April 2022

If there’s one dessert that has no seasonality it’s lemon meringue pie.  Lemons are available all year from California, Florida and elsewhere such as Mexico where they are widely produced.  I prefer to get lemons from either Florida or California, the latter producing the most.  Sometimes supermarkets will post origins; if so look for the USA label.

For a short time a few years ago, Hannaford carried seedless lemons from the California grower, Wonderful Seedless Lemons.  I’ve not found them anywhere since Hannaford’s stopped carrying them.  They were a pleasure to use without those pesky seeds.  After further research, I discovered that the Stop and Shop stores in Massachusetts carry the Wonderful Lemons brand.  I’ve asked the produce department at Hannaford if they’ll carry them again.  No one knew for sure.  Ask your local Hannaford, Market Basket or Shaw’s if they would carry them.  Whole Foods never has. Maybe we can get them back in Maine.  They are great lemons.

If not lemons are easily juiced.  For the lemon curd in the lemon meringue pie, an electric juicer is a must have. Depending on size you’ll need at least 2 large lemons to yield half-cup juice called for in recipe.  Use the best eggs available that you can get at your local farmer’s market.  Separate the eggs first because you want the whites to reach room temperature before whipping into a meringue.  By the time you’ve made your pastry and separated the eggs, the whites should be at the proper temperature; they whip best at room temperature.

Put the lemon curd into the prebaked pie shell

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Recently revisited are Marcy’s Diner and the Miss Portland Diner as an update to Hash House published recently.  At Marcy’s, which has been under new ownership for the last two years after the infamous Darla sold the eatery to her long-time waitress, Mandy Lacourse, the food is as greasy-good as ever.  Note that certain preparations take a lot of tasty shortcuts.  The pancake batter is made from a mix and the fabulous hash-browns are prepackaged grated potatoes.  Note that these pre-grated potatoes are given star treatment on the restaurant’s flat top, where they remain for hours on end building up that wonderful patina of crispiness.

A plates of bacon and eggs with Marcy’s famous pile of hash browns

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Paper Tiger is everything I dislike in a restaurant: plate-smashing noise, inside as dark as a pocket with knife blades tearing through and quarters so close at the dining bar that I wanted to call the Covid matron for help.  In fact, the person sitting next to me had such a horrendous bronchial cough, I nearly walked out as my only means of getting away from this jabberwocky.  I should have and would have not had to endure a series of ridiculous food that was coming out of the kitchen.

Large booths and additional dining at the seating bar overlooking Fore Street

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The American breakfast, bacon and eggs, is alive and well  at Portland diners and hash houses.  But the tab has gone sky high.  While we’re all having sticker shock as consumers, perhaps the most egregious price hikes beyond the gas pump are for something we’ve long taken for granted.

The basic diner-menu breakfast used to include two eggs, bacon, ham or sausage, home fries and toast. I remember it being $6.99 not too long ago.  But after a  doing a round up of breakfast haunts, which I started in January, I’ve found it’s a solid $10 to $12 and higher for basic breakfast fare– the pay more and get less syndrome.  It’s like the  pound of coffee that shrank to 12 ounces some years ago; or boxed  cake mixes now at 15. 25 ounces that used to weigh in at 18.5 ounces. Even the shampoo that I’ve used for year came out with packaging that proclaimed  a “new look, but same old formula”  The new look was a shrunken bottle  weighing 10 ounces instead of 12.  So far a  pound of butter is still a pound.  Woe be the day when those 4 ounce sticks become 3; there’d be mayhem in kitchens everywhere.

Two eggs, sausage patty, home fries and raisin toast at Moody’s

The reliable greasy spoons that we love are charging ahead with full seats  after the pandemic closed off most dining counters.  Here’s what you get nowadays  at breakfast places in and around Greater Portland’s diners and dives.

Hot Suppa.  Only a few stools  at the counter are available in this shoebox of a space, so one doesn’t have much choice but to sit close to your neighbor. There is still table seating.  Their classic B&E is called the Hollis and costs  $12 or $16 with bacon or sausage.   But the eggs are good, though no crispy edges and the thick bacon is a bit chewy.  The hash browns are tasty, reasonably crisp, but I’ve had better.  And what’s with the one slice of toast instead of the usual two?  All in all not a bad breakfast. B+

B&E plate–the Hollis–at Hot Suppa with one slice of toast and classic hash browns and smoky bacon

Hot Suppa’s evocative mural at the entry vestibule

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If  Chaval is the ultimate Mom and Pop West End Portland restaurant, then proprietors husband and wife team Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez have achieved the pinnacle of success through sheer drive and talent.

During the Covid years, they strove to stay in business with a brisk take-out menu  with dishes like coq a vin and any one of Ilma’s desserts. But they’ve looked past the  pre-pandemic rah-rah  of Portland’s  much chronicled ascent as dining wunderkind. And they’ve emerged better than ever crafting their menu of  seasonal French and Spanish cooking with a bit of American bistro fusion for good measure.

The space still epitomizes the core of an urbane dining room. What’s more,  Chaval has grown grown into more than a neighborhood spot to garner  a crowd that’s more than just locals. In the process they’ve emerged with a James Beard Foundation nomination for best chef (Sansonetti) in the Northeast.

Chaval circa 2017

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