mainiac's Profile
Cioppino
Best recipe I've ever had is from the Tadich Grill in SF. mercurynews.com/recipes/ci_7407936
Caiola's alert
It pains me to write this review of one of my favorite restaurants in Portland. In the past few years, I've always enjoyed the food at Caiola's and have recommended the restaurant to a number of friends. However, a recent dinner on Thursday night was a below par. It started well, as our party of 8 was seated on time in the "back room". Appetizers were lobster bisque and caesar salad with fried oysters. The bisque was an odd color, more of a yellow-brown, and had little lobster flavor. The salad was marred by seriously over fried (dark brown) oysters that had a rubbery texture, and again, no flavor.
Several entrees were ordered; scallop risotto, chicken marsala, Caiola's burger, paella and zuppa de pesce. The scallops (3 medium) in a very small amount of rice were tasty, but for $25, seemed a bit of a rip-off. The paella suffered from some tired mussels that were past their prime, an over-cooked shrimp and chicken that was more bones than meat. The amount of rice was again pretty skimpy. Chicken marsala was overly sweet and would have benefited from some acid to balance the almost candy-like taste. Zuppa de pesce was good, but after the first round of bread, our waitress informed us that the kitchen had run out of bread and offered some toasted croutons as a substitute, so there was no way to mop-up the tasty sauce. The burger, I'm happy to report, was fine, as usual. We passed on dessert as we had a freshly baked peach cobbler at home. The tab was $308, including the 20% tip added for our convenience for 3 apps, 8 entrees, 2 glasses of wine and 3 cocktails. An off night perhaps, or has the restaurant lost it's edge?
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Caiola's
58 Pine St, Portland, ME 04102
Worcester area Easter Sunday Lunch
Maine Hounds looking for an agreeable lunch for two adults and two chow savvy teens on Easter Sunday in the Worcester area. Cuisine is less important than the quality and taste of the food.
Regards,
Mainiac
Cuban's near MIA
Looking for a place to get Cuban sandwiches near Miami Airport. We're getting a rental car and heading to Key west and would prefer not to stop for food on the way.
Thanks
Royal River Grillhouse, not so royal
A recent dinner at the Royal River Grillhouse in Yarmouth will surely be my last. My DC and I have been going here for a few years and have mostly had good, but not spectacular food and decent service. I ordered the baked oysters, $12 for 3 medium sized "Flying Point" (local) specimens. They were barely warm, covered with a non-descript crumb coating devoid of the advertised lemon chive oil. They were utterly tasteless and watery; gross. They tasted like they had been previously frozen, then broiled. For the main, I ordered the cioppino and received a serving of 4 mussels, two scallops, two small shrimp, a few rings of calamari, and a spoonful sized piece of salmon set on top of a very small portion of pasta. The mussels smelled funky and tasted like they had spoiled, overpowering the remaining seafood. The little mound of pasta had been seared somehow, leaving it clumped together in a ball, yuk! The waitress enquired about our meals well after the entree's were presented. I told her I was not happy with the food and thought there was something wrong with both dishes. She consulted the manager who told her there was nothing he could do. She was so embarrassed. On the way out, I confronted the manager (he would not come to the table) who dismissed my complaints by saying "these are our most popular dishes, we sell alot of them. When I tried to explain that the mussels were clearly bad, he said "well, you must have got a bad batch, sorry it didn't work out" I was speechless. Never again.
Florida Keys, Great Local Joints
We'll be chartering a boat the week after Christmas cruising the lower Keys and need some local knowledge for not to miss local joints . Nothin fancy, just good food. The closer to the water the better. Would love to find places that serve fresh seafood, particularly shrimp.
Merida and vicinity with 18 year olds
We are taking our son and three of his friends to a beach house near Progreso as a high school graduation present for a week this April. All of the kids speak spanish fairly well but range from adventurous to timid regarding food. We need recs for eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Merida area knowing we will not satisfy everyone all of the time.
Gracias!
Mainiac
large lobsters vs. small lobsters
It seems to me that it is a surface to volume issue (squared vs cubed) so that there is proportionally more meat (volume) as the size increases. This used to have an impact on pricing with larger lobsters selling for several $/pound more than the smaller ones due to the higher yield of meat. Now, larger lobsters are quite scarce relative to the one pounders and are priced accordingly. Incidently, I would dispute the notion that larger lobsters are less succulent than smaller specimens. Its how you cook them and how long that matters most.
Shrimp Heads
The main reason I'm always on the lookout for "heads on" is they are usually fresh, as in not previously frozen. Fresh shrimp have a sweetness and texture that frozen shrimp rarely possess. Once you have them fresh, frozen will never be the same!
Knife Sharpening in Portland, ME
Most Hannaford meat departments will sharpen knives for free if asked. They use an in-house grinder that gives a very sharp edge but does tend to take a fair amount of metal in the process.
Mainiac
Great Diamond Island MAine
We have been to the restaurant several times with our own boat. The marina charges $5 for a slip while you eat. The setting is hard to beat, right on "cocktail" cove with sweeping views of Casco Bay. The staff are very friendly and accomadating but can get a bit harried when the ferry drops 25-30 day trippers at their door. Yor can eat indoors in the dining room which is nicely rennovated and warm or outside facing the cove if the weather is nice. There is a great supply of bug spray at the bar if you forgot to BYO. Now for the food..
Fairly upscale menu befitting the rather exclusive atmosphere of the Island. This is not the place for traditional Maine specialties. At a recent lunch we had a tuna BLT which came as a deconstructed, open-faced affair with a good sized chunk of medium-rare tuna on a bed of foccacia and veggies, so-so. Mussels provencal were tasty but not the meatiest specimens I've had. No bread for dipping. Fish and chips were not on par with most of the beach-side take out shops in the area and suffered from a overly heavy batter that fell off too easily.
Fried calamri was good but arrived somewhat cool. The tab was $165 before tip for six with two glasses of house wine and a Stella. More traditional Maine seafood can be had at Cook's on Bailey Island.
