The Golden Dish has published a review of Carmen at the Danforth.

We started off by sharing the bacalao fritters, a soulful dish of salt cod redolent of the kitchen’s assertive style. This was followed by a trio of appetizers that included manchego fritters, plantains topped with smoked salmon, Berkshire pork bites and monkfish croquettes—each one superbly invigorating.

NYC food blog Never Ending Hunger was recently in Maine sampling lobster rolls up and down the coast including stops at The Lobster Shack and Bite into Maine.

So where does that leave us… where we knew we’d be after eating at Bite into Maine. Far and away the best lobster roll we had eaten. Bite into Maine not only met or surpassed all of the main criteria for a great lobster roll, they then tossed in a bit of creativity… creativity that worked. I was not going to bring up price either, but at $13.50 they were the best and cheapest (I guess the rents cheap) but they were so good I would pay double. Kudo’s to Sarah and Karl Sutton who moved from the mid-west to serve up what many locals are calling hands down the best lobster rolls in Maine. I am planning to go back soon and have the Chipotle and Wasabi, they say they’ll have them waiting for me.

For recommendations on where to pick up a lobster roll here in the Portland area, check out this article on Serious Eats penned by Malcolm Bedell, co-author of the popular Maine-based food blog From Away.

For a sandwich that seems so basic, individual preferences seems to be a major factor in what defines a “real” Maine lobster roll. Most agree on the basics: a New England split-top bun, griddled in butter until golden brown, then stuffed to overflowing with succulent, sweet, freshly-caught Maine lobster. After that, things get a little trickier.

The Press Herald has published a review of The Works Bakery Cafe.

Thanks, Works, for having consistently good food and drinks, for having staff who make me laugh, and more often than not, for playing decent music. Should you need to show you really, truly care about me, you’d bring back the banana walnut bagel. I’ll be waiting.

Also in today’s paper, the latest installment of What Ales You is an article about Bunker Brewing.

Jay Villani, owner of Local 188 and Sonny’s restaurants in Portland, and his baker, Chresten Sorenson, started Bunker Brewing with the idea of creating great beers with only the traditional ingredients: “malt, water, yeast, time, temperature and passion,” to quote Villani when I talked to him at the Bear.

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of El Rayo Cantina.

The menu offers a mix of smallish snacks, good for a tapas-like approach to dining, intriguing salads, and more substantial entrées. The crab-coconut salad — with the crabmeat stacked over a layer of diced avocado — was fresh and light. It was seasoned with restraint so you could appreciate the natural sweetness of the ingredients. Delicate crisps made from masa corn added some welcome crunch and saltiness. A portobello taco managed to extract the earthiness from this mild mushroom. It was topped with an unusual and very pleasant version of rajas, made (it seemed) from yellow pepper. Fresh corn added some sweetness and crunch. The tamale is a bit unusual — the corn meal shell is relatively thin and light, while the plantain inside overwhelms some bites with sweet — somewhat obscuring the chorizo and goat cheese.