Fore Street

Second Time Around: to steep in the simple pleasures that define Scales, a modern-day incarnation of the New England Brasserie

March 25, 2026 / / Restaurants

It may turn out to be the most important restaurant to have entered Portland’s dining universe because it’s cooking up such comfortably delicious food, fare that we all want and love. And Portland diners have taken notice. When I arrived last night at 6:30, there wasn’t a spare space in the house at Scales. That it was also filled with some of the cheffy-star-owners of other Portland dining rooms was no coincidence. Everyone wants to be there. Yes, I’ve heard some rumblings from those perennial malcontents who sort of shrug their shoulders, smirking, what’s all the fuss about? Especially one local restaurateur sitting at a booth for four looking sour-faced and unimpressed.

Hogwash!

The scene at Scales.

Scales is killing it, to be sure. There’s a lot of dishes on the menu that I want to try. As in my earlier review I cited the deliciousness of the clam chowder, the fish and chips, the pan seared cod, the lobster roll, the fried clams and the desserts served in such comely fashion as to be irresistible. Just about every food item on the menu is locally sourced and utterly fresh.

But last night I wanted to try the other side of the Scales menu. There are meat dishes like stews and burgers. So I set my sights to begin my dinner with a half dozen oysters, followed by the lobster bisque, with a main course of Scales’ monumental hamburger platter.

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Weighing In On Scales-Beyond Great Expectations as the Quintessential Waterside New England Brasserie

March 11, 2026 / / Restaurants

As we walked down the newly paved sidewalk to the front door of Scales, which recently opened on Maine Wharf, a diner—unknown to us-came out of the restaurant and said, “You have to have the butterscotch pudding.”

The stroll down Maine Wharf to the restaurant is charmingly romantic

Well, it’s hardly surprising that the long-awaited Scales is living up to expectations as the quintessential seafood restaurant on Portland Harbor. But, really, it’s much more than that. For one, seafood is not it’s only calling card as you discover that Scales is pretty much a New England brasserie with a lot of prized possessions on its menu. Indeed, it could turn out to be that glistening star beyond all others in Portland’s rather glittering galaxy of dining options.

By day the room is dazzlingly bright overlooking the harbor outside

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Special Report: Woodford Food and Beverage Preview-set to open on Wednesday, January 20th

January 18, 2026 / / Uncategorized

Update your address book and enter Woodford Food and Beverage. It’s the first new restaurant of the year. The official opening date is Wednesday, January 20, at 660 Forest Ave. at Woodford’s Corner. But the restaurant has been holding friends and family nights all weekend long, and I was fortunate to have attended one of the dinners.

The sleek dining room is both family friendly and date night chic

Essentially it’s an American bistro serving stylish fare prepared by Chef Courtney Loreg whose resume includes a four year stint at Fore Street, 2 years at the former Bresca and several years at Wente Vineyards in California, before moving back to Maine.

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Fore Street: What more can one say other than it’s as good as ever!

December 18, 2025 / / Restaurants

After a recent dinner at Fore Street, what struck me most is how iconic this Portland restaurant remains. That it manages to keep its reputation intact night after night, and its space packed at all times, is truly a revelation in a city teeming with great restaurants.

After all, it’s the grande dame of farm-to-table dining in Maine whose newcomers are merely following suit rather than blazing new trails. Consider, for instance, that Fore Street employed foragers way back while some of our city’s newest chefs were still in their knickers.

As soon as you walk in you see the whole scene-from the open kitchen, the dining room and the views of Portland Harbor beyond

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

November 6, 2025 / / 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

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.

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Glorious Cast-iron: the most useful pan to have in your kitchen

October 14, 2025 / / Discoveries, Recipes

Cast-iron has always been in my arsenal of cookware with a few sizes at the ready in pots and pans. But over the years my collection has grown from two cast-iron pans to a large collection in all sizes for many different uses.

Classics in cast-iron cookery: roast chicken, cornbread, chops and potatoes

I’ve learned that what makes cast-iron skillets so integral is the sturdiness of the pan and the heat that it conducts so evenly for such dishes as cornbread, producing the inimitable outer crust, or for skillet pies. Drape pastry dough into a skillet and fill with apples, sugar and a few knobs of butter and it’s all you need for a great pie baked in cast-iron.

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

October 9, 2025 / / 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

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.

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

August 28, 2025 / / 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

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.

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The infinite pleasures of Francine Bistro in picture-perfect Camden, one of Maine’s prettiest seaside villages

July 31, 2025 / / Restaurants, Travel

The Zeitgeist of farm-to-table American cuisine at Francine Bistro prevailed long before the term was tossed around everywhere. In fact, it’s virtually second nature to chef and proprietor Brian Hill whose Camden bistro remains a dining destination since 2003. He employs not just the familiar fusing of farm-to-fork but, rather, each dish is a study in simplicity, of copacetic flavors that spring from his magical well of culinary methodology. In a word the food is delicious!

Francine Bistro at night

It’s also one of the most popular restaurants in this tony coastal village, which now boasts other hot spots such as the superb Natalie’s up the street at the Camden Harbour Inn (see next week’s review), Pig and Poet at the Whitehall (see July 24 review) or at neighboring Rockport and Rockland, particularly Hill’s other restaurant, Shepherd’s Pie.When I was there earlier this week (my second visit in two weeks) I ordered the pan roasted chicken, a pretty basic dish—but not here. To me if the basics of roast chicken do not come off well in a restaurant then everything else served tends to follow suit.

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The discreet charms of the divine Tempo Dulu-a treasure trove of haute Indonesian fare

July 1, 2025 / / Restaurants

Note: Because of the extended July 4th weekend, Friday Dining is appearing today.

Sometimes I feel like the churlish critic who ate Portland, Maine, or is it eating me? No matter because when you come upon such a restaurant as Tempo Dulu, in the utterly glamorous new iteration of the Danforth Inn where it’s magnificently housed, it makes nearly all other dining experiences that you thought were so good tame by comparison. That’s not to say that dinner at some of our most revered restaurants like Central Provisions, Back Bay Grill or Fore Street is not duly fabulous. But it’s a combination of the exotic blending of cuisine—Indonesian—taking place in an absolutely gorgeous setting that makes the distinctive shoals of fine dining so singularly superb here.

Curried egg and the Wayang cocktail

The waiters are all handsome with Ipana-perfect smiles and beautifully attired. The principal rooms where cocktails are served shimmer like gold dust so worldly it could host cads with escorts or dowagers in diamonds.

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