Portland, ME in 2022 (and 2023)

[johnnyd]

18 hours ago, weinoo said:

The Danforth opens (reopens?) tomorrow night, under the ownership of the Death & Co. team - Gin & Luck. 

 

https://www.instagram.com/thedanforthportland/?fbclid=IwAR3i5KO_ma9LpLE0-oqbHpHHQqK-N5ryEBhWShInssZbjfE4GvR1BllwBqY

 

I'm hoping maybe @johnnyd can get over there at some point, to check it out!

 

I'll give it a whirl! Can't say when exactly but I'll post when I do.

 

Also of note is Twelve, at 115 Thames St on Portland Foreside. The building is very old and was saved from demolishment, moved, carefully two blocks East.

 

https://www.portlandfoodmap.com/twelve-now-open/

[weinoo]

What (if anything) is new and exciting, Portland-wise, @johnnyd?  We're heading up for a few days next month.

[johnnyd]

On 3/29/2023 at 2:22 PM, weinoo said:

What (if anything) is new and exciting, Portland-wise, @johnnyd?  We're heading up for a few days next month.

 

Newish place off the Eastern Prom, called "Helm". Elegant oyster bar and great wine list. Found out about it from here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrHSJfzrn2A/

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, johnnyd said:

 

Newish place off the Eastern Prom, called "Helm". Elegant oyster bar and great wine list. Found out about it from here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrHSJfzrn2A/

 

Excellent - booked it for next Saturday. The platter is calling my name, and it looks like they have 1/2 dozen oyster varieties!

[rotuts]

is there a non-instant link ?

 

i don't do i-gram

 

thanks

 

[weinoo]

6 minutes ago, rotuts said:

is there a non-instant link ?

 

i don't do i-gram

 

thanks

 

 

Yes - Helm Oyster Bar & Bistro

 

We'll be there at 7 on Saturday - stop by and say hello!

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, johnnyd said:

Elegant oyster bar and great wine list.

 

I just downloaded the wine list - a whole bunch of bottles we get from our favorite wine store to drink at home!

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

hope you get the ' Grand '

 

and take some pics.

 

the Grand has boquerones  a favorite of mine.,

[weinoo]

On 4/17/2023 at 12:11 PM, johnnyd said:

 

Newish place off the Eastern Prom, called "Helm". Elegant oyster bar and great wine list. Found out about it from here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrHSJfzrn2A/

We really enjoyed Helm, but I was worried about how not busy it was at 8 PM on a Saturday.  Location seems to be a big thing, especially during the non high season. 
 

 

From 12 o’clock (next to the lemon, in pairs) going clockwise: John’s River (from the John’s River), Love Point (Casco Bay), Mere Point (Masquoit Bay), Pink Stripe (Damariscotta River), Pleasant Cove (Damariscotta River), Spartan Sea Farm (Casco Bay). The mignonette is made with sugar kelp. All beautifully shucked. And all different from one another.  Faves might be the 4 from the Damariscotta River.
 

@johnnyd - we got to try Maps, which was great fun. Along with another local bar on Congress St.; when I remember its name, I’ll post!  https://www.portlandoldport.com/mapsthecoziestlittlebarintheoldport/

[weinoo]

We were in Portland for 4 nights; the oysters above were consumed the night before we left (dining at Helm).  There were a couple of other great dishes that night, but instead, let's go chronologically.   Night one, the classic Fore Street...

 

 

Where I wasn't 100% impressed with the shucking (you can see how it's better at other places), but the quality of the shellfish was just fine.

 

For @rotuts:

 

 

 

 

 

This is the squid and the Tuscan style beans.  My whole roasted sea bass was great.  The following day, our niece and husband arrived; they've been to Portland a couple of times, but never to Scales. If one must, one must.

 

 

A much nicer shucking job.These oysters were fantastic. Full menu here for those so inclined.

 

 

My 1.5 lb. pan-roasted lobster was great - these people know how to cook a lobster just right. We had to try this...

 

 

The loaded Hasselback...it was okay.  Looks as if the niece's baked haddock snuck into the picture too.  After a night of perhaps one too many glasses of vino, the next day meant we had to head down to the water and the classic:

 

 

I had a crab roll. Good, unadorned as it should be, but maybe a little too much roll. The pickle was horrendous (but that's because it's not the kind of pickle I grew up with), but probably classic up here...

 

 

Excellent potato chips, by the way. Head to Becky's!

 

Before dinner, we had drinks at The Danforth, the recently opened cocktail lounge from Gin & Luck and the Death & Co. family. Great, as to be expected.

 

 

And then headed to our niece's fave, Izakaya Minato:

 

 

Making it easy on ourselves, the whole table ordered the Omakase, which was the most generous omakase I've ever encountered. Lots of goodies, including...

 

 

The signature Motoyaki oysters, which were fab. Even the edamame was better than the usual run-of-the-mill edamame most places send out. The fried chicken was up there with some of the best we've had; discussions ensued about what a great bar snack that would be. Had to burn off some of the calories the next day, so off we went:

 

 

Portland Head Light.

 

 

Two Lights Eastern Light.

 

 

Self explanatory.

 

Our final night's dinner in Portland was at, as mentioned above, Helm Oyster Bar & Bistro, where in addition to the scrumptious platter in the preceding post, we ate more.

 

 

As we usually do, we shared apps. 

 

 

Johnny Cakes with trout roe, and the fried, chili-glazed sea bass collars, which may be the singularly greatest use of fish collars ever...and there are so many uses.

 

 

Fried until the fins are crisp and edible, just a great dish. Then I had their specialty, the whole Acadian Redfish ...

 

 

Served with a very cool gribiche (sugar kelp based) - another great dish. Wow - as I mentioned above, they should be breaking down the doors to get in here, and maybe they do once the season starts. Breakfast on our final morning...

 

 

Good enough. And not a long wait, even though we were quoted 30 - 45 minutes at 9 AM, we got in in 15.

 

I want to also mention Forage Market, where we had good to very good bagels and smoked salmon. Not that weird, considering there's good baking going on, and this place...

 

 

Occupies a fair amount of real estate.  Also great, The Cheese Shop of Portland, recommended to me by my friends at Formaggio Essex.

 

We like Portland. Because, you know, is there another intersection as copacetic as this one?

 

 

Great little town.

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by weinoo (log)

[MetsFan5]

Can you explain more about the sea bass collars? Is all of it edible? 
 

 I had very poorly shucked oysters last week and was seriously bummed out. 
 

Your choices look a lot better! 
 

 Does the percentage for the staff bother you on bills? I didn’t know Maine did that— I’ve rarely traveled since Covid but expected and accepted it in San Francisco. 
 

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Can you explain more about the sea bass collars? Is all of it edible? 

 

It's almost all edible; there are some larger pieces of cartilage where the sweet meat hangs out and gets sucked out, which don't get eaten. I'm sure that's what most people would do, without eating the crispy fin. But just like with collar at a sushi bar, there will be parts that are inedible. And like fried shrimp shells and heads, there are parts we wouldn't have thought about eating, but then realized how good those parts are if prepared in certain ways.

 

9 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

I had very poorly shucked oysters last week and was seriously bummed out. 

 

I get aggravated about this enough to not order oysters at many places, thinking this will be the result. I was surprised at Fore Street, as it did not happen last year.  Otherwise, to generalize, I think the oysters of Maine are the best in the United States.

 

9 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Does the percentage for the staff bother you on bills? I didn’t know Maine did that— I’ve rarely traveled since Covid but expected and accepted it in San Francisco. 

 

The first time I ever saw this type of thing was in San Francisco, years ago.  It doesn't bother me, as the alternative would just be to raise all prices by 3%. And I still tip in the 20 - 25% range, depending on the service.  Places where tipping may be worrisome (i.e.: tourist heavy joints, I can really understand), as tourists (especially those from other countries) generally don't understand why and how tipping works here in the US.

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by weinoo (log)

[Annie_H]

Broiled oysters with miso custard and ponzu. Yum. Adding that to my oyster file. 

A shame about the hack shucking. At least you had some expert shucking. My brother is very focused but sets aside the 'hacks' for dads favorite oyster stew. 

I worked in an oyster bar in school. An experts shucker. The chef made a few different special appetizers with the 'hacks' and end of the night shucks. 

[gfweb]

@weinoo Pickled onions on a potato?

 

Don't they have ice cream in ME?

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, gfweb said:

@weinoo Pickled onions on a potato?

 

It was loaded!

 

7 hours ago, gfweb said:

Don't they have ice cream in ME?

 

I think that stops at the border!

[rotuts]

so

 

someone has had ice cream        on a potato ?

 

Documented  ?

[kayb]

Thanks for taking us along, Mitch. Now I’m jonesing for oysters.

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

I have great fondness for platters pf oysters.

 

your selections looked delicious.

 

this affliction started mid-life , and was no crisis .

 

happy hour at two places I'd been to more than once  :

 

$ 0.25  USD      and the oysters  may have had a name  

 

but were not ' named '    and were delicious.

Edited May 1, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[kayb]

The Flying Fish, a no-frills joint with outposts in Dallas, Little Rock and Memphis, used to have a “Preacherman Special” on oysters on Sundays from 4-6. I have quaffed a few beers with oysters there on Sunday afternoons. It’s still my place of choice for dinner before a Redbirds game — a pound of peel and eat shrimp, with a potato and corn. (Sorry, @liuzhou!) and they have bottles of Worcestershire and hot sauce and little jars of prepared horseradish so you can amp up your cocktail sauce to suitable levels.

[weinoo]

On 5/1/2023 at 3:09 PM, kayb said:

The Flying Fish, a no-frills joint with outposts in Dallas, Little Rock and Memphis, used to have a “Preacherman Special” on oysters on Sundays from 4-6. I have quaffed a few beers with oysters there on Sunday afternoons. It’s still my place of choice for dinner before a Redbirds game — a pound of peel and eat shrimp, with a potato and corn. (Sorry, @liuzhou!) and they have bottles of Worcestershire and hot sauce and little jars of prepared horseradish so you can amp up your cocktail sauce to suitable levels.

 

While I get that people in certain parts of the country certainly love their oysters, at this point I'll only consume oysters when I'm on or near some coast - any coast, preferably with cold water. For freshness and handling factors, especially.

 

Shrimp, otoh, I have no problem with close to the Gulf.

 

We used to have some nice happy hours here - $1/piece.  I don't know how long that's gonna last, or if it even exists any more. The problem with those was that there would always be an oyster or two in a dozen that looked as if was shucked with a fork.

 

[weinoo]

Yesterday, on Eric Ripert's Instagram feed, he was at Browne HQ in Portland, playing with fish...sorry we missed him!

 

 

 

 

[johnnyd]

Really great report, weinoo!

 

Bad oyster shucking should be a hanging offense. Clams get no respect most of the time too. I worked in 3 oyster bars - the last one I owned - and have shucked thousands. The trick with clams is using a flat, wide blade so you can bend it against the shell, keeping the meats intact. If I'm served either that have been hacked to bits the tip goes way down.

 

I see the Fore St gift certificate I've hung onto since before the pandemic won't buy as much as I thought.

[weinoo]

23 minutes ago, johnnyd said:

Really great report, weinoo!

 

Bad oyster shucking should be a hanging offense. Clams get no respect most of the time too. I worked in 3 oyster bars - the last one I owned - and have shucked thousands. The trick with clams is using a flat, wide blade so you can bend it against the shell, keeping the meats intact. If I'm served either that have been hacked to bits the tip goes way down.

 

I see the Fore St gift certificate I've hung onto since before the pandemic won't buy as much as I thought.

 

Basically you're saying the server should not serve those oysters because of the way they were shucked at Fore Street?

[johnnyd]

No, go ahead and serve them. Not everybody cares how they look. Besides, maybe their regular shucker wasn't there. The guys at Scales know their stuff though, and Scales share owners of Fore St

[weinoo]

We'll be back for a few nights at the end of May - anything new (er) and exciting, @johnnyd ?

 

I see that Helm has closed (as had the Danforth), which was my worry when we were there last year.  We do have a reservation at Twelve, so far.