esme

I had a serious visit to yum-town on Monday. We went to Miyake with friends and shared some plates. Working at Hugo's, I consider myself a bit of a pork belly expert, but man, the pork belly there is exceptional, all rolled up like pancetta, sliced thin and crispy. Highlights also included house-cured salmon roe, flounder fin sashimi, monkfish liver (a perennial favorite of mine). Every time we go there I spend days reminiscing about each dish and saving up in the sushi envelope for my next visit.

Hi Ellie, the Rosemont on Brighton frequently has chorizo in both mild and spicy back in the meat case on the chicken side. Mild is still on the spicy side and I have used it both with fish and eggs. I can't remember brand name (except it wasn't D'Artagnan) or pricing, but it comes in one folded over link like kielbasa. They also sometimes have smaller sausage-sized chorizo, but I prefer the larger.

1. Chiang Mai - Thai restaurant on Union Street - i'm in love with their noodle soup. i'd love to get to Hugo's for tasting menu before they switch their concept......probably a pipe dream! ← Hugo's will still be offering the tasting menu and chef's menu after the concept change. I've never heard of Chang Mai. I can't wait to try it. Thanks shel! For my top five, I'd have to go with 5. Hugo's- I still find myself going there on my days off. 4. Local 188- The tapas menu is awesome. I have the liver and shallots every time I go. 3. The Green Elephant- as I said above it's really good food prepared with care. 2. Vignola- they have a great wine list, pretty space, and a fantastic cheese and salumi selections 1. Sushi- depending on what I'm looking for, Sapporo, Yosaku, Miyake all have something special to offer. It's hard to pick a favorite.

Hi all! Happy New Year! I just logged in to see what you all were saying about one of my new favorites: The Green Elephant. It's a vegetarian restaurant on Congress next to the Downtown Lounge. It's owned by the people who own Bangkok Thai. The food is really good and they have a nice, reasonably priced wine list. I've had the king oyster mushroom tempura twice, the roti canai, Tikka Marsala Tofu, the "Spare Ribs", "duck", and a pasta dish. My meat and potatoes boyfriend loved the "spare ribs" and swears you could mistake them for real meat. The same couldn't be said for the "duck", but it was still tasty. Has anyone else been?

By August, the new Local 188 will be open (I think they plan on opening next Tuesday). They are located at the corner of State St and Congress St (actually on Congess with ample parking out back) and will be serving lunch and dinner 7 days. The new space looks beautiful. Lunch is a new venture for them, so I can't report there, but they have a good Spanish influenced menu and a tasty wine list.

The shop sounds exciting. Will the wine be all French like Bandol was? I also love the idea of a new greengrocer. I LOVE Rosemont, but a wider variety of produce would be great and I really miss those Turbana bananas that John used to get at the Greengrocer. They lasted forever and never got too starchy. Thanks for the info johnnyd, I always forget about Pat's, they're closed Sundays and Mondays (my days off), so never became a part of my shopping routine.

Tell me about the butcher shop. I have been so out of touch lately that I haven't heard any news ... or even good gossip. I hope you'll carry duck, it's impossible to find in Portland now. I do have some news for you all. Hugo's has totally revamped the bar menu with some new larger portioned items (like lamb shank with beet risotto) and some specialty snacks (the chips with rosemary powder are pretty cool). I've linked the website for Hugo's but I don't think the new menus will be up until the beginning of the week.

I'm so excited! Unfortunately, the work week starts for me now, so I have to wait until next weekend to cook some up myself. Thanks for the prompt response johnnyd!

Hi all- it's been a while since I last checked out eGullet. I would like to echo the accolades for the Cheese Iron. Camille, the former sous chef at Hugo's and former chef at Duckfat is working there now. She had a bunch of us over for Thanksgiving and served a cornucopia (pun totally intended) of meats and cheeses from there. All were fantastic. Erik- Thanks for the kind words, but Rob really makes my job easy. Since each plate is already balanced, all I have to do is pick something to accentuate. johnnyd- I'm totally looking forward to Maine shrimp season 2006-2007 thread. When does the season open this year?

On Sunday, I went to Portland Spice Co. (now on Vannah Street at Woodford's corner, pretty much right next to KFC) and found my new favorite thing, Mole Salami made by Mario Batali's father, Armandino of Salumi. It was unbelievably delicious. The spiciness in the cured meat lead into the chocolate flavors which gave the salami an unusual amount of depth. It's $18/lb, so not really for every day eating, but a great splurgy snack. I'm going to Seattle (where the Salumi is located) for a wedding in October and now I have to take an extra suitcase.

The "tentacles" had been carefully cleaned No, they hadn't printed any menus yet, but based on One Fifity Ate's pricing, I would guess it would probably be between 5 and 10 dollars for each of the plates. johnnyd- they are only serving dinner Wednesday through Saturday with the possible addition of Tuesday dinner.

Sorry, Siren! dishes included: Cauliflower florettes with meshed potato grilled scallop slow roasted calamari (my personal favorite, I stole Jon's tentacles) grilled asparagus some sort of salami braised beef pickled beets I wish I could be more specific, but the luncheon was very informal (without menus or descriptions of food). All of these were served as tapas on individual plates. There were also more dishes that I didn't see, try, or remember today

I'm from Boothbay Harbor and my high school boyfriend was a parttime lobsterman. Some days, I would go hauling with him and he would always catch a few in this old overboard discharge pipe of this big resort that was fined hundreds of thousands years later because this pipe wasn't as unused as previously thought.

I went to a wine luncheon at Bar Lola on Monday. I was really excited, the tapas were real tapas. I thought of johnnyd as we had mentioned longing for a kickass Spanish restaurant some months ago and I thought this was a really good start.

Matthew, I just saw a red tide warning on the news. So far, it's just in the Harpswell area and not affecting clams, but check here before you go: http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/public_health/...pspclosures.htm

Yes, you can buy them all at Rosemont. Molinari is meat company based in San Francisco. They make hot and sweet sausages and salametti, or little salami (sorry, my spelling was poor the other day). Humboldt Fog (also from California) is an aged goat cheese with a vein of ash through the middle and is frequently found on the aforementioned 555 cheese menu as well. While I love both, I don't tend to eat the two together, so I think you have the beginnings of two lunches . P.S. I did just get back from Italy and unfortunately had no luck finding your friend Patricia at the fair.

I grew up along the coast of Maine and I have to add one tradition to this discussion of New England cuisine. On the Fourth of July, my family always celebrated by having poached salmon with egg gravy and peas. Now the peas I get, it was always a race in this short growing season to get fresh peas by the Fourth. I even understand the salmon, nice fresh fish on a hot summer night, although "poached" did tend to mean "boiled until dry" (no, I'm not sure how this is scientifically possible either). But I have never understood the origins of the egg gravy which seems to be a bechamel sauce with sliced hard-boiled eggs in it. I do however have great memories of sardines and saltines, Crown Pilots and milk, and properly made baked stuffed lobster (Ritz crackers, worcestershire sauce, butter and tomalley only)

I don't think I have ten, but here are a few: - Molinari salumetti, Humboldt Fog, and Marcona almonds from Rosemont bakery -the wilted greens on Sophia's brunch menu. Close second is the collard greens at Honey's -Jordan's Farm corn -cheese selection at 555 -Juan's fried chicken from La Bodega -the "Tastes" menu at Street & Co. -From the Potrland Spice Co, they have sort of like a fried dough flavored with anise from a Spanish company called Porres (sorry. Jon and I always refer to them as tea cakes, so I don't know what they actually are, other than delicious!) -and of course, when he makes it, Rob's 'Love Affair with Cod' from Hugo's oops! I forgot the tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and cruchy, spicy tuna roll from Ginza Town and the Combo Plate appetizer from Shahnaz Persian Grille

Here's an update: Scales is closing on Friday. Portland Spice is moving out to Vannah St and expanding their wares to add Italian hams and cheeses.

Jon went to the White Heart on Saturday night. He said that things were still a bit confused (totally understandable), but the place was really cute and had a good vibe. He brought me home one of their coasters, an elegant looking couple dancing in the spotlight under their name and address. Here's to hoping the bar lives up to the accoutrements.

Entertaining enough to persuade you to move back to New England, ChefGEB?

Now that I've promised you great things Jack, Jon has told me that Steve is without a baking assistant right now, so he has scaled back considerably. But he always has cannoli and at least a couple of sweet treats to go with his breads.

I'm not sure about the hours for the Bar of Chocolate, but as to what they offer I can say that while I've seen a few savory choices (blackboard specials) their focus seems to be dessert-oriented. They do serve both Campari and Cynar and I also have tried and liked their Sangria (although it's not as good as Jenny's at Local 188). Has anyone tried Duckfat dinners yet? They are only offered on Friday and Saturday nights, so I haven't tried anything yet, but I have typed up the menus a few times and they look great and are priced very affordably. Camille used to be the sous chef at Hugo's, we've already lost a regular bar customer to her. Oh, for Hugo's news; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in March we're offering a four-course potato menu for $44. I was hoping to post a link to the menu, but our weblady doesn't have it up yet. Off the top of my head it's Potato Consomme, Sunchoke Brandade with Potato Chips, Beef Crepinette with Carola Potato Butter(50% potato- 50% butter, yum!), and Sweet Potato Creme Brulee. Then we close April 2nd-28th for spring vacation.

Bull-carts are those stand alone carts like they have at the walkways at the mall for smaller vendors that don't need an entire storefront or a lengthy lease. Farmers could actually share a cart and rotate their selling days.

Jon and I were talking about this yesterday. Putting in bullcarts for both the Wednesday and Saturday Farmer's markets would certainly be an easy way to attract new people with a shared interest in local food. They used to film a cooking show up there called either The Maine Ingredient or The Maine Dish, I can't remember exactly.