2 weeks Ago
A couple is seated in the dining room at Yolked Farm to Table Restaurant in Windham in October. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer People who eat at dozens of restaurants a year wind up forgetting most of those meals. That’s natural.
Eating and drinking are fleeting experiences, after all. You savor what’s on your plate, in your bowl, in the waxed takeout bag tossed into your backseat, and then you move on. Then a few hours later, you do it again.
What you recollect after a calendar year of noshing is, at most, a soft-focus highlight reel of dinners, breakfasts, lunches and snacks. For nine years, I’ve battled against this inevitable slippage. It’s my job.
I take notes and photos, I email dinner guests to solicit opinions about meals we ate weeks ago, and most importantly, I spend hours (and hours) writing – not just to tell readers what I believe went well (and what didn’t), but also to keep myself from forgetting. What I remember of a year in Maine is punctuated and bracketed by what I eat. Now that it’s December again, as I reconsider every steak á poivre, every spilled drink and every bowl of pho, I can see emergent patterns in this year of dining.
No doubt, 2024 will go down as a tumultuous year for restaurants in Vacationland. We lost quite a few bright stars and wrung our hands about a closure crisis that, in hindsight, perhaps doesn’t seem much worse than that of previous years. And just like we have in the past, we gained a supernova or two in the bargain.
Here are some of the reasons I’ll always remember 2024. BEST NEW RESTAURANT Yolked Farm to Table , Windham You won’t have to dig too far into the archives to find my full review of this outstanding newcomer; I raved about co-owners Mindy and Jesse Bouchard’s farm-to-table outing barely a month ago. And boy, am I glad I got out to Windham before the end of the year.
The Plaid Flannel cocktail. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer Had I skipped my pre-meal research, I might never have guessed that, until late 2023, the Bouchards made a living running an identically named food truck that, like the brick-and-mortar Yolked, also concentrated on local sourcing. My surprise comes from how confidently and comfortably the Bouchards and their team have adapted a rough-and-ready mobile kitchen into an upscale, full-service dining destination with warmhearted service and delicately balanced cocktails (don’t skip the fiery, yet fruity Plaid Flannel).
And then there’s the food at Yolked. For a fine-dining restaurant with a pricey wine list and not-inexpensive dishes, it’s reasonable to expect excellence in technique, presentation and taste. Chef Jesse Bouchard delivers on all three and then some.
Perhaps most impressive is his masterful, whole-plate approach to salt and seasoning. Try the astoundingly not-too-salty three-olive chicken with mashed potatoes and butternut squash to see this balancing act in action. As if that weren’t enough, Mindy Bouchard’s bread-baking and pastry skills are Yolked’s secret weapon, the thing that pushes it from great to superlative.
From bubbly rosemary focaccia to crème brulee made from the restaurant’s private local egg supply, the Bouchards get the sweet, the starchy and the savory all just right. Loc Lac at Oun Lido’s. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer BEST SINGLE MEAL Oun Lido’s, Portland It feels like cheating to admit that I’ve had half a dozen terrific meals at Oun Lido’s since I visited for a review back in late August.
Genial chef/co-owner Bounahcree Kim’s Cambodian and Cambodian-Chinese dishes never seem to disappoint. My favorite way to navigate Oun Lido’s effortlessly elegant menu is to start with minty, crunchy neorm (cabbage salad), then an order or two of pork potstickers pan-fried with a crisp, golden cornstarch “skirt,” followed by a groaning plate of loc lac: lime-pepper saturated shaved sirloin served over rice with cilantro, cherry tomatoes and a barely set fried egg. Whatever you do, don’t skip the chewy sesame cookies studded with fat chips of taffy-like White Rabbit milk candy.
Outstanding. Seafood paella at Paella Seafood on Forest Avenue in Portland. Michele McDonald/Photo Editor BEST SINGLE DISH Paella at Paella Seafood in Portland I’m going to be direct with you, dear readers: Don’t sleep on Paella Seafood.
I understand that it’s off-peninsula. I get that it’s on a less-than-charming stretch of Forest Avenue. But none of that matters.
You do not want this restaurant to close. The primary reason is chef Casey Jabrawi’s sensational paella, a classic Spanish rice dish tinted with saffron and simmered in a wide, flat-bottomed pan. Jabrawi mastered paella while cooking side-by-side with a Valencian chef at a luxury hotel in Bahrain.
Luckily, you don’t have to travel for a taste. Jabrawi offers two enormously appealing versions of paella: one featuring steamed mussels, shrimp and house-made lobster stock; and another with tender chunks of chicken, smoked paprika and plump green peas. Castle Bravo from Leisure Time Cocktail Co.
Photo by Nate Davis BEST COCKTAIL (Tie) Castle Bravo at Leisure Time Cocktail Co. and Ground Control at Room for Improvement , both in Portland Maine isn’t necessarily a place where you’d expect to find an alluring, Caribbean-inspired cocktail made with rhum Agricole, lime, almondy Falernum and a slug of locally produced, saffron-tinted Handshake amaro. But go with it; Leisure Time Cocktail Co.
’s island-themed tipple will evoke sandy beaches and umbrellas, even when the weather outside is frigid. As a bonus, the bar/restaurant’s newly renovated Thompson’s Point space is an ideal spot to find ample seating any day of the week. On the nearly savory side, dive-bar-themed dive bar Room for Improvement’s gin-and-amaro-based Ground Control deserves your attention.
In this “salad bar” sipper, gin’s bite gets mellowed by carrot and lemon juices, with citrusy and aromatic curry leaves reintroducing a nose-tickling complexity to the drink. Sadly, this cocktail is not on the bar’s menu now, but be on the lookout in case it returns for an encore; it makes a great pairing with one of Room For Improvement’s signature hot dogs. BEST NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE Biscoff matcha at Matcha Mood in Portland Honorable mentions: Double Zero at Lucky Cheetah , Cardamom latte at Coveside Coffee A post shared by ?????? ???? (@matchamoodmaine) Billed as Portland’s first matcha bar (which undoubtedly, it is), Matcha Mood is my secret spot to take friends when they’re feeling down.
Drinks at this bijou storefront range from sparkling to creamy, but all feature the shop’s fragrant green tea. My favorite (and the best choice for cheering someone up) is the Biscoff matcha, a green-tea latte drizzled with sticky caramel sauce and garnished with a warm-spice infused speculoos cookie. Drink it hot in the winter, cold in the summer.
Either way, it’s a delight. Biscoff matcha and Biscoff croffle from Matcha Mood. Photo courtesy of Matcha Mood BEST DESSERT Strawberry-hibiscus Tres Leches cake at Cantina Calafia.
Derek Davis/Staff photographer Tres leches cake with strawberry pastry cream at Cantina Calafia in Portland I’ve got nothing against gluten. Check out the next category if you don’t believe me. But when I thought back to all the sweet treats I’ve eaten at the end of a meal this year, one stood out: chef Melody Medina’s outrageously tasty, gluten-free strawberry tres leches cake at Cantina Calafia in Portland’s West End .
What makes this cake special is its clever range of flavors and textures—from tart and powdery hibiscus dust to layers of dairy-soaked Masienda blue-corn flour cake interleaved with silky strawberry pastry cream. Think of it as a grown-up, unfrozen riff on a Good Humor bar. Fika in Saco.
Photo by Peggy Grodinsky BEST BAKED GOOD Four-way tie: Lemon poppy seed loaf with raspberry sugar and fresh raspberries from Fika in Saco Chocolate cruffin at Sullivan House Bakery in Gorham Corned beef hash and egg savory danish at Norimoto Bakery in Portland Chocolate espresso muffin at Rock City Coffee in Rockland Honorable mention: Pear-ginger bake-at-home “freezer scones” at Treats in Wiscasset Since, as a state, we’ve been exploring changing our flag , why not reconsider the state nickname while we’re at it? Something that reflects not only Maine’s two 2023 James Beard Award-winning bakers (Atsuko Fujimoto of Norimoto Bakery and Barak Olins of Zu Bakery), but also the deep bench of patissiers, breadmakers and pastry chefs across the state. Any of my top picks above will give you a glimpse into the benchmark-setting caliber of baking in Maine today. So perhaps it’s time for a rebrand.
How about Viennoiserieland? I can picture the license plates already. The Pistachio & Pickled Fresno pizza with a herbed cream base, cheese, toasted pistachios, pickled Fresno chilies, scallions, sweet-and-spicy sauce and pecorino at Peng’s Pizza Pies. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer BEST NEW PIZZERIA (Tie) Peng’s Pizza in Biddeford, Off Track Pizza in Portland Live in Maine long enough, and you’ll wind up hearing transplants cavil about Maine’s lack of New York-style pizza.
Those days are numbered. Peng’s and Off Track both evolved from Tri-State, tomato-sauce-and-thin-crust DNA, and these new pizzerias rarely stray from the gigantic, wagon-wheel-sized pie format. Grab a classic cheese pie at either spot to placate just about anyone from away.
Once you’ve silenced the critics, there’s more to explore, chiefly Peng’s phenomenal Levant-meets-Thailand-inspired pistachio-and-Fresno chili pizza and Off Track’s insanely creamy burrata-and-vodka-sauce pie. Co-owner Lauren Crosby talks to guests at OystHers Raw Bar & Bubbly in Bath. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer BEST OUTDOOR DINING EXPERIENCE OystHers in Bath Honorable mention: Wander at Longwoods Georgetown-raised sisters Lauren and Sadia Crosby know their oysters.
With Lauren Crosby running the front of house and Sadia Crosby responsible for growing, harvesting and often shucking her own superb, homegrown oysters, this sibling duo has set a new standard for hyper-local, sustainable dining . And that’s only part of the story. Stroll onto the back patio in good weather, and you’ll discover dusty-rose-colored picnic tables where you can take a few dozen oysters, a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board or two.
The shellfish will lure you to OystHers, but the panoramic view of the Kennebec River will bring you back. The entrance into Lucky Cheetah. “The breathtaking space seems extracted, unedited, from the brain of your favorite maximalist’s favorite maximalist,” Andrew Ross wrote in his review.
Derek Davis/Staff Photographer BEST DESIGN Lucky Cheetah , Portland Falmouth-based designer Susie Smith Coughlin is a genius. No two ways about it. Her comprehensive, floor-to-pendant-lighting makeover of a long-neglected, p artially underground space in the Old Port is sensational.
It’s also bewitching in its thorough embrace of maximalist sensibilities and thoughtful integration of both Chinese and seductive, mid-century European styles. Everywhere your eyes travel, there’s something to look at, from animal print wallpaper and wall-to-wall carpeting; to ornate, red-tinted millwork booths and beams; to large-format celebrity photo-portraits printed from Slim Aarons originals. Coughlin’s triumph doesn’t come from simply adding dozens of unique décor elements to the space, but instead from her masterful ability to keep the room feeling like an integrated, ultra-swanky whole.
Lil Chippy’s namesake fish and chips, with slaw, tartar sauce and ketchup. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer BEST FRIED SEAFOOD (Three-way tie) The Happy Clam in Owl’s Head, Maturi’s Cucina food truck in Eustis, Lil Chippy in Portland Shack-style seafood might seem straightforward, but so much can go wrong with deep-frying. Batter, oil, temperature, salt, moisture, doneness: Any good fry-maven needs to keep them all in mind at once.
Two of this category’s winners, The Happy Clam and Maturi’s Cucina, turn out an assortment of some of New England’s finest golden-crusted seafood. Whole-belly clams and scallops at either place will leave you eager for a return visit, while my other top pick, Washington Avenue newcomer Lil Chippy , concentrates on locally sourced, delicately battered fish fillets (especially hake) that it serves in baskets alongside rough-surfaced french fries or bundled into Little Spruce Bakery milk buns. BEST SMALL-BATCH COFFEE ROASTER Downshift Coffee in Belfast, Precipice Coffee & Pie in Ellsworth Precipice Coffee’s Peregrine Blend.
Photo by Maggie Iannuzzi/Precipice Coffee Visit either of my two top picks for an extraordinary bag of beans to bring home or give as a gift. At Downshift Coffee, a Belfast business in the process of expanding to take up the space left behind by former roomie CG Bikes, you can’t go wrong with dark-roasted Peruvian or the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Kenyan light-roasted “microlot.” While at solar-powered, zero-emissions Precipice, the café’s bespoke blend of dark-and-medium-roasted beans, “The Fog” and its espresso-specific Peregrine Organic blend are both exceedingly sippable.
Bonus: Both businesses will ship your beans to you by mail. BEST EDIBLE FLOWER Sunflower á la barigoule at Bread & Friends in Portland In a year when I’ve probably consumed an FTD delivery truck’s worth of floral garnishes at restaurants – everything from peppery nasturtiums and calendulas to celery-scented borage – only one blossom left me wanting more. Perhaps that’s because Bread & Friends cedes the spotlight to its fennel-and-garlic-stock-braised sunflower, rather than using its petals as mere garnish.
Indeed, swapping out the traditional artichoke hearts for a locally farmed, deseeded sunflower “face” in this take on a Provencal classic is a brilliant adaptation: one that lends a meaty texture to this brothy, stew-like plate. Don’t miss this dish if you see it on the menu. BEST OF THIS YEAR’S DEARLY DEPARTED BUSINESSES Maples , Thoroughfare , Helm , Broken Arrow , Esaan , Slab , Jackrabbit , Elsmere BBQ , Local 188 and its sibling Salvage BBQ , The North Point , Coals Pizza , Golden Lotus, Ohno Café , The Garrison , Foulmouthed Brewing , Pizza Joint , Coffee by Design on India Street , Solo Cucina Market .
Andrew Ross has written about food and dining in New York and the United Kingdom. He and his work have been featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio and in The New York Times. He is the recipient of seven recent Critic’s Awards from the Maine Press Association.
Contact him at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndrewRossME We invite you to add your comments.
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