More Food Press: Epicurious, National Geographic, Microcosm K

Portland food continues to generate tourism dollars for the area and column inches for food writers from away. Here are three I learned about this week:
Epicurious published a 5 restaurant set of dining highlights: Hugo’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Duckfat, Portland Lobster Company.

There are many reasons to visit Portland, Maine, such as picture-postcard ocean vistas and graceful 18th-century homes—but the main reason (pun intended) is the food. Called the “Foodiest Small Town in America” in 2009 by Bon Appétit—and, according to its Chamber of Commerce, second only to San Francisco in restaurants per capita—Portland has grown into one of the Northeast’s top dining spots. These five restaurants prove that big-city dining can be right at home miles away from a major metropolis.

National Geographic Traveler was here for Harvest on thee Harbor and put together a guide to eating well in Portland: Hugo’s, Miyake, Fore Street, Flatbread, Maine Beer Company, Merry Table, Bresca, Miccuci, Rabelais, Duckfat.

Lured from New York and other pricey cities by the relative cheap rents of the Old Port (the city’s revitalized waterfront), a small army of top-notch chefs have set up shop here. Combined with an already intense locavore scene–if it grows here, there’s a Mainer raising it–and a thriving food artisan community, from whoopie pie bakers to mead brewers, and you have all the makings of a gastronome utopia.

Maryland food blogger Microcosm K made Portland part of a road trip and wrote about visits to: Standard Baking, Silly’s, Lobster Shack, The Great Lost Bear, Miyake and Five Fifty-Five.

I want to start this post with a quote from Homer Simpson’s high school year book: “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” Yes, that was the primary theme for Day 7 of our road-trip–our first full day in Portland.