The Good, the Bad and the Muggy

O Hey world. How are you? Welcome to another, slightly overdue installment of the Novice Fork. My B. With work in full swing and a wedding I just attended, I haven’t had much time to sit down and write. But I simply had to annotate some recent restaurants I visited in the past few weeks. Fun stuff right? I though so anyway.

But before we dip into the restaurant judgment pool, I need to ask an important question to all your faithful readers and pit stoppers. What the heck is up with the weather lately? I thought August was supposed to be hot, hot HOT! Not 72 degrees and rainy? And while it may have been hot as hades when I went to both restaurants, two weeks ago, August just hasn’t delivered. I’m kinda disappointed in the lack of “stick to your chair” or “I wanna die” heat that I’ve grown to love. I haven’t been able to fry an egg on the sidewalk in front of my apartment, or boil water left in my car turned oven, and this I find troubling. (Am I alone?) Thus I am titling this post “The Good, The Bad, and the Muggy” because I went to a good restaurant, a poor one, and it used to be hot out and I want it back, dammit!

Ok enough ranting, I’ll still go to the beach even if its overcast and 60, who am I kidding? The tan must live on. So lets start off good shall we?

Zapoteca

505 Fore Street

Portland, ME 04101

207.772.8242

www.zapotecarestaurant.com/

The Novice Fork Gives this upscale, modern Mexican restaurant

4 Forks for its elegant and minimal décor,

fresh gourmet Mexican food, and great service.

Zapoteca's Mole Poblano Chicken Enchiladas, so good.

When a new restaurant joins the ranks in an already jam packed food city like Portland, it can sometimes become lost to the white noise of all the other options out there. But when one is special, like this place, they rise above the “fluff” and call your attention loud and clear. So on a hot (read muggy) late July night, a friend and I stepped into a new Mexican spot for some food to match the “caliente” day.

The first thing you notice when you enter this space is how minimal and chic it is. Beautiful décor and furniture, elegant tables and linens, even the wineglasses are nice. What gives? Aren’t all Mexican restaurants supposed to be clichéd and kinda corny, complete with bright day glow colors and a birthday sombrero to the lucky guest? No, and what a welcome change.

To match this fresh look is a welcoming and knowledgeable crew, our waitress super friendly and attentive and ready to answer any question my friend and I had for her. Settling on a traditional margarita (a real one with lemon juice not “sour mix” ickkk) and a “flight of salsas” two of which were served hot, we began the meal. These were fantastic, each one different and each one better than the last. The cuisine here is a sort of traditional meets modern Mexican, upscale and never stale or tired. For my main meal, I tried a mole poblano chicken  enchilada with traditional mole sauce (that’s a spicy sauce made with coco) accompanied with rice and refried beans. This was fantastic. My friend got the same meal, but with a cheese sauce instead of mole. Had a bite and same prognosis… amazing.

When the chef came to the table and welcomed me to her new restaurant, I was hooked. This is a great restaurant, one where the customer is valued and the food is top notch. I was so impressed. They naturally have dessert but I was too full to eat another bite, so I passed and will most assuredly be back to have one. So, to summarize, if you eat here you’ll be surprised, pleasantly so, by how good the food and overall experience is. Trust me, it’s worth the trip. Don’t be fooled by imitators in town, this place is the real deal.

And now… the bad. Can you handle it? I’m sorry to do this but…

El Rayo

101 York Street

Portland ME 04101

http://elrayotaqueria.com/

The Novice Fork gives this Mexican Taqueria 
2 Forks for its fresh authentic food, 
but poor service and overall lacking experience.

El Rayo's sign. Pretty cool branding. 

Now before you, the villagers get your pitchforks and torches out to kill me in my sleep, let me preface this side of the review with a decent food rating for the food here at “charming” El Rayo. I’d say 3.5ish for the cuisine, not challenging to make, but damn good when all you want is a well made burrito. But… where this spot falls very short (we are talking Napoleonic proportions here) is in its service and over effect this has on ones eating experience.

I get its just a taco stand with overpriced drinks and some chips, but why must the diner suffer from lack of attention and overall sense of exasperation the staff here exhibit. I am actually sad I didn’t have a better time here. The colors of the restaurant and the “branding” of the space is cool and hip. They use mismatched linens and bright colors, ball jars as drink glasses and a diner style kitsch is really fun. But the ride stops here.

Like having customers come to support their restaurant is just too much for them. The hostess told us about a 45 minute wait outside (hottest day of the summer so totally understandable), so we went to the “el fresco” bar section of the patio to wait patiently. The dude that served us here, and yes he was a “DUDE” to the highest degree, seemed way to busy bringing overpriced margaritas in way too small glass jars to others to ask if we needed any help at all, and when we finally asked for chips and salsa, he brought some 20 minutes later, without asking if I wanted anything else, like maybe a different salsa or another drink, which I would have happily ordered. So once the hostess “saved us” from this dude, she sat us at a table with people still on it.

Again I have no problem with family style dining or communal tables, like they have at Flatbread, but I do have a problem waiting for this when my friend and I could have sat ourselves, sans useless hostess, with two other diners who I’m sure wouldn’t have minded if wed join.

The joy doesn’t stop here. O no, there’s more. Our waitress was completely distracted by nothing in particular and only came over to our table when she sensed my flagging her down with flare and a foghorn. She didn’t answer any questions without an eye roll so I got the easiest thing on menu. A burrito. This is where the meal finally took an upswing. After all of this shuffling and rigmarole, and with some really tasty fried plantains I had my food and I was a bit happier. Only a bit. We paid, we left, and i forgot about this meal until now... Thanks for bringing it up, geez.

So, so summarize? The food here is good, great at times, but be prepared to feel like something is lacking. And really, after two hours of bull hockey, I should have gone to Chipotle. And that’s the truth. 

So there is it, another double header, stay tuned next time when the Novice Fork tackles the east end haunt the Blue Spoon. Have a great day everyone, stay fresh. 

Hot Night, City Lights

Greeting intrepid eaters! Welcome to another long (I repeat, long) overdue issue of the Novice Fork. I apologize. However, life can even get in the way of eating one’s way the city one lives in.  With starting a new job at an infamous floating restaurant, and working on my tan (coming along very well) and a litany of other responsibilities, have kept me away yet again from my blog and from you. But baby, I’m back!

With the city and the weather heating up and settling into midsummer quite comfortably, the streets are full of white shoe-adorned tourists from overly large cruise ships, bumper to bumper traffic plagues commercial street, and sidewalk vendors selling everything from CDs of seagulls squawking (because the real things aren't charming enough, especially the little gifts they leave on my car daily) to purveyors of overprices shell necklaces. Ahhhh summer is here in the old port. Is there anything better? I think not! But my favorite thing is that when the calendar reads a certain intangible date, the city suddenly comes alive, people hit the streets in full force, farmers markets open their stands, and every restaurant in town offers romantic alfresco dining. Quite simply this is awesome.

Also, it’s not unheard of to have roommate’s friends and relatives stay the night for the million things the city has to offer, the food variety or other “thrills” of the Shipyard Seasonal variety. So what do you get when you combine outdoor seating and visiting relatives? The Corner Room of course.

The Corner Room

110 Exchange Street 
at the corner of Federal


Portland, Maine 04101


207-879-4747

www.hardingleesmith.com

The Novice Fork gives this Italian hotspot 4 forks,

for its authentic and fresh food,

great location and laidback, beautiful dining room.

The Corner Room's street sign, love it. 

Walking the few blocks it takes to get to this little jewel of a restaurant from my apartment with my roommates and hangers on in tow for a perfect, sultry summer night, I was reminded of the many great meals I’ve had here. I have been to the Corner Room many times before, and I keep coming back because it is the perfect place to get unpretentious, authentic Italian food with an upscale presentation and locally sourced produce and house made pasta. The beautiful, warm and cozy décor is just icing on the cake. It’s truly a great restaurant. During the week, this spot isn’t packed but steady, so you’re almost always sure to get a table. And, since it is summer, their outdoor seating options are plentiful.

So properly seated and watered, the four of us overlooked the special summer drink list, and the Corner Room doesn’t disappoint. I had the summer white wine sangria and two of the party enjoyed the cucumber infused mojito. Both were fantastic and refreshing. (Summertime calls for sangria, so if you don’t care for the boozy beverage, get over it and drink up.) Their menu reads like an all-stars list, with the more traditional meals like pasta with meatballs, garden salad and cheese plates. But what the corner room does perfectly is to deliver the freshest ingredients often using their own farm raised produce and meat whenever possible. This means the salads taste amazing because the produce is ultra local, the pasta tastes that much better, because its hand made there in-house, and their meatballs are that much more savory because the pork was raised directly for them by them. (Sorry Babe).

When we ordered dinner it was still hot out, and I wanted a cold salad and a Caesar with delicious white anchovies fit the bill. Perfect. For my entrée I ordered pappardelle pasta in a light cream sauce and wild Maine mushrooms topped with Parmesan cheese. Again so good. One of my companions ordered a perennial favorite native Maine Mussels and they were amazing too. (But I’m not surprised.)

Lastly, the service here isn’t swift (possibly because we were outside) but when you are enjoying the sweet summer night air you don’t want to be rushed. But our server was friendly and knowledgeable about the food and this always makes me, as a food writer, happy. All said and done this was yet another great experience at the Corner Room.

So go to the Corner Room and you’ll be impressed, not only by the food, but how nice it can be to slow down and enjoy eating outside during Maine’s short summer. You’d be a fool not to. Just watch out for the seagulls, or those awful shell necklaces, which ever come first.

The Great Migration

Heyo! How's it going world? You, undoubtedly, may have asked yourself where has our intrepid eater been for, o I don't know, 2 months! I even caught myself asking, "wow, what is this little site? It looks like a really cool restaurant review blog yet there hasn't been any news posts since March? Weird."

Regardless, this break has occurred for a reason, and the answer is too awesome to contain any further! I'm moving to my beloved city of Portland, ME! You know, to be "closer to the action" so to speak. That means that the No. 1 food destination in the US of A will be just outside my front door. Which neighborhood have I chosen for my headquaters? The East End of course, like there is any other. The view from my third floor apartment overlooking Casco Bay is fantastic, so feel free to be appropriately jealous. 

East End Beach, perfection. From realitytimes.com

A few job developments, namely the possibly and probable acquisition and ownership of an art gallery on Congress Street, (ummm excuse me?) and the excitement to live with two of my best friends, my relocation to Portland is looking better and better. Summer in the City... Has a ring to it doesn't it?

But what about a review? Well I've been to a whole mess of great restaurants, but it has been so long since i've written down my travels, they have all become blurred. I guess (none to begrudgingly) I'll have to revisit a few stars from the past two months, not to worry.

So, as our friends on Oregon Trail do, load up the Conestoga wagon with provisions and a dutch oven, hitch up some oxen (or draft horses, your preference), and make sure while fording the river not to die of dysentery (or is it drown or something), because I'm moving out of the country! Look out Portland, here I come... to eat. Stay tuned.

A Little Grace Under Pressure

Hola readers. Well it’s been a few weeks, two to be exact, and man has the time flown. But what, you may ask, has been going on in my foodie life in all that time? Well… I was contacted for a job interview in Boston, score! I went to several amazing restaurants (double score) and it’s now the 8^th day of spring (thank the lord). My trip down to Boston last week was great, albeit a little out of sequence for the few reviews I have to cook up. But since it was the latest adventure I’ve had, I think it makes sense to include it here now. But, the review, a supplement to the Novice Fork review of Masa Restaurant, in the South End of Boston, will be coming soon. Let’s turn now, to a wonderful Portland restaurant I want to give a little attention to, Grace. Was it good?  For certain.

Grace Restaurant

15 Chestnut Street

Portland, ME

207-828-4422

www.restaurantgrace.com

The Novice Fork gives this church

turned luxe dinning establishment

4 Forks for its amazing atmosphere,

killer cocktails, and overall metropolitan appeal

The interior of Grace, so beautiful

What happens when you take three plucky twenty-somethings, a large (read very generous) gift certificate to one of Portland’s best restaurants, and a Friday night? Well a fantastic dinner and cocktail hour at Grace, of course. On this particular Friday, armed with two good friends and this (very generous) gift certificate, I thought a break from the normal bar hopping was in order. I crave good food, as most of you know, and thought how fun it would be to share this passion with a few friends. So to Grace we went, expecting the best. And we were not disappointed.

While Grace’s food is very good, the space and the drinks are really what one comes for. The site of a former church, the dinning rooms maintains most of the original gothic details, right down to leaving the altar intact behind the open concept kitchen. You enter on the main floor, with the spectacular central bar, round and with three gothic “sculptures” radiating out from it. And upstairs is more seating and a second bar, all overlooking the dinning room below from old church balconies. It’s simply a beautiful place to eat.

Before the food was decided upon, my friends and I enjoyed a few cocktails, a Greyhound for me, red wine for them. All of it was very tasty. The food? We, none too surprisingly, had enough money to sample a variety of different things so we did. I started with a warm salad with prosciutto and walnuts. Very good. My friend had the Pork Cretons, or a type of pork paté served with mustard and pickled vegetables. Wicked good. My other friend? The slider of course, which was perfect. (The girl loves her burgers) Are you sensing a trend with this restaurant?

These “starters” were all digested at the upstairs bar, but 4 lounge seats opened up right next to us so we migrated there and got even more food. For me it was the Pan Seared Goat Cheese Gnocchi, which was sweet, savory and fantastic. And my friend got the Hanger Steak, which, cooked medium rare, was perfection.

Now with this lavish meal you’d expect great service, and that’s certainly what you get here. Our bartender was excellent and I see her there every time I go. And our waitress was prompt and easygoing, my two favorite things and we felt taken care of but also left to our own deep conversations.   

So, if you go to Grace, you will find a diverse, inspired menu, banging good cocktails, and an atmosphere more big city than you’d expect to find in our little Port City. 4 Forks it is! You should go to Grace now if you’re smart… but no pressure.