Scales

Dining Out Summer 2021: Short Takes–Ho-Hum, Standouts and Unfortunates

July 23, 2021 / / Restaurants

From Judy Gibson to Boda to Scales and the Luna landscape, Izakaya Minato and  last and very the least the  sandwich shop Cera,  mostly remarkable and a few blemishes.

Luna at the new Canopy Hotel  is a winner. It’s everything a sophisticated, sleek urban outpost should be.  Interesting bar food and drinks, it’s essentially all about the view and the uber chic interior with its outdoor terrace overlooking the best of downtown Portland by the sea.  It makes you wonder  whether  we’ll ever have residential high rises with views like this from walls of glass overlooking our glorious waterfront?  The spate of new condo buildings in Portland  is architecture at its worst.  What is this trend of multi-faced edifices? (Brick meets siding?)  Hobson’s Landing is the worst offender.  Who’s paying nearly$1 million for these apartments with terraces that look like tenement fire escapes?  The Canopy building a few blocks over, however, is beautifully done, with its chic lobby and concierge entry to the Luna rooftop.

Canopy lobby, Luna rooftop pimento cheese and the Luna dining room and terrace

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Anonymous Quick Pan First and Big Pick First Place: Scales Is the Restaurant It Was Meant to be–Simply Terrific

June 2, 2017 / / Restaurants

It’s as though we fell into a swamp of such culinary sludge in one of the nosiest establishments in Portland—our town with so many talented chefs at nearly every corner and intersection—that it was perfectly clear it wasn’t going to get any better. True, this is basically a lounge and bar with food.  But even the churlish claims of comfort food barely cut the mustard. And inside it was so dark to the point of dreariness, we still trudged through five dishes—sharables—and pitchers, vats and tall glasses filled with tropical drinks that were anchored in more crushed ice than the defining liquor.

A drink at Restaurant 1

It was then, after consuming buckets of chips, dips, shellfish and blockbuster drinks, we all felt so ill-fed we unanimously concluded that it was time to leave and have a real dinner somewhere else.  Our departure came after great expense since we drank more than we ate, and in a range of $6 to $14 per cocktail, the liquor tab can add up on top of the expensive platters of mushy food.  This place had been so good when it first opened, with chefs who commandeered the kitchen with authority and inventiveness rather than the meh it has become.

Anadama bread at Scales

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Random Notes: a bit of this and that add up to the usual fine dining experience easily found in Portland

April 29, 2016 / / Restaurants

Take a croissant, split it in half, lay it on a grill or flattop and heat all those wonderful buttery layers to unleash that moment of umami smoothness.   Then when you load the croissant with a seared crab cake, local, fresh arugula and spinach, a tomato slice, citrus mayonnaise and the final glory of a beautiful duck egg fried just right and you’ve just had one of the greatest morning breakfast sandwiches.

It was at the Salt Box Cafe where this gustatory revelation occurred.  On a perch along the Eastern Prom the truck is parked overlooking the water where owner/chef Matt Glatz holds court.  He built the kitchen cabin, which is on a flatbed hooked up to his truck.  His apt motto “tiny house, big taste” says it all.

Terrific croissant and crabcake sandwich

Terrific croissant and crabcake sandwich

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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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Seven Days of Dining: Maine Restaurant Week, Boston Burger and New York Italian

March 7, 2016 / / Discoveries, Restaurants

Few surprises populate the Maine Restaurant Week list of participants in the Portland area.  Absent were members of the so-called hot list of new haunts such as Terlingua, Roustabout and Woodford Food and Beverage.   But do try the East Ender  for one of the best meals around from their $25 MRW prix fixe menu.  Or go to Tempo Dulu for its $45 prix fixe, a relative bargain for this divine restaurant.

MRW east ender front night

These restaurant weeks—as most are  intended around the country in food-focused cities—are a way to invigorate the slower late winter-early spring months to draw diners in.  That means, if you cater to reverse logic, those perennially busy restaurants—not on the list–might be easier to get into without reservations since the bulk of local diners are flocking to MRW members.

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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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