johnnyd

Interesting indeed, but a bit dated. Tak put Benkay on the map then made his own mark. All of the japanese restaurants have had to step up as each year brings more demanding clientele - good for us! Corinna, nice to see you in this part of the world. Enjoy! edit to add: I think booking under six is unavailable. call to confirm. I like to go when the lunch rush has subsided, about one pm. #1 Pleasant Street, Portland

There are seven (maybe eight) japanese restaurants in metro Portland. A couple are korean owned or co-owned, so say the street. In the old Port there are four options - Fuji, Benkay, Sapporro and Yosaku. Yoshi at Sapporro (Commercial Street) was the first over 20 years ago, long our only option. He's great and the food is up to snuff - sticks more to the basics. Tak at Yosaku is my favorite by a yard - a truly wonderful seafood experience. I had some excellent toro, aji, and kampachi there last friday. Outside dining is available at both of these. Service is excellent but I always recommend arriving early.

I made five pounds on Saturday! Added the cumin and sprigs of fresh oregano (it's taking over my herb plot) and upped the coriander seed to include whole seeds. Last time a few that escaped my pestle got into the mix and tasted GREAT when I bit into them after four+ hours of cooking. Used the last of some Cape Verdean Aguadente, a cup, with my orange juice and turkey stock. Also added cinnamon. We finally had a wrap of it last night after resumed simmering and a blast under the broiler. Yum!

The locals weigh in on the topic: The Forecaster - Southern Maine Edition - 6/23/06 The article goes on to detail the partnership with Clearwater Seafoods - the same bunch that's locked out over 100 workers up in Glace Bay because they won't take an 18% cut in pay.

Always a high point during our visits to the area. True about the casual ambience but it lends a certain authenticity to the experience. The food has always been great and I've been about five times. If, I mean when Brasil advances through the World Cup qualifiers the place will be mobbed - championship match is Sunday, July 9th.

It's that time of the year when the venerable Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church at the top of Pleasant street shuts down traffic for their annual, weekend-long street party. This is the second oldest church in Portland. Built in 1828 by the Methodists, the steeple once housed a bell cast by the Paul Revere Foundry - it was damaged by fire and removed but the bell is in the church lobby. I stopped by this afternoon for a look (and a snack) before the place starts hopping. By nightfall, this street will be full of people dancing, rain or shine. The band plays classic greek instruments and gets the crowd really whipped up. Food is served around the tent perimeter with lots of seating in the middle. The grill crew is ready for a busy weekend... As usual, I couldn't help chatting up the boys and pretty soon I had a classic Gyro in my hand. The tzaziki was really good! Other items available (at modest prices - all donated to the church) includes: Lamb Souvlaki - kebobs looked great Loukaniko - pork sausage with orange zest and spices Moussaka - Hamburg, tomato sauce, onions, cinnamon, eggplant, potatos Pastitsio - baked pasta, ground meat, romano, greek spices and bechamel Dolmathes - Famous stuffed grape leaves The boys at the bar were ready too: They had cases of Retsina (telling me the crowd who come are in-the-know), as well as Mavrodaphne, Metaxa and ouzo. The desserts were endless, some of which I had never heard of: Loukoumathes - fried dumpling balls with honey syrup and walnuts Finikia - walnut spice cookie, date center and dipped in honey syrup Kourambiethes - butter cookies rolled in powdered sugar Thiples - flaky pastry dipped in honey, topped with cinnamon and walnuts Koulourakia - braided butter cookie topped with sesame seeds Paxemathia - a kind of greek biscotti Karidopeta - honey walnut cake. "All the food and pastries are hand-made by our Parishioners from scratch!", proudly reads a line in the program provided. They also wrap anything you want to-go. The atmosphere at this party is legendary. If you can't make it this year, it's held every year on the last weekend in June, Rain or Shine, 133 Pleasant Street near the Old Port in Portland. Opa!

Sheesh! Where's my :pucker: emoticon? Still, not too far from champagne vinegar, shallot and black peppercorn mix that I use. How did rate with you Jason?

So the Alaskan ones are the biggest oysters to the right of those lemons? Nice platter Jason! Is that some crazy mignonette sauce I see?

Those plates look stupendous - thanks Jason. Now I'm craving squid...

I'm planning a feijoada on July 1st when Brazil puts the Dutch away for good...

I think she still has a house up there. She took a boatride with one of my urchin-diving colleagues for a show segment on scallops and sea urchins. A lot of gear on the work deck, I heard.

This is the coolest, Chris! And what a bonus for eGer's to watch the process. If the show has five places/cuisines to cover, I calculate each gets about three minutes, based on a 22 minute production. This assumes a two minute intro, a two minute outro, a minute here and there for travel mayhem and humor, and at least eight commercial spots round out the 30minute slot - station ID/promo at the top and bottom. Just a hunch is all... A long shot, but what are the odds we can get a couple minutes of previews or pre-edits? Can you get permission to throw us a few crumbs of the pilot show? I'd love to come down to Boston when you shoot if I can, but I don't know any dives there. There has to be a portuguese bakery open at 5am somewhere down there.

Yes! On a sailing vessel - we purchased a dozen lobsters from a passing lobsterman and didn't want to use the fresh water (just in case). Threw a bayleaf in there too. Spectacular results but longer cooking time, because, as mentioned above, most homes and boats don't have restaurant-grade cooking equipment. Seawater is also denser and takes longer to bring to boil.

Holy crap! A Five pounder? You are looking at a longer time - at least thirty minutes if you have the right receptacle - more if you are stuffing it into something small. I'd look at your heat source and determine how hot it's going to be in there - definitely two inch water. Seaweed not only adds an ocean flavor but provides a bed for the lobster to set on while steaming. I discovered this a few years ago and never looked back. Makes an interesting stock too. Let us know how it turns out.

Okay, speaking as someone with "lots of experience" I should add the following: - If you are steaming one lobster, you should be ready at 15 mins. - If you are steaming two to four lobsters the job's done closer to thirty. Rotate the bottom layer to the top halfway through cooking. - Deposit the beasts when your 1 to 2 inches of water are at a rolling boil. - If you are close to the ocean, rip a handful of seaweed off the rocks and add to the steaming liquid - use no more than an inch of water if you do. - If you are using consumer grade steaming pot, try to clip the lid on as tightly as you can. - Don't worry about liquid boiling out of the lid, keep the heat up and clean it up later. bonus info can be found at the end of page one of my foodblog linked below.

For 1+1/4 lb, 15 to 20 minutes. A white fat will begin to appear around joints - a good time to remove to a collander.

An embarrassment of riches for sure, Ms T! I was once given 15 pounds of mussels when I worked on an aquaculture raft one day. Steaming them in batches, I made a EVOO, pimento, onion and herb mixture that resembled a favorite tapa dish I'd had years ago. I kinda made it up on the fly - capers were in there too. Really good and kept well. It sounds like you have a few gallons of chowder potential there, which is freezable. Just freeze it before the milk/cream step (do that on day of service).

This article (PCRM website) referred to by the "lobster liberators" stated a couple things worth noting. (edit to apologize for not realizing how deep into cross-referenced sites I eventually went on this topic) First, on the credit side, they wrote that the data used was anywhere from 28yrs to 5yrs old, which has to be considered from a consumer's point of view. But is it worse, or better now, or have conditions stayed the same? I'm sorry: the evidence has expired. Second, on the credit side, they wrote that the samples of mercury-affected seafood was taken from a broad range of locations - some better, some worse. But the paper simply can't claim such generalizations on a species without taking the time/effort to distinguish among the effect peculiar to each part of the planet. I'd worry more about fish caught off china since their industrial expansion than mussels from PEI. Third, on the debit side, they assumed that pollution is worse than it was 20yrs ago - Is it really? Okay, where? I keep reading about people crabbing again off JFK airport and harvestable clams appearing near Boston harbor. Last I heard, great strides have occured in water quality lately. There aren't any more paper mills in Maine, and the gulf of maine have such tidal action, it's like a thousand-mile-round toilet bowl that flushes twice a day! Granted, other parts of the world's waterfronts are hardly pristine, but once again arena-wide generalizations are just lazy. I hate these academic papers with supposedly "solid" authority that the masses take as gospel. For the record, my 86yr old mom insists on getting everybody's tomalley when we eat lobster. Something about respecting your elders...

Jordan's on Cape Elizabeth is expecting Strawberries by this time next week. I have to add that Harbor Fish Market in Portland had quite a bounty of whole fish for sale monday: Fresh Red Snapper - tons of them - for $6.99/lb; Sea Bass for $5.99/lb; Scup for $4.99; the last of the softshell crab, primes and hotels for $3.99 - 5.99/lb; piles of haddock and monk loin too, plus the usual mountain of salmon and tuna. Damn, I love that place!

There is a Brazilian Churrasceira (grilled meats + ) that was packed all the time I was in PDX this April. Open since January and achieved a lot of buzz among the people attending a conference I attended. I couldn't get in at all but a small group I knew did and said it was a terrific time with fabulous food. It's a little small they say. Brazil Grill, 1201 S.W. 12th Ave.; 503-222-0002. Reservations are essential. A review from oregonlive.com here.

As I read this the other day, the memory of fatdeko chilling the glass, combining the ingredients (he has a stash of peychaud and Fee's), swirling the pernod to and fro, then a most deft assembly of the finished cocktail was a pleasure to behold. The man know's what he was doing. But to be sure, I would PM him on any extra flair he might have developed in his regimen. Geez, I might have to pop down to the old port and see him make one if things get more humid.

This from NYT dining $25&Under: NYC: 0 MAINE: 1

Now that's what I'm talkin' about, whoa yeah! Wooo!!! Plump and juicey! A real lemon too. To my dismay, Two Lights now offers little yellow packets of "lemon juice" instead of the real deal, but hey - at fifty cents each, real lemons are a drag on the bottom line. Might have to pull a ClamShackSmackdown star off their rating for that though.

Your Sazarac creation brought back the night I and eG member Jack Rose paid eG mixologist fatdeko a visit at Oolong, Portland, back in March. I had never had one but had heard quite a lot about it. It was just past Mardi Gras so on Mr Myers suggestion I went for it. As I read your piece I could see John make that magical cocktail all over again. It was a memorable night... and a memorable cocktail!

*bump!* It's that time of year again folks! Post your Fried Clam Porn ahee-yuh! Went out to Two Lights Lobster Shack yesterday. Beautiful sunny, summer New England day out by the lighthouse. The breeze off the water meant a slight chill (ocean=50degrees) but boy, was it great to have the warm weather back in Maine. The line wasn't bad at 4pm. Prices were above average at $12 to $18 for s/m/lg fried clam order. Unfortunately, they were over-done and bereft of flavor. A low pressure storm that spun around on top of us for a month or so, caused all the rain in May to close much of the coast to harvesting. Soft shelled clams are coming from way down east or canadian shores. I asked one of the bus-people how the day is going and he said it was really, really busy. Maybe the fry-folk were just pooped.