pastry chef and worked at Corton, Tailor, El Bulli, Cafe Boulud and Le Bernardin. “It’s delicious Italian food and desserts in an intimate setting we love. This is one of our favorite date nights in town,” says Andrew Volk of Portland Hunt & Alpine Club.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Hugo’s.

The dining experience is unique and exceptional with a changing menu of dishes served nightly. Some recent standouts have included local pheasant, mussel salad, cornmeal mousse, glazed parsnip, lamb leg and cauliflower risotto. The dessert menu offers such enticing choices as Maine apple, chocolate and beets and puff pastry with custard and caramel. The comprehensive wine list offers distinctive choices from all of the major wine regions.

Serious Eats has reviewed Empire Chinese Kitchen.

As much as Portland, Maine, has become an unlikely destination for Thai food, ramen, and sushi over the past few years, I continued to mourn the city’s absence of good Chinese food. But it was only a matter of time before that changed.

The Bollard has reviewed the Portland Pottery Cafe.

My daughter and I both chose the New Englander Wrap ($9.95), a wheat tortilla stuffed with corned-beef hash, homefries, scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese. We found it immensely satisfying and perfectly seasoned, with crispy bits of beef, onion and flecks of carrot throughout.

Several Maine venues made it on to the Star Chefs list of the best cocktails and dishes of 2013:

Top 10 Cocktails: Firecracker
Cold River Vodka, Lime, Royal Rose’s Three Chile Simple Syrup from Mixologist Andrew Volk from Portland Hunt & Alpine Club

Top 10 Cravable Dishes
Pig Heart Pastami, Arugula-Parsley Salad, Caperberries, and Herb Vinaigrette from Chef Melissa Kelly of Primo

Top 10 Savory Dishes: Drunken Pad Ke Mao
Rice Broad Noodles, Onions, Shiitake Mushrooms, Spicy Chiles, and Thai Basil from Chef Ravin Nakjaroen of Long Grain

Peter Peter Portland Eater has published his 2013 food awards.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the Cafe at Pat’s.

Instead, a dish called Greek island chicken ($19) seemed interesting. The chicken breast was adorned with wild mushrooms, spinach, basil and goat cheese. The quality of the chicken was excellent, and the dish might have been one prepared by a home cook trying out a magazine recipe. It wasn’t extraordinary by any means, just tasty and simple. And perhaps that’s what The Cafe is all about, serving satisfactorily prepared food without fuss or flourishes in a relaxed neighborhood setting.

The Golden Dish has posted a list of his “best, most memorable dishes of 2013“.

But what impressed me was not only the new restaurants that came to us this year but the new or reliably excellent dishes that were created at these establishments old and new. Take a look at some stand-out dishes for 2013.

Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Zen Chinese Bistro,

So where does Zen stand in comparison to the rest of the Chinese food in the greater Portland area? It’s near the top. That’s not saying much, but it was good. The drink I had was superb. Our entrees were particularly delicious; however our apps could have been better. But make no mistake, the issues with the food were not huge and could be easily fixed if the desire is there to fix them.

and Living, Eating and Aging has reviewed Little Tap House.

So, what’s the verdict?  The space is convenient, comfortable and friendly.  The beer alone makes Little Tap House worthy of repeated visits.  The food is a nice addition and, when it’s really good, it’s worth a trip for the food itself with a nice beer or two as an accompaniment.  When the food is “just” good, it’s still worth a trip for a great place to have a beer and something nice to eat.  My hope is that the food will become as consistent as the beer so TA, who is not interested in the beer, will regularly give me the thumbs up when I suggest Little Tap House.