5 minute read
Restaurant Review
nights with DJs and bands. 94 Maine Street, Brunswick. www.mjsgrille.com 729-6574 North Star Music Café, 225 Congress Street, at the base of Munjoy Hill in Portland. A coffee shop and café offering soups, sandwiches, salads, and specials made from scratch. Eat by our sunny windows or take your food to go. A full coffee bar, sodas, beer, and wine available. Music most nights. Check www.northstarcafe.net for calendar and hours. 699-2994 O’Naturals serves natural and organic flatbread sandwiches, tossed salads, Asian noodles, soups, and kids’ meals. Quick service, but our leather couches, wireless internet, and comfortable atmosphere will entice you to stay. Flatbread pizza after 4 p.m. and pesto chicken, roast beef, wild bison meatloaf, wild Alaskan salmon, and many vegetarian items–something for everyone. Portland 321-2050 and Falmouth 781-8889 One Eyed Jacks Pizza serves it up by the pie or slice, including pesto chicken with garlic cream sauce or prosciutto and pineapple–also tacos with your choice of fish, shrimp, chicken, pork or beef. Don’t miss the great sides and nightly specials. Serving beer and wine. Family friendly! Open every day from 11a.m.-10 p.m. at 127 Commercial Street, Portland. 772-6200 The Pepperclub is a prize-winning restaurant (“Best Vegetarian” & “Best Value” in Frommer’s Guide to New England) with creative world cuisine. Blackboard menu lists five vegetarian, three fish, & three meat entrées, including an organic beef burger. Relaxed, affordable dining on the edge of the Old Port w/free parking. Open nightly at 5 p.m. 78 Middle Street. 772-0531 SeaGrass Bistro, 30 Forest Falls Drive, Yarmouth, an intimate 40-seat dining room with an open kitchen. Chef Stephanie’s style of American Bistro Cuisine, with Asian, French, and Tuscan influences, uses fresh local ingredients. Menu changes frequently. Music while you dine Thursdays in October & December. Open Wednesday-Saturday for dinner, reservations starting at 6 p.m. Visit our website for Cooking Class Information www.seagrassbistro.com 846-3885 * Twenty Milk Street, in the Portland Regency Hotel, is proud to be the only restaurant in Maine to serve exclusively U.S.D.A. prime steaks, combining award-winning classic American Cuisine with fine wines in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Featuring Regency Crab Cakes, Baked Escargo, 20-oz. Porterhouse Steak, Sesame Tuna, homemade breads, and desserts. Dinner seven nights a week; also serving breakfast, lunch and brunch. Complimentary Valet Parking. 774-4200 Una Tapas Winebar Lounge, Portland’s destination for unique and exciting food, wine, and cocktails. Weekday Happy Hours, interesting and eclectic wines, signature cocktails, flavorful tapas plates, and special music events with live jazz two days a week. “Best Martini Bar”–Press-Herald and Casco Bay Weekly. Near Downtown, the waterfront, and the Old Port at 505 Fore Street. www.unawinebar.com 828-0300 Uncle Billy’s is a welcome oasis–a reminder that life is good. Owner/chef Jonathan St. Laurent’s famous barbeque with Quebecois flair: Grilled Skirt Steak with Frites á la Francais, mussels steamed in beer, melt-in-your-mouth beef brisket, and braised lamb with polenta and mushrooms. Blues-age décor, jukebox of funky tunes, live music, full bar, and Happy Hour–beers from Lambics to Schlitz. 653 Congress Street, TuesdaySaturday 5-close, Sunday 12-close. 761-5930 Walter’s, 15 Exchange Street, Portland. Cuisine with “worldly” influences–casual fine dining with a metropolitan flair. Menu changes seasonally with popular blackboard specials. Bar manager Steven Lovenguth’s wine list complements Chef Jeff Buerhaus’s menu selections. Interesting cocktails and dessert drinks, also. Open Mon-Sat 11:30-2:30 for lunch; dinner from 5:00 seven nights a week. Private room available for up to 26 guests. www.walterscafe.com 871-9258 Wells Beach Steakhouse and T-Bone Lounge serves prime steaks, fresh seafood, and delicious salads, featuring Kobe sirloin steaks, stuffed smoked salmon and grilled swordfish in an upscale, plush atmosphere. Enjoy a selection from the highly allocated new world wine list, or a signature 28-ounce Wells Beach martini under the starry ‘sky’ of the lounge. 73 Mile Road, Wells. www.wellsbeachsteakhouse.com 646-2252 Yosaku, at 1 Danforth Street, is an authentic Japanese culinary experience, designed by owner Sato Takahiro and lead chef Matsuyama Masahiro. Premium sushi, sashimi, and rolls, including Yosaku roll, spicy scallop roll, Godzilla roll, Portland Pirates roll, and traditional cooked Japanese cuisine for the sushi-shy. Enjoy a bento box beside a tranquil Japanese waterfall. Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30-2, Saturday-Sunday 12-3. Dinner 5-9:30, Friday-Saturday 5-10:30. 780-0880 *reservations recommended
Good Food
Bar Lola is a knockout in the East End. Bar None
Seated at the crest of Munjoy Hill as Congress Street plunges toward the Eastern Prom, Bar Lola, the newest of the new up here, is delighting crowds of excited diners.
We just closed our eyes with pleasure upon devouring the warm, tasty, small squares of bread we were treated with barely after sitting down. Served in a gorgeous piece of pottery with olive oil and herbs for dipping, the “luna” squares are handmade by Steve Lanzalotta, the baker at Micucci’s.
For wine, we chose an immensely affordable high-quality Amira Cabernet Franc Paarl from South Africa (2004) ($6 glass, $22 bottle). It was a perfect accompaniment.
Next up, a squadron of Portuguese Sardines ($4). Served with thin, tasty housemade crackers and a nifty hot sauce, these satisfied us greatly, as did the light and lovely Maine shrimp frittata with chile and lime ($4). Garlic fans, or anybody seeking fullness of flavor in a dish: Do not miss the roasted eggplant and garlic purée ($3). Also earning raves: the olives with fresh herbs ($3) and the Charcuterie plate with cornichon and wholegrain mustard ($5).
The succulent braised rabbit, served with spaetzle, tarragon, and pan-roasted vegetables including deliciously sweet parsnips, melted in our mouths (this is absolutely a restaurant for sharing). Another “wow” experience is the handmade ravioli with sofrita and a delicately seasoned stuffing. “We make and roll the ravioli ourselves,” says co-owner/chef Guy Hernandez, “stuffed with mortadella, spinach, garlic, and a little chicken breast poached in white wine.”
But we weren’t finished! We gorged on the duck ($15), a pan-seared breast done to perfect medium rare. The tender slices sported just enough cabbage, chestnuts, and cider glaze to kick things well into the level of performance art.
The banana crêpes with caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream ($5)–absolutely heavenly–and a trio of select cheeses ($6, the selection may vary) accompanied by aged balsamic, a homemade mostarda of dried apricots, and delicious dried fig purée, sent us out this door anxious to tell everyone we can about this new restaurant’s magnetic appeal. Go East; mecca awaits. n
