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Chef Lee Skawinski of Vignola and Cinque Terre sends out an announcement for a special wine and food pairing dinner at the Portland Harbor Hotel tomorrow night.

Chef Jeff Landry (of Eve’s at the Garden at Portland Harbor Hotel) and I are excited to create this dinner that showcases the wines of California’s Wente Vineyards, and to welcome a guest - Bridgett Epp from Wente - whose passions for food and wine are contagious.

Bridgett loves to talk about wine, and you’ll enjoy her enthusiasm as she leads us through the evening. She has chosen four outstanding wines to pair with our menu, and Chef Landry and I believe you’re in for a treat.

Wente Wine Dinner Details
Date: Thursday, June 19 - reception begins at 6 pm.
Location: Portland Harbor Hotel - 468 Fore Street, Portland.
Cost: Four courses and four wines - $75 per person.
Tickets and Information: Reservations are required - call (207) 523-2079.

After returning from my business trip to London late last week, I was in no mood to cook dinner. Amber and I decided to stop at Bull Feeney’s on Fore Street in the Old Port for dinner instead. Bull Feeney’s is known for their live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and we’d been there for drinks and tunes several times. We’d not, however, eaten dinner there previously and had heard good things.

Arriving around 7:30 PM on a Friday, a table for two upstairs was quickly prepared for us. Bull Feeney’s has a decent beer menu (not as good as Three Dollar Dewey’s or Novare Res, but better than many of the Old Port restaurants). I tried the black and white, an interesting twist on a black and tan poured with Allagash White instead of Smithwick’s (or Bass or Harp for us yanks). I’m not sure I’d order it too often, but it was different.

I’d had everything from Moroccan to Japanese in London, so I decided to go with a good old fashioned steak. My bacon-wrapped filet was quite tasty. I do wish they’d served it with a bit more of the gorgonzola sauce though–it added a nice tanginess to the meal. Amber selected the stuffed pork tenderloin special. I didn’t get a chance to take a bite, but she said she enjoyed it. Neither of us had room for dessert, so we were able to get out for under $70, gratuity included.

This was a good meal, but not great. After some of excellent experiences of late at places like Emilitsa, Bull Feeney’s just wasn’t quite up to the challenge. But then, of course, the check wasn’t nearly as large at Bull Feeney’s, and Emilitsa doesn’t have live music. The jet lag probably didn’t help my dining experience, so Amber and I will definitely be going back for both the food and the music. The combination of the two makes for a hard-to-beat evening.

After a lovely run around Back Cove yesterday morning, Amber and I got cleaned up and headed out to run some errands in advance of my upcoming business trip to London. Lunch was in order, and I suggested we try out The Merry Table, a brand new crêperie in The Old Port (across Wharf Street from Cake). Amber studied in Tours, France for a semester in college and fell in love with crêpes. One of her regrets in leaving New York state was that there was a crêperie in Saratoga Springs, her hometown, that she would have to leave behind. No more! Portland now has its own destination for these French equivalents of a sandwich wrap.

The space appears quite small at first, with a four seat booth on the left, the bar with stools that you can see in the photo above, and three or four small round two tops on the right when you walk in. The kitchen is visible beyond the bar. Upon further investigation there are a number of additional, larger tables to the right of the kitchen. This is not a large restaurant, but I have to think they could comfortably accommodate thirty or so. There are also a handful of al fresco tables available on Wharf Street when the sun is shining.

The bar serves a modest selection of wines and beer. I would have liked to see a few more adventurous Belgian ales, but perhaps that will come later. Their selection of crépes was quite diverse. Amber and I both went with ham varieties, as it was lunch time. She opted for the Jambon Fromage and I, the Jambon Brie. We started with a red pepper bisque to split, and Amber got a nutella sucré (a sweetened, dessert crêpe) to go after lunch. Both lunch crêpes were served with a small simple salad topped with an excellent homemade vinaigrette. The soup and crêpes were excellent. While these are the French version of a sandwich wrap, they are not hand food. A fork and knife was definitely necessary.

The only disappointment was the sucré. I did not taste it myself, but Amber said it tasted quite good. It was just that it was also served fork-and-knife style, which is a bit odd for a to-go crêpe. At the corner crêperies (there are even crêpe street vendors like you see with hot dogs here in America) in France, a sucré is served wrapped in paper so it is portable and can be eaten on the go. This, and a more adventurous beer selection, were our only suggestions for improvement. At nearly $30, this was a pricy lunch, but skipping the soup, beer, and dessert would have brought the cost down by half. I’m not sure that’s inexpensive enough to make a daily lunch destination, but it’s certainly reasonable enough to make this our Saturday lunch date of choice a couple times a month. Amber and I both highly recommend this for a nice break from the typical seafood and pub fare available for lunch.

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly “next on our list.” And yes, it took almost three months for us to actually stop in and try out Portland’s newest (is it even the newest at this point?) Greek restaurant. But last night Amber and I finally found ourselves looking for parking off Congress Street in hopes of getting a table at Emilitsa. Note to selves: do not attempt to park on Congress on First Friday. D’oh!

After finding somewhere to park only a block from Five Fifty-five, we marched toward the Hill a half-block and entered a modest, contemporary space with a small bar to the left and maybe 12 or 14 tables on the right. There is no sign (that I saw) outside Emilitsa, so know that its address is 547 Congress St. Also of interest, they take reservations—(207) 221-0245. We didn’t have one, and arrived about 7:20 PM on First Friday. We were told we could get a table by about 8:00 and took at seat at the bar. Somewhat surprisingly, we were seated at our table by 7:40. We were most of the way back toward the kitchen and noticed that there was one more large table around the corner, but this is a pretty small restaurant with a long, narrow galley sort of feel.
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Continuing our gastronomic exploration of Portland, Amber and I had dinner at The Front Room a couple weeks ago after my recent business trip to Kentucky. We’d heard some great things about Harding Lee Smith’s comfort food restaurant on Munjoy Hill and had to give it a try. The Front Room is just over the crest of the hill on Congress Street, a block or so past The Blue Spoon.

The sign out front is pretty unassuming, and the atmosphere inside matches. It’s a very relaxed decor, but there is a frenetic buzz. Those who like to converse softly in a dark corner booth might look elsewhere, but those looking for a hopping neighborhood hang out for foodies will enjoy. There is a small bar when you first walk in and approximately 15 tables. They don’t take reservations (like many of the restaurants in Portland), so you might be spending a little time at the bar. They have a decent selection of beers (including a couple nice Belgians) and a moderate wine list as well. At about 6:30 on a Friday night we got a table for two in 15 minutes. Not bad at all!

Amber and I each had a cup of the soup du jour, a carrot squash soup that was very good. We split the fried goat cheese (think fried mozzarella, only better) as well. It’s not on the menu on the website, but it wasn’t a special, either. Perhaps the website is a bit slow to update? Anyway, for dinner I selected the Casco Bay Scallops and Amber ordered a flank steak. My scallops were excellent. They were simple and not over-prepared like some restaurants tend to serve. I didn’t try Amber’s steak, but she seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. For dessert we split a homemade ice cream sandwich on spiced chocolate chip cookies. Very tasty, but a little too much after a big dinner. I’m glad we shared!
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