Month: March 2011

From Away has published a MRW review of Vignola.

Malcolm chose the almond tort topped with a delicate scoop of gelato, which was also simply good. None of what we had was particularly innovative or arresting or explosive, but we savored every bite. Vignola makes the food your grandmother would make, if she wasn’t so busy watching Dancing with the Stars and reading biographies of Katharine Hepburn. I really like it there, for reasons I have yet to understand. And we will go back again soon.

Yordprom Coffee Company received 4½ stars from the Eat & Run review in the Thursday edition of the Press Herald.

The Thai coconut broth was light and lemony, and had just a touch of heat — enough to give you a little kick after you’ve swallowed a spoonful. The sliced chicken in the soup was a tad overcooked, but the onions and scallions were perfect.

I also tried the Spicy Chicken Curry ($7.95), which arrived beautifully presented in a large white bowl. “This is very hot,” the server warned me, and I’m not sure if he was talking about the temperature (like the soup, it was steaming) or the spiciness, or both.

Chubby Werewolf has published a review of East Ender.

So where does the East Ender “Eastburger” stand in the pantheon of great burgers? Well, it wasn’t a home run. At least, not for me. But it was certainly a good burger and one which I’m inclined to try again sometime soon. I do think the bacon is likely to be better the next time around, and I’d love to see the bun get a little smaller (and the caraway seeds nixed altogether).

On the heels of the survey of Chinese buffets published last week in The Bollard comes a broad-based look at 8 Chinese restaurants in the Greater Portland area by From Away. From Away has published an omnibus review of Jan Mee, Lang’s Express, Oriental Table, Panda Garden,and Valley Chinese Cuisine in Portland as well as Chia Sen in Scarborough, and both Super Great Wall Buffet and Imperial China in South Portland.

Here’s what it’s taken me eight restaurants and a little over 5,500 words to figure out: The overall Chinese food situation in Portland is not good. After testing all the restaurants that lead in popular opinion, we couldn’t find one to recommend across-the-board. Some restaurants did one or two things well, while severely botching others, and some restaurants couldn’t seem to get anything right. Our suggestions for where to go for Chinese depend entirely on what you like, and if were forced to pick favorites, among a huge batch of very, very similar food, they would go as follows…