Category: Reviews

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 4 star review of Crispy Gai.

Cabbage Salad ($11) offers a fresh, vibrant counterpoint — crisp sliced napa and purple cabbages tossed in gingery dressing with mint, cilantro, plenty of fried shallots and peanuts and a judicious scattering of bird’s eye chili. In Crying Tiger Ribeye ($16), Reynolds wok-fries a crust onto marinated beef, then finishes it on the grill to rosy medium rare. Herbaceous, limey nam jim jaew cuts through the rich steak, while the sauce’s fermented anchovy gives the dish seductive pull.

Eat Drink Lucky has released their 2025 Must Eat List, a compendium of 68 not to be missed dishes from restaurants in Portland and South Portland.

We’ve updated our Must Eat List for 2025 with 68 mouthwatering dishes. This year’s list shows Portland’s changing dining scene: sandwiches are serious business and regional and global flavors shape local favorites. Portland (with a few South Portland standouts) continues to surprise with dishes that are craveable, creative, and (mostly) easy on the wallet.

You’ll see some favorites from last year still holding strong, and plenty of new bites worth discovering.

The Infatuation has included SoPo Seafood in their national list of The Spots Of The Summer.

Over the summer, things change. Sourpusses smile. Uncoordinated people go to baseball games and say things like, “Keep your eye on the ball.” Pedicures happen. It’s a good time to be alive, and it’s a great time to eat, mostly because sandwiches and cheeseburgers taste best between chlorinated fingertips. Below are places across the country that are best enjoyed between Memorial Day and Labor Day. These are the spots of the summer.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 4 star review of Ocotillo.

The warmth and brightness pervade the service staff and the flavors as well. You need to try the Mushroom Taco and its addictive salsa macha; it’s as savory and satisfying a vegetarian dish as you’ll find anywhere. Birria Grilled Cheese with red chile broth featuring ZUbakery’s sourdough bread is a full-body hug of a dish, while Buttermilk-Masa Pancakes demonstrate Chef Ali-Marie Zoni’s deftness with gluten-free cooking. 

The May issue of Food & Wine includes an article about Portland area bakeries.

Portland, a town of just 69,000, is now home to a dozen or so destination-worthy bakeries, many leaning on only-in-New-England local flavors and Maine-grown, house-milled grains. Despite recent national acclaim, Portland’s bakery landscape has held tight to its soul.

The article highlights Zu Bakery, Night Moves, Mari, Belleville, Bread & Friends, Norimoto Bakery and Siblings.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of Noble Pizzeria and Barbeque.

At the end of the evening, I found myself just a little envious of the regulars from Deering Center who were next to us at the bar. I don’t live in Deering Center, or even Portland, yet it felt odd when I left to make the 20-minute drive home. Maybe, because like all good neighborhood restaurants, Noble Pizzeria & Barbecue makes you feel like you’re home already.

Congratulations to the team at Papi on being named one of the top 10 honorees in the Best Restaurant Bars category for the East Coast in this year’s Spirited Awards. Papi is listed along with establishments in larger communities like New York, DC, Savannah, and Miami.

The awards program is run by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation which organizes the annual Tales of the Cocktail conference. A short list of honorees will come out on May 21st, and a winner will be announced at the conference on July 24th.

Papi opened for business in March 2023. They were an honoree in the Best New Cocktail Bar category in 2024.

The 2025 list of nominees for the James Beard Awards was just released. Of the 9 semifinalists from Maine named in January, none proceeded to the next step as an awards nominee this year. The last time that happened was in 2014.

Elsewhere in New England there were 4 nominees from Rhode Island, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from New Hampshire, 3 from Massachusetts, and 3 from Vermont.

Related information:

• Maine Award Winners, Nominees and Semifinalists – a complete list of Maine award winners, nominees and semifinalists from 2008 to 2025.
• Award and Nomination Process – the award nominations process.
• Award Categories – the 2025 list of categories and eligibility requirements.
• James Beard in Portland – James Beard taught a set cooking classes in Portland in 1964.

Food & Wine came out with their Global Tastemakers lists this morning. Two Maine establishments made the cut:

• For the second year in the row Aragosta on Deer Isle has been recognized, this year on the Top 10 US Hotels for Food and Drink list.
• Mr Tuna was recognized this year on the magazine’s list of the Top 15 US Restaurants.

See the Food & Wine website for the full set of Tastemakers lists rating restaurants, bars, bakeries, hotels and travel ooprtunities from around the globe.