Fore Street

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

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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

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

March 25, 2016 / / 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.

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, 2016 / / 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

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

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, 2016 / / 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

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, 2015 / / 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.

fore street 2015 front

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 into the dining room and the views of Portland Harbor beyond

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, 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.

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

October 14, 2015 / / 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

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, 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.

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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.

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