Back Bay Grill

Originally Published in Portland Press Herald around 2010 from past premiere of blog, Food for Thought, C 2002 or Thereabouts

December 16, 2021 / / Restaurants

Originally “Food for Thought” was created as a food diary–a blog with daily entries about my personal focus on local food, farms and restaurants in Portland when the term locavore was new to the lexicon and blogging was a quirky endeavor. It first appeared online at Downeast Magazine in around 2001 and later commissioned by an enterprising editor at the Portland Press Herald where it ran for years until it morphed into the Golden Dish.

For better or worse, the space quickly became focused on restaurant reviews, a shaky moment for some or a stellar  time for others.

It was exciting to eat my way through Portland’s restaurant renaissance.  Suddenly it was no longer just Back Bay Grill and Fore Street as keepers of the flame but rather newcomers like Five Fifty Five, Bandol, Caiola’s, Hugo’s, Cinque Terre, Vignola and Duck Fat joined the group if only to make the old guard strive to be better.

Below are some photos from the past of dining in Portland, most around 2015-2016, as far back as my current Photoshop catalogue goes.

Five-fifty Five back in the day 2015 and much earlier in the early aughts

Read more…

Back Bay Grill: Infinite Pleasures that Always Excite

June 30, 2017 / / Restaurants

By any other standards, Portland is growing by leaps and bounds.  Though the leaps don’t generally go above heights of six stories and the level of architecture remains woefully uninspired in urban rebirth.  Yet, long the holdout, the waterfront is slowly being rebuilt, especially “Foreside,” the marketing name for the 58 Fore St. complex formerly known as the Sprague Company.  And our restaurants have joined the ascent of progress with the rabble of new ones braking ranks with good taste from creative chefs.  It seems like nearly every day there’s some new dining establishment that excites and beckons.  But one (among a few others) remains as vital as ever, delivering on its aim of fine dining to the hilt like a convivial club serving its huddle of dedicated gourmands.  That is, my friends, Back Bay Grill. Now nearly 30 years running, it remains one of Portland’s premiere restaurants. In all the years, I’ve been dining there – at least 15 – it has never once disappointed.

The ever popular bar at Back Bay Grill

Read more…

Back Bay Grill: Still In a Class by Itself

June 20, 2016 / / Restaurants

In the great world of Portland dining few of the New Wave have achieved the stature of Back Bay Grill. For nearly 30 years running it has maintained the highest level of cuisine, service, ambiance and style, an astounding feat given the vagaries of Portland’s—or any city’s–dining culture.

Starched white table cloths top the tables in the main dining room; table number 7 is still the favorite spot for an intimate dinner for two

Starched white  cloths top the tables in the main dining room; table number 7 (lower left) is still the favorite spot for an intimate dinner for two

Read more…

Isa Bistro: Its Infinite Charms as a Neighborhood Eatery are So Fine

May 13, 2016 / / Restaurants

The kitchen staff at Isa works meticulously to produce some of the most carefully produced dishes among Portland restaurants.  That it resides in Bayside, still one of the seediest neighborhoods in Portland, is inconsequential.  After all, just a few doors away, its neighbor, the venerable Back Bay Grill, was trail blazer decades ago in a den-of-thieves neighborhood where the term rough and tumble was understatement.

Isa is a welcoming addition to Portland Street on Bayside, having opened a year ago

Isa is a welcoming addition to Portland Street on Bayside, having opened a year ago

While Back Bay is where you go for classic fine dining, Isa’s charms are more relaxed in a thoroughly bistro style setting with a menu that delivers quite well.  Dishes such as the lobster taco or the eggplant lasagna are beautifully made and remain mainstays on the menu. And the classic grilled pork chop over lentils (not on the menu at the moment) is another great dish enjoyed on past occasions.

Read more…

First Look: Tiki Fever hits Portland and it’s the tops at Rhum Food and Grog

February 12, 2016 / / Restaurants

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 main bar at Rhum

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.

Read more…

Neighborhood Dining and the search for a great burger

November 20, 2015 / / Restaurants

As the city of Portland grapples with the boom of new housing on the peninsula, one dividend is food and dining venues emerge as an outgrowth. The opening of Rosemont Market at West End Place, for example, serves the densely populated West End and its need to have food shops in the neighborhood.  As for dining, there’s only a few restaurants beyond Longfellow Square in the heart of the West End except for Caiola’s—still a long-time favorite for area locals—and Bonobo, the corner restaurant serving artisanal pizza.

In adjacent Bayside, that a place like Isa caught on so fast gives credence to an emergent neighborhood even though the grandness of Back Bay Grill a few doors away didn’t stem the tide when it entered this fringe environment decades ago. Plenty of vagrants and druggies still  roam the streets, but now they co-mingle with ever more Mercedes and Lexus SUVs looking to park and dine at Isa or Back Bay.

The charming dining room at Isa

The charming dining room at Isa

Isa and Back Bay are my neighborhood restaurants. Though I’ve yet  to venture  to Bubba’s Sulky Lounge or the notorious Ricky’s Tavern across the street.  Now there’s a true dive bar whose patrons were once labeled euphemistically by a city official “…as subjects seeking social service assets and resources in that area.”  Hipsters are not welcome.

Read more…

First Look: Roustabout–A bravura performance from Portland’s newest restaurant–don’t miss it!

November 6, 2015 / / Restaurants

What a display of Portland diners flocking to first night this past Tuesday at the newly opened Roustabout. To wit–it’s the latest darling in the mannered pleasures of our city’s boundlessly good restaurants.  Located in the historic Nissen Bakery Building on Washington Avenue, it joins a diverse roster of establishments already on the strip, most notably the recently opened Terlingua.

Roustabout’s conceptual karma is the handiwork of Portland branding specialists, Might and Main who’ve helped fashion such high fliers as Central Provisions, Hugo’s, Honey Paw  and more among the trendy watering holes and eateries that are defining the city.

Roustabout's dining room and bar

Roustabout’s dining room and bar

You see the Might and Main touches right away in the blond wood, the prominent bar and the generally cool sleekness in design.  While brand-building helps, ultimately it’s what co-owners Kit Paschal and Anders Tallberg have delivered in decor,  ambiance and food.  Paschal hails as bar and beverage personality from Boston and Tallberg has had some impressive chef credentials in that city too.

Together this duo is delivering in spades.  After two dinners there I experienced superb food served by a first-rate wait staff and, for once, the front- of -the house attention to detail was meaningful.

Read more…

Fleeting pleasures–and a few minor misses–at Pai Men Miyake

October 9, 2015 / / Restaurants

Portland may not be a city of financial titans or internet billionaires (at least not by New York, LA or London standards) who covet trophy dining with star chefs.  But it can be proud of its chefs like Masa  Miyake who is as much of a force in Portland’s dining scene as his compatriots Chris Gould of Central Provisions, Larry Matthews of Back Bay Grill, Sam Hayward of Fore Street, Damian Sansonetti of Piccolo and other gadabouts from the culinary girth of fine dining here.

Moreover, in my last few visits to his venerable noodle house and pub, Pai Men Miyake, the food is still admirably done.

The kitchen and dining room at Miyake

The kitchen and dining room at Miyake

Though, pardon this round of nitpicking, there is, I’ve noticed, a slight curve ball of discombobulation in how the restaurant is run and the scope of the menu, which seems more stagnant than vital.

Read more…

Central Provisions: Still just about being the best restaurant in Maine

August 28, 2015 / / Restaurants

Deep down in its warped well of vocabulary wisdom the Urban Dictionary defines foodie as “a douchebag who likes food.”  If that’s the case then Portland’s streets are teeming with them, and the general wisdom is for us locals to stay away from our most formidable dining haunts until the turistas all leave in the next 30 to 60 days.  In fact, one local savant confided that he won’t step foot into a place like the revered Central Provisions until the masses go home. Indeed, it may be that of all the new restaurants in our dining world, the one that lives up so supremely to its accolades is the venerable Central Provisions.

The serious look of diners at Central Provisions seated at the dining bar facing the open kitchen; lower right, chef Chris Gould

   The serious look of diners at Central Provisions seated at the dining bar facing the open kitchen; lower right, chef                                                                                                                        Chris Gould

I wasn’t planning to visit there until the fall, but destiny prevailed as a parking spot opened up a few doors away while cruising down Fore Street during the lunch hour earlier this week. I took this as my cue to enter this bastion of gastronomy for a bite of lunch.

Read more…

Weekend grazing: from tapas, to haute fare to one of the best lobster rolls, Maine remains the splendid table everywhere

August 17, 2015 / / Restaurants

Grazing is a great way to experience several restaurants in one fell swoop, torching your testbeds into fiery submission as you go from one to the other for splendid dining.   This was the course I followed starting on Friday evening. What ensued was the progression of  two dining establishments to create  the evening meal in which the new world met the old and a weekend to follow with multiple ports of call in the offing.

Sur-Lie presents an inventive but very approachable modern-day menu of small plates done with utter creativity and style.  The second stop was Back Bay Grill, where more traditional techniques and fare—done superbly—offered great counterpoint.

The respective bar rooms for dining at Sur Lie and Back Bay Grill

The respective bar rooms for dining at Sur Lie and Back Bay Grill

First order of business was to order a drink made by Sur-Lie’s great bartender, Sam Babcock.  I proceeded to have my favorite dish at Sur Lie– the sweet pea hummus.  It’s presented in a big white bowl that contains the brightest puree, almost blindingly green from the freshness of the peas rendered into a luxuriously silken dip.  Chef Emil Rivera—whose cooking gets better and better to be, at times, absolutely wonderful– floats the flavors of lemon and mint that capture the sublime texture and flavor of the sabayon, which tops the hummus like  whipped cream on a sundae.

Read more…

Older Posts