Restaurants in Portland Maine

Headed to Maine, Portland and need restaurant recomendations.

About 5 years ago, Portland was Food & Wine’s restaurant city of the year. It has at least as many restaurants per capita as NY and SF. I’ve touched on some of them in recent posts, but giving recs is a daunting task.

There have been some slightly negative posts, more raves, but Fore Street has an international reputation and is a great restaurant. Getting a reservation on short notice in the summer is hard, but they reserve 1/3 of their seats for walkins. You show up before opening, wait, and they give you a slot.

Street and Company and Scales are the same ownership and comparable quality.

If Back Bay Grill is still open, it is exceptional.

Central Provisions, Chaval, Isa, Local 188 (Spanish), Evo, Benkay (Japanese), Empire (Chinese), Green Elephant (Asian vegetarian)…

If you eat breakfast, both Becky’s Diner and Hot Suppa are simply incredible.

Let me know if you’re going beyond Portland. There’s a lot more good food out there.

Dan Kravitz

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Visited last week - Central Provisions was superb. Fore Street was solid but with sub-par service. Street & Co. was ok and had great service.

Earth in Kennebunkport/Cape Porpoise is worth the drive.

I had the best Ahi in the US at EVO, surprised it hadn’t been flash frozen and sent to Tokyo.

Fore street is abysmal for vegetarians if that matters.

Last visit was just about a year ago. We enjoyed in, chronological order:

Chaval
Eventide
Little Giant
Bite into Maine Lobster Rolls (at Allagash Brewery if you like beer, otherwise at Ft Williams Park
Leeward
Duckfat (we go to their outpost at Oxbow Brewing bc we’re fans of Oxbow)
Central Provisions
Standard Bakery (worth the wait on line)

It really is a great food town and wine lists have definitely improved - even if it’s primarily a craft beer locale (visit Novares Res if you’re into the latter. A fantastic pub.) Enjoy!

Little Giant closed. The Chef and GM opened Regards. I have not been but know them both from the NYC restaurant scene. Cameron was GM of Contra. Can’t imagine its not good.

I was there two weeks ago. In addition to many of the suggestions above, I really enjoyed Crispy Gai. Fun cocktails and the Sichuan wings were incredible.

Had a terrific meal at LG last summer, this would be my first choice.

Also had a pretty good meal at Sur Lie. They had trouble scaring up 2 clean wine glasses which I found a bit ironic. Hopefully just a mid pandemic personnel issue.

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It has now been 3 years but Portland used to be a regular stop. I love it! Central Provisions was amazing.

Jason

Can attest that there is a great food scene in Portland. The best restaurants are making full use of fantastic seasonal local seafood, meat and produce.
Leeward is a favorite - seriously good Italian-inspired menu with pastas to rival the best anywhere and fantastic service in a really nice room.
Eventide is terrific and remarkably consistent and creative given the pace and volume they operate at. Their sister restaurant Honey Paw (located next door) which is Asian food but similar vibe, also delicious and I’ll never understand why it gets so little notice.
Chaval is excellent Spanish-inspired.
Sur-Lie may be the most adventurous menu in town - I’d say they swing for the fences and connect more often then not, with the occasional inevitable head-scratcher of a dish.
Isa is an excellent neighborhood place.
Fore Street and Scales are old standbys of the scene. Very good and consistent, but on the whole less interesting than what I’ve listed above.
Very curious to try Regards, from the former Little Giant team. Will have to report back on that one later this summer!

Dan, Any reccs for Booth Bay Harbor, Belfast or Kennebunk.

Mark,

I’m sorry, but these are not areas I frequent.

Around Kennebunk, the White Barn Inn is famous, excellent and expensive. The Little Barn is a new, more casual part that I’ve never tried. Also in Kennebunkport, the Hurricane is a classic; very fine simple food, a good wine list.

In Boothbay, Ports of Italy is well above what you’d expect from that name in a resort town, their house-made pastas are the real thing.

Sorry, I don’t think I’ve ever had dinner in Belfast.

Dan Kravitz

Also, as you probably know, there are BYOB lobster shacks all along the coast.

Dan Kravitz

Tried these, in order of preference:

Duck Fat
Scales
Luke’s Lobster
Street & Company
Fore Street
Boone’s
Portland Lobster
Surprise of the trip when we couldn’t get into High Rollers: Grill Room & Bar (Steak Frites was fantastic)

Forgot about Eventide. Excellent.
Also Becky’s Diner for breakfast. Blueberry pancakes are killer with real maple syrup. Best bacon.

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Thanks Dan,
Have been to White Barn and is on our list.

I was recently in Belfast for a couple nights/days. There are not many options for higher-end fine dining in Belfast propper. That’s not to say there isn’t good food, but if it’s a mich star you’re looking for, it’s not in Belfast. We did have a nice lunch, and also dinner at Nautilus though. Nice view (on the harbor), good drinks, good food. There is an Italian place called Delvino’s Grill that ‘looks’ good. Didn’t eat there, but we did wander by and look at the menu. It was always packed too, so that’s generally a good sign.

If you get north to Bucksport, there is a terrific little lunch spot called Friar’s Brewhouse. Biggest fish taco I’ve ever seen… Definitely, a place where you share stuff due to the very generous portions. Some of the best stout beer I’ve ever had too (brewed on-site).

Thanks Michael, I will check them out.

Went to Regards last week. It was really good food and a fun vibe. Interesting mix of Mexican/Asian flavors on the menu. Standouts included tamales, hamachi collar, scallop ceviche, tri-tip….
Beverages lean heavy towards cocktails with emphasis on mezcal and tequila. Limited interesting/oddball/hipster (depending on your proclivities) wine list… Croation pet-nat, arcane Portuguese varietals.… you get the picture.

I rarely eat in Portland during the summer, too busy, but went to Scales last night and they were hitting on all cylinders, I had a fantastic main of haddock with morels and salsify, and my guest inhaled her cod.

Traffic and parking were flucked due to the governor’s convention, be aware for the next few days.

Dan Kravitz