Sometimes the perfect dinner comes along unexpectedly. That was the case at Lolita. After trying to get into the latest sweep of new restaurants, finding each full to capacity, I headed out of the culinary congestion up to Munjoy Hill. Parking is always difficult there (time for that to change, with the senseless No Parking signs gone) I luckily found a spot in front of the restaurant.
The busy bar Friday night at Lolita
Another foray into Boston dining led me to Banyan Bar and Refuge, which bills itself as a modern Asian gastropub. I read about it in Boston Magazine where it was given top billing on two lists: The best 25 restaurants of 2015 and the 50 best restaurants in Boston 2016.
The bartender at the hotel where I was staying couldn’t warble higher and louder to sing its praises. There were other restaurants on the lists that sounded just as intriguing such as O Ya, Shojo—you can see I was attracted to Asian restaurants—or more traditional haunts like Barbara Lynch’s Menton or the very avant garde Tasting Counter in Somerville.
The bar and dining room at Banyan
Interestingly the night before my trip to Boston, I went to Evo in Portland where we had an extraordinary impromptu dinner that had so much style and taste—a hard act to follow anywhere and at one of out city’s best restaurants. And it was still on my mind when I began my dinner at Banyan.
Of all the great brunches that I’ve featured in The Brunch report, my latest foray tipped the scales. And if there were any contest at all The Winner Is . . .Caiola’s. Perhaps it’s especially so with the kitchen being manned by its new sous chef, Matt Seitz, who took over Nick Ryder’s reign when he moved to Colorado late last year. Of course chef supreme and co-owner Abby Harmon still leads the team with her inimitable flair for flavor and texture in each dish.
I’m hesitant to proclaim one restaurant’s superiority over the other. Caiola’s, however, has consistently come up with different brunch specials every week, creating dishes that are novel and ultimately lip-smacking good, the sort of restorative food that you want for that first meal on a Sunday.
Brunch lineup: baked eggs with roasted tomatoes, ham and white bean stew; perfect bloody Mary and maple bacon added to the dish
The success rate of recipes from newspaper food sections, magazines and the internet don’t have a high success rate of enjoyment or deliciousness. Still, I clip many from the New York Times, which are generally reliable and occasionally keepers. Though I’m rarely seduced by recipes in our Portland Press Herald food page, which is more of a food section containing wire copy recipes than those that are home grown. But I do look forward to the Saturday food section of the Wall Street Journal in the section called “Off-Duty,”which features articles on food, lifestyle, travel, cars and fashion. It’s the food features especially that tantalize–and one recipe in particular that I have made was so good it’s become a firm family favorite. (The overall section, however, is more like a fantasy sheet advising where to buy six-figure cars to items of clothing and accessories that cost thousands.)
The adapted recipe is a robust preparation for country style pork ribs that are marinated in a spice rub overnight and slow-roasted in the oven for several hours. It hails from chef Damon Menapace of the Philadelphia restaurant Kensington Quarters. The restaurant is part of a butcher shop that practices whole animal butchery from local farms. The adjacent restaurant is highly regarded by Philadelphians. Click here for the link to the food feature.
Slow roasted spice rubbed ribs served with a puree of celery root and potato and sauteed spinach
If lack of wherewithal stirs unhappiness, then the effulgence of Sunday brunch is a fine remedy. That and a glass of morning Sherry on the porch opens the door to countless revelries. Portland abounds with choices and as you’ve read here I’ve given my opinion on many places. But one that has slipped my sights is the East Ender.
The downstairs dining room and bar at East Ender
My only regret is that chefs and owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavey traded in their Small Axe food truck for the brick and mortar route; theirs was, to date, the best of the lot as far as food truck cuisine goes in Portland.
A new star is already ablaze in Portland’s glittering galaxy of restaurants. I’m talking about a Tiki bar, a blast from the past gone modern by the name of Rhum, which opened last Saturday in the Old Port. It’s the brainchild of Jason Loring (Nosh and Slab) and Mike Fraser (Bramhall) plus a star-studded cast of chefs and mixologists who are killing it, as the saying goes.
The bar at Rhum, which circles back to the other side with another bar
Tiki bars in America were made famous by Trader Vic’s, a California hot spot born in the 1940s where the Mai Tai was invented to accompany Polynesian inspired fare. The San Francisco Trader Vic’s was perhaps the most renowned. It flourished as the watering hole for the city’s society illuminators who flocked there with unabashed glamour. I went there a few times when I lived in San Francisco years ago. Even then it was from another era.
If you choose wisely, there’s a wealth of information on the internet for the home cook searching for recipes or ideas. I refer to it all the time. Several of my favorite sites include Food 52, Chef Steps and Serious Eats. Their recipes are fully tested to be virtually foolproof, and at Chef Steps they offer instructional videos that are extremely helpful.
One that caught my attention recently was the recipe for beef stew from Serious Eats. It turned out to be the essence of heartiness, a perfect beef stew. Several components, however, of the dish are unusual—certainly different from the typical methods used for this simple preparation.
All-American Beef Stew adapted from Serious Eats
This is not a traditional restaurant review but rather it’s intended to report on the newly invigorated menu at Congress Squared at the Westin Portland Harborview. Last Thursday night a dinner was prepared for press and industry folk to sample the new dishes with chefs Brian Anderson (executive chef) and Elisha (pronounced Elijah) Irland (chef de cuisine) running the show.
Clockwise: C2″s banquettes; chef Brian Anderson (right) and attendees at the press and industry dinner
Each dish—and there were many—were killer efforts that the kitchen team produced with suavity and assuredness. The smoked duck breast, for example, over a cunningly devised puree of rosemary with dots of roasted grapes and garlic confit created an arsenal of flavor that put the whole chorus of fine cooking on a high note. The sweet-smoky duck breast soaking up the vivaciousness of the rosemary puree underneath was further complimented by the umami of sweetly pungent pairing of grapes and garlic confit.
Smoked duck breast with rosemary
Classic macaroni and cheese (not mac & cheese, please), Ritz crackers, Lowry seasoned salt, cube steak, Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, these and many more are the dishes and main ingredients that I’ve re-introduced to my repertoire of simple home cooking. They were the standard bearers in American kitchens in the last half of the prior century before we became enlightened to cook local without using processed foods.
Classics from yesteryear still easily found today: Ritz crackers, Lowry salt, Campbell’s soup and butcher’s cut cube steak
But if you look at regional cookbooks focusing on country cooking you encounter lots of calls for canned soup popularized by Campbell’s or cracker crumbs of all kinds mostly Keebler saltines or Ritz crackers that fill meatloaf mixtures and handy-dandy casseroles. While I haven’t thrown out my whisk to whip up classic sauces, I’ll use those canned soups occasionally as the base for a hearty casserole. There’s a baked haddock dish, for instance, that I make with Campbell’s cream of shrimp soup mixed with milk or cream, topped with Cheddar and crushed Ritz or saltine crackers moistened with melted butter. It’s delicious. Could I prepare a version of the soup from scratch? Of course, after hours spent making it.
It’s a dichotomy, I know, for someone such as myself who makes his own ice cream rather than buying store bought. I don’t even use canned stocks. Even in a pinch since I always have the homemade brew on hand either in my freezer or easily assemble the few ingredients (wings and aromatics) for a quick stock that’s ready in less than an hour.
It’s been suggested by friends and followers alike that I should try heaving some crushing purple prose on the experience of dining at such Maine Mall restaurants as Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, Applebee’s and Cracker Barrel. No thank you. It would mean I’d have to eat at these national chains, which I’ve never had interest in doing. However, I made an exception once and went to Romano’s Macaroni Grill because their TV ad made the place look appetizing. The experience ended any further curiosity. One exception. On Saturday morning I read a link in my inbox from the digital edition of the New York Times Magazine with an article titled “Letter of Recommendation: Cracker Barrel” by Jia Tolentino, noted as a first time contributor to the magazine.
Cracker Barrel, South Portland
It was an intensely moving essay deriding one of this country’s most popular chain restaurants (635 locations in 42 states). That they had been chided years before for outrageous discriminatory practices against blacks and gays might remain a distant memory to some who either didn’t care or wished not to so that they could covet the misconceived wholesomeness of Cracker Barrel—a polemic of bad taste and even worse food.
