"Eric has to let the bean counters go and serve portions that satisfy."
Someone has to count the beans or else restaurants wouldn't stay open...they do have to make a proft you know.

I have been there a few times and I would not call the portions small. The steak is $20, probably 8-10oz, and served with french fries and an arugula salad. I've had braised pork belly that was a very decent portion AND it was served with cassoulet for a little over $20.

Does anyone know the opening date of Graham Elliot Bowles new place? It has a great website with full menu but the phone number does not work. Anyone been by the space lately?

cplaffe...I would say that an overwhelming majority of people do not like different temperatures of the same steak. People like myself who like rare to mid-rare would not like well-done and vice versa.
I am also confused by the "cookie cutter" comment. I do not think that any of the people who have responded to this post have been expecting a cookie cutter experience. I am glad you enjoyed your experience but it just wasn't for me.

I dined at Gaucho's recently and found it to be pretty bad. I don't think the concept lends itself to the Old Port. I don't think of salad bar and the Old Port in the same sentence. Maybe at the mall it might work, but the $27.95 per person is probably too high for that market as well.
They certainly do offer a lot of variety. We had pork loin, chicken, bacon wrapped turkey, chirizo, bacon wrapped filet, salmon, chicken hearts, prime rib, sirloin, flank, shortrib, lamb and probably something else I'm forgetting. The only item that was half way decent was the flank, which was medium rare and had good beef flavor. The filet was probably the worst item, considering it was well done and the bacon was undercooked (how does that happen?), though the short rib I got had no meat on it, just a hunk of fat. Some people at my table liked the lamb and the primerib, but it all depends how the meat was cut. I got some first cuts, meaning the burned fat cap of the steak, while the second cut was usually better. The chicken and turkey were also unanimously disliked. The rice and beans were fine and the roasted new potatoes were by far the best side dish. Like the 'hounder above mentioned, the salad bar is pretty run of the mill, with some pretty funky looking mayonnaise based veggie and chicken salads.
My biggest complaint about the place is the on slaught of "gauchos" that approach your table. Literally, in a fifteen minute span, we must have been approached twenty times with skewers of meat. Even people who flipped their cards to red were still getting meat. You end up eating way too fast. We were never offered different temperatures on the meat, just had the food put on the plate. Some stuff was really overdone (turkey, filet, chicken, lamb) while some was more mid-rare (sirloin, flank, prime rib).
The wine list is surprisingly limited on wines by the glass, only offering "house" pinot grigio, chardonnay, merlot and cab, yet had some great South American wines by the bottle. Maybe you can get them by the glass if you ask, but it seems a little silly to pour generic wine when you have some great wines at your disposal.
Overall, I found the place to be a little cheazy. The salad bar thing, the "gauchos" asking if we were ready to cry "MERCY!" Personally, I would rather go to a traditional steakhouse and get one great cut of meat then go to a place that gives you bad cuts of fifteen different types of meat.

I cannot comment on Can Fabes, but I throughly enjoyed my experience at Can Roca last month. Yes, certain items may seem strange or too avant garde, but the tasting menu I sampled had some straight forward items as well, including probably the best pork dish I've ever had (roast suckling pig with grilled melon), a great seared skate with citrus and a fantastic foie gras torchon with shaved black truffles. In terms of some of the more "modern" cuisine Can Roca is known for, the "lactic" dessert was one of the best desserts I've had in a while (sheeps milk custard, ice cream and cotton candy). The Service was impeccable and the wine list was so big they wheel it over to you in a cart. The total bill was about 220 Euros for my wife and I.
The biggest problem with Can Roca is that if you do not have a car, you can probably only have lunch there since the trains do not run very late at night and they do not start serving dinner until around 9:00pm.

I think the Sea Grill across from Dry Dock does very similar food to Legal Sea Food. The food there is just straight forward seafood and probably has the best oysters in town.
I will agree that it is a bit odd that there are not really many seafood restaurants in the Great Portland area, especially if you exclude lobster/fried clam shacks.

chickyonly,

Why choose one? Both are excellent and offer varied takes on cusine. Hugo's has a great bar menu with a selection of four "fried snacks" (the parmesan and black truffle puffs are unbeliveable) and about 10 apps. Have a couple and then move onto 555 and sit at the bar and order off of the lounge menu, which also has a lot of great choices. I just did apps at Hugos a few nights ago and it was fantastic. BBQ tripe stew, beet risotto, fluke tartare and the pork belly were out of this world.

Has anyone been to the new Cape Neddick Inn on route 1 in Cape Neddick, ME? I think it re-opened last month after a couple of years as Talpeys Tavern. I understand it is under new ownership. Any good?

I haven't read every response to the original post, but has anyone mentioned why they didn't consider a cheese course as the 4th course? It would have been an appropriate finish to the meal and one of the dessert team members is a cheese-maker! They could have selected three different styles of cheeses and paired them with things like quince paste, dried fruit, honey, etc..and tied all the dishes together.

Also, I know someone mentioned that they got critized for going out on a limb when Tom constantly remarks how too many people "play it safe" and I agree to an extent with the comments. However, if you cannot read the instructions on a can of powdered gelatin and cannot make panna cotta, what's the point of trying? Were they thinking that a basic panna cotta topped with diced pineapple and pineapple upside down cake were going to blow away a crowd of "elite" eaters?

Portland's steakhouse on commercial street in Portland closed yesterday. It's unfortunate but in my opinion, it was inevitable. Going from Pan-Asian to Steakhouse is a difficult transition, especially considering they shut down the back dining room and went from one of the most profitable genres of food to the least profitable. Let's face it, Portland cannot sustain a high end steakhouse...just not possible.

I love Miccuci's...however if you are looking for great cheeses and want a huge selection, Cheese Iron is the place. Everyone working there is incredibly knowledgable about cheese and will guide you through the process. They have a huge selection of local artisnal cheese, not just English or French. They also have a huge selections of cured meats, like Prosciutto de Parma, San Danielle, speck, numerous salami's as well as great pate. If you love cheese, you have to go the cheese iron. It is definitely worth the drive.

I have been to both Tru and Alinea with a non-seafood eater and both are more than willing to accomodate. Just make sure to mention it when making the reservation. My friend had meat substituted for all of the fish courses, so she got to experience the same dish, but with pork tenderloin, bison, etc... instead.
Tru has a couple of menu options. You can do an a la carte, seasonal or grand tasting. I did the seasonal, which was $110, with the grand tasting being around $135 if I remember correctly. Food was really great and was definitely not hungry when I left. Add the cheese course if you like cheese because it will be worth it. Plus you get dessert, petit fours and candy, chocolate truffles to go if you want and cookies to go on the way out. One warning is that it is actually hard to find many bottles of wine under $100 at Tru, especially any Cab or Cab blend. Most were $200 and up.
If you can only pick one, Tru is a more classically French, with very professional service and great food. Alinea is more of a food experience, still with great service, but just a bit more whimsical. Good luck!

I have sampled the desserts at Cake and they were horrible. The Cake restaurant is more of a front for the Cake nightclub because I don't think the city wanted a nightclub. The place has actually been open since January when I went there. And yes, it was still dead then. Luckily though, they have eleven (eleven!?) to choose from, so imagine how fresh they must be with the utter lack of customers.
So in terms of "how are they still open" comment, I believe they make a majority of their money on the bar after 10pm.

I ate there last week and was really impressed with the food. The apps are more tapa-size, but relatively inexpensive so you can get a couple and share without completely filling you up. I wouldn't consider the menu northern italian, but the emphasis is definitely Italian with a few other Medd. cuisines thrown in (Spanish chorizo stuffed dates for example). I had the chorizo/gorgonzola stuffed dates and the pickled fennel/sweet and sour onions as apps, which were great. I also had the bucatini with guanicole (pig jowl) which was good (a little more southern Italian in style w/ red chiles and red onions) as well as butternut squash agnolotti with chix liver sauce (a great combination even if you are not a huge fan of chix liver). The frisee salad with calamari was fantastic as well as the entree of lamb chops with mint and pea risotto. Just make sure to make a reservation since the place is SO tiny and do not expect fast service since there is only one server. But overall, the food start to finish (try the desserts, the chef was the pastry chef at Marketside Grill and Fore St.) was really good and perfectly portioned. Definitely worth a try

To answer your question kjs, my standard is simply great tasting food. But things can vary based on the expense of a place. When I go to an inexpensive BBQ joint in Memphis and Kansas City, I'm expecting great BBQ, but could care less about service, atmosphere, etc... When I dine at a place like Craftsteak, I expect great food as well as great service and atmosphere. The more expensive a place, they should receive less leeway. And I know that most of the restaurants are expensive, which is why I try to stick with restaurants with outposts in other cities, such as Michael Mina, Tom Colicchio, Nobu, that have established and solid reputations.

Got back last week from a quick trip to Vegas for a convention. Here's my report:

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday Late Afternoon: Quick sandwich at 'witchcraft. Great sandwich. I had the chix, mozz, red pepper, basil panini which was fantastic. It somehow was $9.75, but hey, its Vegas baby. My friend liked it so much, that she had the sandwich everyday for lunch, which meant that I went there too everyday for lunch. The last day I mixed it up and got the roast pork w/ fontina, pepper relish and coppa. Again, really good sandwich and actually surprisingly filling

Monday Night: Dinner at CraftSteak. I must say I was excited about this one because I have wanted to try one of Tom Colicchio's places and I have heard many people here on chowhound rave about it.
My table of 7 did the beef tasting menu. Basically, three courses, apps/main/dessert, all of the chef's choosing and served family style of course. For apps we had roasted red peppers, roasted baby beets, crimini mushrooms in sherry, arugula salad and grilled hawaiian prawns, as well as foie gras with kumquat compote, which we added for $20. All of the apps were pretty good, but not really spectaular. I thought that the roasted red pepper was bizarre, as it was just a large strip of red pepper...that's it. On the menu it's an $11 app I think. I can't imagine the look on a customers face who did an ala carte menu and was served the red pepper as an app. Just a pepper on plate. I think Tom would be packing his knives if he served that one on Top Chef. On to the steaks.
We received an absurd amount of meat. Two bone-in sirloins, two bone-in ribeyes, one hangar, one filet and one kobe shortrib, along with two sides of mashed, two roasted asparagus and one grean bean almondine (sp?). The mashed poatoes were awesome, more like a potato puree with a whole lot of butter. The steaks I and the rest of the table found to be average at best. I thought the short rib was really good and one of the bone-in sirloins and the filet was just good, while the ribeyes, the other sirloin and the hangar were really bad. The meat lacked that nice beef flavor and strangely, no USDA rating was listed, but there was no way these were prime, maybe CAB at best. I will say though that all steaks were cooked perfectly, mid-rare, but did lack the char on the outside.
Desserts were pretty good, with a selection of six sorbets and ice creams, vanilla cheesecake, a molten choc cake with nuts, roasted pinapples and monkey bread. The monkey bread was by far the best. With tax and tip the bill came to about $1150.

Tuesday Night: Started with apps at Emeril's. First time for me. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I had a trio of tuna tartare and my friend had braised shortribs. Both were really good. With two glasses of wine, tax and tip, the bill came to about $75.

Later on Tuesday Night: Dinner at Diego's. Had good memorys of this place from a prior trip. The braised goat, the tableside guacamole and the trio of salsas are still good, but overall our experience was not great. We were dying for their mojiotos and consumed quite a few. They were all good but each one tasted different. I hate not getting consistent drinks. We ate some many chips that we just had apps for dinner, which included the black bean soup, tortilla soup, diego salad and side of black beans. I must say that I love salty food, but all of these dishes were almost unedible because of the salt. To top it off, our waiter was not very warm and actually kind of mean...like we were bothering him the whole night. With tax and tip, about $170.

Wednesday Night: Apps at Michael Mina at the Bellagio. This restaurant was fantastic and it will be the first place I go back to the next time I'm in Vegas. We had a mojito, diet coke and glass of wine to start (Silver Oak Cab...only $28 a glass!) and shared the beef tartare (done tableside), chantrelle mushroom soup and the trio of scallops. Wow. Everything was fantastic. My scallop dish was one of the best dishes I've had in a while (I read on Chow last week that someone had them and didn't like it...how?) and the combination of sauces and flavors were spectatular. With tax and tip, about $150.

Later on Wednesday: Dinner at Bartolotta at the Wynn. I found the interior of this restaurant to be kinda ugly, but thought it was pretty good overall. We had the roasted rabbit loin with crispy artichokes, scallops with pecorino (seafood with cheese, is there a more serious sin in Italian cuisine?) and a simple insalta mista. All the dishes were really good and nice plated. For entrees, we shared the agnolotti, linguini with clams and tomatoes, sheep's milk ricotta ravioli and gnocchi. I know, we didn't order the fish at Bartolotta, but the people I was with did not want fish...go figure. All the pasta dishes were really good, especially the gnocchi, which can be a little heavy, but were incredibly light. The agnolotti were the perfect size (for some reason, I find that many Italian restaurants in the US served really large agnolotti, which basically look like ravioli...why is that?) and the linguini with clams were packed with clams about the size of cockles (not sure if they were cockles or just a different type of small clam). With tax and tip, about $250.

Overall, I had a great week. One thing I find strange is that in my three trips out to Vegas in the past few years, I have yet to be really wowed by a place, with the exception of Michael Mina's. I thought I had picked well (I actually made reservations at StripSteak, but everyone wanted to go to CraftSteak) and left underwhelmed. Is it me, or can the Vegas restaurant scene be more glitz than substance?

The new Whole Foods is great. I think that some things were a little overpriced. The seafood counter especially, with Atlantic Salmon @ 10.99lb and Chilean Sea Bass @ 22.95lb. In general, I think the seafood counter is the least impressive aspect of the new store. I love their meat counter, which includes strips and porterhouses that have been dry-aged in house, and at 19.99lb and 17.99lb respectively, a pretty good deal. Their produce seems to be priced very similarly to Hannafords (lemons .79, limes 2 for $1, bananas .79) and some really great deals as well (San Marzano Tomatoes 28oz cans 2 for $4, normally 3.79 per can at Hannafords). Obviously, Whole Foods is known for their to-go/prepared foods, which includes lots of hot, ready-to-eat things (salad bar, trail mix bar, Italian bar, dessert bar, gelato bar) as well as packaged things to heat up at home. Most of it looks pretty good and is pricey, but not crazy by any means. If you happen to love sweets and cheeses, then you will really love Whole Foods, since both departments are excellent. Overall, Whole Foods is a lot better than Wild Oats, which has a much more limited selection and is definitely more expensive across the board.
In terms of the local product thing, when you walk in the front doors, there's a sign listing the number of Maine made products currently available. Last week the sign said 500.

Of course Mario and Lidia are not going to be in the kitchen every night at every one of their 8 or so restaurants. But I think their influences resonate strongly at all of their establishments. Mario is around NYC enough to keep tabs on all of his places and I think that he and Lidia open restaurants that they would want to eat in, so their influence of both the food and the atmosphere could not get any stronger. The concept of Casa Mono and Bar Jamon were developed because Mario felt the need for a tiny tapa bar with great cured meats and apps that would stay open late, the type of place he (and other chefs) could go after work at Babbo or Lupa, etc...
I also think that he probably has enough people working for him to help him maintain the high standards at all of his places. And yes of course, some people are going to have dinner at Babbo, or Lupa, or Casa Mono, or Otto and hate it because no restaurant is perfect. But is that Mario's fault if someone overcooks a piece of fish at Lupa but he is at Otto enjoying pizza? Not really. Oh yeah, by the way, if there an executive chef in NYC who is in their kitchen everynight to watch every plate go out? I don't think so. Often times, the places that you may rave about the food is a place where you did not eat the food of the executive chef, but the chef de cusine who was covering for the executive. Does that make it less enjoyable? Great restaurants and great restaurant groups do not just have one great chef, but a whole team...that's what makes them great.
You cannot blame a guy for having a lot of success and having the opportunity to open a number of restaurants. Listen, if the guy had no talent, do you think that he would have this much success? You cannot say that Food Network is the only reason that his restaurants are popular. No city is more fickle about restaurants than NYC and if his food sucked, no New Yorker in their right mind would go there.
Now, his decision to open restaurants is LA and Las Vegas, well, that's a different story...

I will be heading out to Vegas at the beginning of March for a convention. I have set up reservations at Bartolotta at the Wynn and Michael Mina's new place, StripSteak, at Mandalay. Are there any hits/misses at either place that I should try/avoid?
Also, what is everyone's favorite combination at the Burger Bar at Mandalay Place? I will be heading there at least once during my trip. Thanks!

Are there any restaurants in the Jacksonville area that sell something other than gulf oysters? I know that chains like Morton's and Ruth Chris will mostly likely have some east coast oysters, but I would rather enjoy them at a locally-owned establishment. Any suggestions?

I have eaten at the bar, off the bar menu, at Hugo's on a couple of occasions. My wife and I usually split 3 apps/snacks and then get dessert. Its just enough food. You leave not totally stuffed but definitely not hungry.
The bar itself has 7 seats I think and there are 3 or 4 tall bar tables as well. They have a full bar, but not a huge selection of liquor. Their wine list is the main focus. Lots of good wine by the glass. Great dessert wines too.
In terms of the debate over the portion sizes, yes, Hugo's portions are small. That being said, I have never left Hugo's hungry. The portions supposed to be small when you are sampling at least 5 dishes on the tasting menu (plus at least one amuse). The 1" biscuits are also insanley delicious and yes, they are small. However, if you want another one, just ask. They will bring more out. I have done tasting menus are many other restaurants across the country and I have never found Hugo's portions to be ridiculous compared to other similar establishments. The big difference is that in NYC or Chicago (the two cities I most familar with in terms of restaurants) the 5 course tasting menu would be $75-$125.
I just feel that some people expect to get a huge plate of food when they go out to dinner (thank you Vinny T's, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, etc...) They want to leave a restaurant stuffed and possibly have left overs. Hugo's is just not that type of place. People rarely complain about the quality of food at Hugo's, just the quantity. Hey, different folks, different strokes.

Just so everyone knows, the owner of Oolong is still the owner of Portland's. He decided that the Asian concept wasn'tworking and decided to re-open as a steak house concept. Sort of a strange idea since the inside looks the exact same as it did before, but now its a steakhouse. If you are going to change concepts, you have to change something in the front of the house.

A bunch of my friends are flying down to New Orleans in January for my bachelor party. We wanted to go out to a nice dinner on Friday night when we arrive. We are all staying in the French Quarter and probably would prefer to dine there. After some research, I thought that the Pelican Club might be a nice choice. I definitely want to do cajun/creole style that is moderate to expensive, but not too expensive and definitely no jacket rule. Does anyone have any other suggestions or think that the Pelican Club might not work?

Your best bet for a tasting menu in downtown Portland is Hugo's on Middle Street. Chef Rob Evans has been named one of top young chefs in the US by Food and Wine and has a long list of accolades (including a stint at French Laundry). They do chef's tasting menus with wine pairings if you call in advance. I did their 10 course Maine Potato tasting (with wine pairings) a couple of weeks ago and I must say it was fantastic. It cost about $120 per without tax or gratuity. If you are willing to leave the Portland area, there is always the White Barn Inn in Kennebunk or Arrow's in Ogunquit. His food is definitely modern American and you can probably expect foams, savory ice creams, sous vide and techinques like that.

Has anyone been to a Pizza Hut Italian bistro? One just opened near a mall where I live and it doesn't seem to be particularly busy. Has anyone been to one?
Also,does anyone else find this concept a strange move by the people at Pizza Hut?

I would suggest Fattoria Corsignano. It is located in the town of Corsignano, about 10km north an little east of Siena in the heart of Chianti Classico. It is a small, family owned and run vineyard. You can arrange for private winery tours with Mario, the winemaker. Along with a hour long wine tour and tasting, they will also make a wonderful 4 course lunch for you. Bruschetta, focaccia, chicken liver pate, prosciutto, duck ragu over pasta and so on. All prepared in a tiny rustic kitchen by Mario and his wife (and help from his daughter if she gets out of school in time). All this for only 30 euro a person. Unbelievable. We ended up drinking so much at lunch (unlimited wine with the lunch as well) that we took a nap around the pool for almost two hours. They also sell their wine and olive oil (such small production that there is no label on the olive oil). Check out their website: http://www.tenutacorsignano.it/

I am suprised that no one has started a topic on last night's episode, so I figured I might as well get the ball rolling. My comments/thoughts:

1) The right team went home. Josie and Marisa's idea for the tasting menu was not only stupid, it wasn't even good.

2) Josie should not complain about being sent home. Even if she is as good as she thinks she is, she should know that you are only as good as your last dish, and frankly her last dish sucked.

3) Uh...can anyone explain the duck entree? Duck Napolean? What!? It was puff pastry with duck on top. That's not a napolean. Plus, didn't they mention mashed sweet potatoes a couple of times? I did not see any sweet potatoes on their plates. Maybe I'm just crazy.

4) Last but not least. I'm glad that Tom called them out on the whole duo and trio thing. I don't know why chef's sometimes feel like they need to hit the customer with radically different flavors on one plate all the time. Just give me a solid, center of the plate protein or dessert. While I like different tastes, doing one duo and two trio's in one six course tasting menu is a bit much.

Dan...I couldn't agree with you more. The attitude at Fore St. can be ridiculous, which is sad because often they put out really good food. Here's a short list of silly things they have said or done to me or someone in my party over the years:

1)Refusing to put a chair at the end of one of the booths to make a table of 6 become a 7. Told that it was a fire hazard. On our way out (we left immmediately because 7 of us needed to eat), they seated a seven on the table we left, using the same chair. When I spoke with the manager about it, she said "oh but this is a special circumstance." Apparently 7 businessmen with an expense account are not special enough.

2)Refusing to pour a drink. This happened twice. The first time my friend ordered a kahula and cream, only to be told that they can't make it because the cream will interfere with the taste of the food. Second time was also at the bar after my friend ordered a lemondrop martini. She was told that they do not like to make specialty martini's like that. What!?

Fore St. is long past its prime and the list of people they piss off is growing rapidly.

One of the best experiences and also one of the cheapest, is to stroll through the indoor mercato (market) in Florence, located probably a 1/4 mile from the duomo. Great vendors (good place to pick up some olive oil,balsamic vinegar, etc...to bring home) and some really great food counters serving great panini's and soups.

I spent a week in Lucca recently and would definitely recommend Trattoria Gigi. A little spot right in the heart of the walled city. Super casual, indoor and outdoor seating and probably some of the best pasta of the entire trip. Rigatoni with speck and saffron cream, orrchietta with sausage and gorgonzola, macaroni (pasta ribbons) with porcini and even a zuchini custard to die for.