January 2020

Maria’s Ristorante Redux: This Old Gal Wears a New Dress but One Most Likly Plucked from the Remainder Rack at the Old Loehmann’s

January 25, 2020 / / Restaurants

Maria’s second act is like Johnny Depp waiting in the wings for several decades to segue into Alice In Wonderland’s turf where Italian-American cuisine is reinvented for the cognoscenti waiting to devour red sauce.  But instead, lift your napkin because nothing of consequence is going to drip on your bib.

If only it was as moderately good as the way it was years ago, the new Maria’s revived in the old Espo’s space bumps and grinds  in drips and drabs.  One professional food maven in town said, “Give them a chance.”

Otherwise an excellent pick for an appetizer, this version was not great

I accepted the invitation immediately to join friends at Maria’s outpost on Congress Street.  The setting is far better than the terrifyingly disheveled space in its old building on Cumberland Avenue.

Read more…

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at Maine Mall Road: Forgettaboutit!

January 13, 2020 / / Restaurants

One of the worst, most unsatisfying fast-food meals I’ve had occurred last week at Popeyes as I anxiously awaited (for about 20 minutes) for my first bite into the infamous classic fried chicken sandwich.  I tried weeks before several times under ridiculous circumstances posted on the front door.  “Sold out.” “Chef didn’t show up.” “Doors locked.” “Back at 11:30.”

Never has a mass-food item received so much hype as Popeye’s classic mishap. Beyond the food, the South Portland shop across from the Mall is just dirty, badly run and in a location that’s very tricky to enter off the main road.  Go into the driveway for Bernie and Phyl’s and make a sharp right into the parking lot and then find where to park since the painted parking lines are pretty much faded.

The scene at Popeyes in South Portland

Read more…

The Remarkable Fore Street Reigns Supreme in Portland’s Very Focused Dining World

January 12, 2020 / / Restaurants

In big, bold letters put Fore Street back on your list (if it ever left) of must-go-to restaurants.  In fact, after a recent visit, I’m proclaiming that it’s still one of the best restaurants in the city.  It has managed to maintain its supreme status since opening nearly 30 years ago as a citadel of farm-to-table cookery with its focus on food  from local farmers (meat, poultry and fowl), foragers and fishermen and women.

When friends came to Portland from New York earlier this month and asked me to choose a restaurant, it was easy to pick Fore Street because of its iconic status and stature as a local standout.

We met for drinks at the Press Hotel lounge, itself a thoroughly urbane oasis.  I described the restaurant looking like a 1970s loft in SoHo in the days when that erstwhile neighborhood was on the rise with its huge brick-walled interiors being transformed in old cast-iron buildings to iconic loft apartments.

The brick-walled dining room in 2015, and little changed today

Read more…