Category: Reviews

George + Leon’s Review, Freeport Restaurants

| Posted in Reviews, General News

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of George + Leon’s.

But George & Leon’s (named for Abbey’s dog and his young son, respectively) has emerged from adversity with a renewed respect for its team and better, more consistent food served at appropriate temperatures. If you visit, order a glass of natural wine to go with your traditional Super Beef sandwich, a softball-sized monster of a sandwich packed with pink beef, James River BBQ sauce, and white American cheese. Get it as a “4-way,” if you enjoy crisp onion rings. If you’re not in the mood for beef, the homemade chicken finger sub and the umami-overloaded, brown-butter-and-mushroom sub are also top-notch options.

The paper also takes an in-depth look at the Freeport restaurant scene and the factors holding it back from further growth.

While restaurateurs seem drawn like moths these days to the bright heat of the Greater Portland food scene, many in the town of Freeport feel underserved by the comparatively lackluster dining choices, especially for a sit-down meal.

Review of The Garrison

| Posted in Reviews

The Bollard has published a review of The Garrison.

OK, now you can breathe. Just kidding! Enter the Squash Ravioli ($25), the surprise hit of the night. With cinnamon pasta dough, ras el hanout (North African spice mix) and Italian sausage broth, we wondered how Chef Christian could possibly pull these parts together. He did, of course, once again masterfully combining Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors. A perfect bite including every component then gave the dish a curry profile that left us happily bewildered, yet again. 

Review of Sacred Profane

| Posted in Reviews

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Sacred Profane in Biddeford.

…Dark lager with lots of foam is a great match for the veggie-friendly, poutine-esque mushroom stroganoff. If you want something lighter, with more crisp acidity, go for pale lager, especially paired with a dish like the snappy Austrian-style pork-and-veal hot dog served with Morse’s sauerkraut, finely diced shallots and fiery Dusseldorf mustard ($10). If you really want to witness the power of foam, try the Allen’s and Milk, a chocolatey, sabayon-reminiscent dessert beverage. You’ll never think about beer the same way again.

Chef Marilou Ranta, Maine Street Bistro, Brickyard Hollow

| Posted in Reviews, Profiles, People, Beer

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a feature article about Marilou Ranta who is the chef and owner of The Quarry in Monson. The Restaurant won the James Beard award for Outstanding Hospitality in 2023.

In the dining room, there are unforced smiles all around. Regulars get big bear hugs. Newcomers get hugs, too. “She’s a great hugger,” said Martha Lerman, a hug recipient who was dining at The Quarry for her first time on a Thursday evening in mid-September. Ranta was especially delighted to meet a Filipino couple who had driven from Massachusetts to check out The Quarry. Word about the 5-year-old restaurant “in the boonies,” as Ranta puts it, is getting around.

The Sunday Telegram also includes a 3½ star review of Maine Street Bistro in Brunswick,

Lean into Maine Street Bistro’s French menu and you’ll be rewarded. Co-owners and co-chefs John Holm and Brandon Franklin built their impressive skillsets of classic French techniques separately, but together in Brunswick, they’ve come up with a largely traditional menu that holds promise.

and an article about the rapid expansion of Brickyard Hollow Brewing which has added five locations in the last 12 months.

As Moll and his partner were first launching Brickyard Hollow in 2018, they realized the significance of the winter carnival photo. “We were trying to create a craft brewery that was a gathering place for this little community, and that picture really helped present that,” Moll said.

Sunday Telegram: A Helping Hand, Review of Mainely Noods

| Posted in People, Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram includes a feature article about the culture of mutual assistance within Portland food and dining industry.

In a tough, fast-paced business where something often, seemingly inevitably, goes wrong, Maine restaurateurs, bakers and brewers in Portland and beyond have countless tales of coming to each other’s aid, or being the recipient of help. In the month leading up to Thanksgiving, we asked them to share with us instances of giving and getting.

The paper also includes a review of Mainely Noods.

After nearly four years in business, Portland’s Mainely Noods is beginning to show signs of burnout. Its effervescent visual design aesthetic remains firmly in place, but fading photos and untidy workspaces lend the restaurant a neglected vibe. The menu isn’t much of an improvement.

Review of Coletti’s, Diwali, Vegan Thanksgiving, Home Plate

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Coletti’s Pizza in Biddeford.

Take the Coletti’s Special ($21), where roasted eggplant and tomato sauce play a supporting role to spears of tender, sautéed broccoli rabe. “I get broccoli rabe by the case every week. It’s funny, because back in Naples, poor people like us used to say things like, ‘We don’t need money when we have broccoli rabe.’ So I cook it using my momma’s recipe, with just extra-virgin olive oil and garlic. It’s important to me. That’s why it’s the Coletti’s ‘Special’,” he said.

Today’s paper also includes an article about the celebration of Diwali in Maine, Avery Yale Kamilla’s recommendations on how to serve a vegan Thanksgiving dinner, and a Home Plate essay by Vrylena Olney.

Best New Bar: Room for Improvement

| Posted in Reviews

Punch has named Room for Improvement to their list of the Best New Bars of 2023.

Wharf Street, a narrow alleyway in Portland, Maine, is lined with cobblestones and lit at night by tall iron lampposts. Squint, and you might feel like you’ve stepped back in time. But a neon “cocktails” sign in the window of Room for Improvement suggests something wholly new. Opened in April by veteran bartender Arvid Brown (founding bar manager at Crispy Gai and Baharat) and business partner Nick Coffrin, the self-proclaimed “halfway decent bar” pairs serious cocktails with a resolutely unserious atmosphere. The bar’s irreverent ethos marks a deliberate departure from the reigning aesthetic of the sleek, lab-like cocktail bar…

Their fellow honorees are: Nine Bar (Chicago), Post Haste (Philadelphia), Sperbueno (NYC), and Wild Child (Shawnee). The article also recognizes Trick Dog in San Francisco as this year’s Industry Icon.

The 36-seat Room for Improvement is located on Wharf Street and was launched in April by Arvid Brown and Nick Coffin. Brown was named one of Star Chefs’ Coastal New England Rising Stars, and the bar is a regular hangout for many of their fellow bartenders and industry professionals.

4½ Stars for The Alna Store

| Posted in Maine, Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of The Alna Store.  Restaurant critic Andrew Ross gave the Midcoast restaurant a rating of 4½ which places it midway on the Sunday Telegram scale between excellent and extraordinary.

Eventually, I found my way to Lincoln County and the admittedly remote Alna Store, and I’m delighted I did. Here, owners Jasper Ludwig and Brian Haskins have reimagined a tumbledown convenience store as an eclectic, upscale New American restaurant that centers sustainability and seasonality. Chef Devin Dearden and pastry chef Kristen LaMontagne bring impressive skill and technique to the restaurant’s ever-changing menu concept, without ever losing sight of the humble space’s roots and locale. Custardy Basque cheesecake with apple-butter caramel, house-extruded ditalini pasta with pepitas and Romanesco cauliflower, and a peerless roasted pork belly dish probably won’t be on offer when you go, but don’t let that put you off from a little drive.

The Alna Store opened on December 22, 2022. They’re located in the small Midcoast town of Alna which is just a little bit inland from Wiscasset.

Photos: Customers at The Alna Store on the opening night, a dish of hamachi sashimi from earlier this year.

Review of Little Pig & Maine Oysters

| Posted in Reviews, Fisheries

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a four star review of Little Pig.

Outside, on the tree-covered patio, there are café tables to park yourself while you devour superlative Lao sausage and fiery jao sauce, fried hake banh mi sandwiches slathered with choo chee curry, and basil-flecked Thai-style street corn. Once winter hits, you’ll want to consider this stellar newcomer as takeout-only. It shouldn’t matter. Cooking this confident, spicing with such self-assured swagger, is a rarity. Don’t let the lack of a chair put you off.

The paper also includes an article about the Maine oyster industry.

We’re into the “R months,” the stretch from September to April when oysters are at their culinary peak. In Maine, half-shell fans and lovers of local seafood have more cause for excitement each year as oyster farms continue to proliferate along the state’s coast.