Reviews of Paciarino and Eventide

Diningsense has published a review of Paciarino,

This was another pleasing meal at Paciarino and with the Groupon, the bill was incredibly low. The dessert notwithstanding, there was nothing different about this meal vis a vis past ones—and this is exactly what I look for in a restaurant at this price point. The execution on the ravioli is consistently excellent, the prices are very reasonable, and the restaurant operates almost like a machine…

and The Blueberry Files has published a review of Eventide.

The food is deconstructed, small bites giving way to full flavor when taken together. It makes you think, this is what they’re talking about, those glossy magazines that gush over hip new places in cities that you’ve never visited, places you can’t afford.

TV x Restaurant List

I Love Portland Maine has reviewed recent TV shows about the Maine food scene and compiled this handy list of which restaurants where visited by each show.

In the past couple of years alone, we’ve had four shows filmed right in the Old Port, and that’s just for our (apparently world class) restaurant scene, where Food is being elevated to the level of Art. It doesn’t even count all the movies that needed a quaint, reclusive backdrop for their sets. Actually, with all the camera crews that must’ve been milling around I can’t believe I haven’t stumbled into one of them by now…

ILPM has also posted an interview with chef Chuck Hughes whose TV show, Chuck’s Eat the Street aired an episode about Portland earlier this week.

ILPM: Why did you pick Commercial Street in particular?
Chuck:
Because it’s a mix of the working waterfront, locals, and tourists… it’s a showcase of fresh food– simple and authentic.

The Portland episode of Chuck’s Eat the Street will be rebroadcast on The Cooking Channel this Sunday at 4 pm.

The Food Coma Show Premiere

Bourbon. Portland. Beer. Politics. has published an interview with Joe Ricchio about his new venture The Food Coma Show,

What can people expect from the episode?
The episode is the pilot of The Food Coma Show. It focuses on a meal at Bresca and it looks great. It’s about 24 minutes long and the guests are Olympic skier Julie Parisien, Spose, Joel Beauchamp, [Ricchio’s roommate] Jon Dietz and myself and basically you watch me have dinner. That may be good, or you may hate me afterward. It is kind of an experiment under the Food Coma umbrella. You might hate it and think “This is the most self-indulgent piece of s**t I have ever seen,” but you never know.

and so has the Press Herald,

What makes a good “Food Coma” guest?
Someone who has stories, appreciates food and loves to get drunk. Someone who you’d like to have dinner with in real life. For the first episode, we’ve got Spose, whom I’ve hung out with a few times. Julie I met just once and I heard she was a fan of the old show. Entertainment, athletics, the wine biz the unifying factor is food and drink. That’s where everyone comes together.

and so has the Portsmouth Herald.

“I always felt that when we go to these places we couldn’t carry the experience to the audience. We couldn’t really show what the place was about . Now it’s all one restaurant experience. For the pilot, the chef Krista Desjarlais (Bresca) introduces the menu and we just eat. I really want people to think, ‘I want to go eat there.'”

The premiere episode of The Food Coma Show is being shown this Sunday at SPACE Gallery. Tickets are now on sale.

First Review of Flores

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Flores.

The Flores version of chicharron (basically fried pork rinds) includes lots of juicy meat along with the crunchy skin. Their meatiness turns a salad of chicharron with yucca, cabbage, and tomato into something like a meal. The big pieces of yucca (cassava root, sort of resembling potato in texture) are boiled instead of fried. Salvadorans like to fry the tortilla in their tacos. But if you want to really appreciate the house-made tortillas at Flores it’s better to get your tacos soft. Fresh tortillas are too hard to find in Maine, and Flores offers a nice thick, hand-slapped version made from corn. Warm, sweet, and a touch greasy, they are pretty terrific.

Poket Brunch & Review of Figa

The November issue of Portland Magazine includes a review of Figa,

The charcuterie ($18) is irresistible, house-made. The foot-and-a-half-long wondrous wooden platter displays a dreamy assortment of meats (duck pastrami, pork-and-pistachio terrine, beef bresaola, apricot-cased pork lomo, pork terrine), pickled fennel and red onion, cornichons, and a delectable house-made mustard. We go after each tempting, savory substance with gusto.

a feature article about Pocket Brunch,

In between snacking on tasty pre-meal bites, which includes hand-pressed cider, fresh doughnuts, beet-red velvet muffins topped with goat cheese frosting and walnuts, and fire-smoked bacon, diners pick bouquets from the farm’s flower fields. On the lawn, teams of guests face off at kubb, a Swedish game in which players attempt to knock down wooden blocks by tossing thick dowels across the field.

and named Portland restaurant health inspector Michele Sturgeon to their list of the 10 Most Intriguing Mainers.

Reviews of Sangillo’s and Full Belly Deli

The Press Herald has published reviews of Sangillo’s,

Those sipping cocktails all agreed they were poured with a generous hand. And we also agreed, you can’t beat the price at Sangillo’s — you can get a can of PBR and a Cape Cod cocktail for $6.

and of Full Belly Deli.

And speaking of Grand Central Station, the Full Belly Deli is one of the few places in Maine where you can get the best of traditional Jewish deli fare a la New York City haunts like Katz’s Delicatessen or the Carnegie Deli.

Food Trucks in Falmouth

The Forecaster reports that Falmouth is considering legislation to formalize authorize the operation of food trucks.

Two food trucks, Love Cupcakes and Della’s Dogs, did business in town this summer, but the future of these and other mobile restaurants could depend on an ordinance yet to be drafted.

Bill Lunt, chairman of the Falmouth Economic Improvement Committee, said the Town Council asked the committee to look into drafting an ordinance to govern food trucks, but that he doesn’t expect anything to happen before next spring.

Reviews of Grace, Pai Men, Bresca

Map & Menu has posted a photo-infused review of Grace,

Our drinks, the Revelation and the Afterglow, were deliciously prepared and aptly named, and our first courses of Butternut Squash Ravioli for myself and a Bourbon Soaked Pear Salad for Meredith were seasonal and delicious. The puns are too easy for this post, so I’ll let it suffice to say that our entrees, my Giannone Farms Chicken and her Sweet Potato Pierogi, were simply divine.

the Bangor Daily News has published a review of Pai Men Miyake,

The relaxed atmosphere and affordable, top-notch food found at Pai Men Miyake has made it my go-to dinner spot in Portland. Ramen is one of the world’s great comfort foods, and fortunately, there’s a place to find it here in Maine.

and out of town blogger To Markt To Markt has posted a review of Bresca as well as commentary about Duckfat, Scratch, Rosemont and others.

The farm-fresh ingredients were celebrated on each dish: their flavors, shapes, and colors were enhanced and combined in a way that demonstrated the chef’s appreciation for their naturalness. The plates themselves were beautiful. Each and every component exemplified the owner’s unassuming tastes and her unabashed love and passion for her small but meaningful contribution to Portland’s restaurant scene, obviously appreciated by diners from near and far.

Photo Credit: Map & Menu

November Down East: 50 Reasons to Love Portland

Tandem, Bunker Brewing, Urban Farm Fermentory, Allagash, Standard, Bard, Speckled Ax, Otto, Pocket Brunch, Cloak & Dagger, Petite Jacqueline, Boda, and Local 188 are all called out in the Down East cover story, “50 Reasons We Love Portland”.

The article isn’t online yet but you should be able to find a copy of the November issue at your local newsstand.