Category: 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.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Clam Bar.

But the star here is the Clam Bar itself, a mostly traditional seafood shack with a menu that showcases Maine seafood and chef Sam Keene’s Latin-inflected recipes. Crisp-fried whole belly clams are exceptional here, and most other dishes are at minimum, very good. Try the romesco-and-shaved-fennel-topped Maine crab cakes, the brown-butter-tossed French fries and the unexpectedly tasty tuna tostadas, a ceviche-style appetizer served on tortilla triangles

A website called Wandering Wheatleys has published their list of the 16 Best Restaurants in Portland.

Portland is a city for foodies, with incredible restaurants around every corner that showcase not only traditional Maine cuisine but foods from all over the world. Yes, there’s lobster and oysters and clams, but there are also unique takes on comfort food classics, special spins on a traditional slice of pizza, and some of the best donuts you’ll ever have. Whether you’re craving something Latin-inspired, Japanese, Italian, or simply something that’s mainly from Maine, you’ll find it in Portland!

The Washington Post consulted a “lifetime lobsterman, a food writer and a travel agent” from Maine to select some top lobster rolls in our state.

Whether it be the place where they first enjoyed the delicacy (Pine Tree Frosty in Rangeley for me) or the one that keeps them up at night during the winter pining for summer (Becky’s Diner in Portland), Mainers have spirited debates about who serves the best.

Their picks were: Red’s Eats (Wiscasset), Twelve, Abel’s Lobster (MDI), Highroller Lobster, SoPo Seafood, and Bagaduce Lunch (Penobscot).

Separately, the New York Times consulted four Maine residents for their recommendations on where to stay, shop and eat. Their food recommendations were Smalls, Zu Bakery, J’s Oyster Bar, Dok Mali, Eventide, and Leeward.

The New York Times has included Tinder Hearth in Brooksville in their 2023 list of the 50 restaurants they’re “most excited about right now.”

They bake only 150 pizzas a night, in a wood-burning brick oven, and only four nights a week. And what pizzas they are, built on thin but sturdy 17-inch crusts that have been leavened with wild yeast. The thrill comes from a rotating cast of toppings that might include pork meatballs, chile and garden mint, or confit cherry tomatoes, caramelized onion and ricotta with pops of fresh green coriander and honey.

And, as the Press Herald reports, a recent positive review by Dave Portnoy from Bar Stool Sports has spiked demand for the pizza at Monte’s.

“We’ve been turning away so much business the last few days. We could have doubled or tripled our sales if we had the capacity to keep up with demand,” Quattrucci said, noting that his team has since found ways to boost production.