I am on a little hiatus!

Thanks to all of you who have been "worried". I've been absolutely straight out!
Many of you know me as a high energy person. Well this week has really kicked my butt!
I started a new job doing physical therapy for a home health agency last week. In the midst of all this I've been moving, teaching cooking classes at the Kitchen and Cork and have been booked for pig roasts and private chef gigs EVERY weekend! I think I've almost met my max!

I'll try to give you all updates when I can but it looks like I won't have time for anything regular until October. THis stinks because I have so MANY places to tell you about.
Please stay tuned!

Down on the Bayou!

I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But let's face it, who has time? A typical weekday morning consists of a cup of coffee and a maybe a bowl of cereal. That's why weekends are so exciting for me. It's when I actually have time to relax and enjoy a great breakfast.

A really good and ,most importantly, consistent breakfast is hard to come by in this city. Believe me, I've done the circuit since I stopped making brunch myself. I had been to the Bayou Kitchen years ago and wasn't too impressed. I decided recently to give it another try since it had been so long. I was far from dissapointed!

I started with the "mudbug madness" a perfect omelet made with crawfish, cheese and homemade salsa. Good crawfish are hard to come by in these parts. Very often dry and mealy.

Not these buggers! They had that familiar "snap" like a miniature lobster tail and the best part was this omelet was crawling with them! Ok, probably not the best description to use, but you get the idea! With the breakfast entrees you get your choice of grits, homies, or beans. For toast you get the usual suspects as well as the standout bluberry-corn or jalapeno-cornbread. I opted for the grits and blueberry-cornbread. Both cooked to perfection!

My DP (Domestic Partner), Denae, had the Huevos Rancheros with black-bean chili and homies. A great vegetarian option. The huevos was HUGE and cooked perfectly. The homefries the best in the city! There was so much food that she had enough to take home for breakfast the next day. With us was her daughter Iris who had the biggest and best macadamia~white chocolate chip pancake I had ever seen and tasted! Of course I had to try a bite so after a quick distraction (Look! An alligator!) I deftly "stole" a bite of one of the most perfect pancakes ever. A beautifully crispy edge with a fluffy center. Amazing!

This entry has been a long time coming and since the initial writing over a month ago we've been back every week. That says a lot about a place! I'm now hooked on the Bayou Scramble (Crawfish, Jalapenos and Andouille Sausage with a generous side of red beans, beef and rice) and promised myself to broaden my horizons and try something else although it's hard to top perfection.

I've opted to not comment on the service since Wendy, our once faithful server at the Blue House, is now working here so it would be rather biased. She is still however, one of the best!

You can visit their website at www.thebayoukitchen.com

During this busy pig roasting season I'm going to try to be better at following up here since although this post says 5/24/08 it was actually published on 6/19/08.
Stay tuned for my experience at Portland's newest "it" place. Evangeline.

Sunday FYI

Some interesting and informative food articles I bumped into.

Forbidden Foods

WHAT? No Rachel Ray? ;)

One stop on my dream vacation

No wonder I'm so fat! I mean big boned...

Your shopping list for the Kitchen and Cork

Interesting yet disgusting

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Kitchen and Cork OPEN!

The Kitchen and Cork is now open. They are still putting things together and unpacking but the doors are open. The kitchen is still being put together as well. If you're on the list I'll have the special coupon for email club members sent out this weekend.

The Porthole

The year 2000 was a big disappointment to me. When I was in elementary school every type of media promised big things. Flying cars, robot servants and the possibility of time travel. Well my vehicle does not leave the ground, I still have to do my own laundry and I have not yet visited the Jurassic period.

The unique thing about living in Maine however, is the fact that depending on where you visit it is like having your own time machine. There are different parts of the state that make you feel like you've stepped back in time. The Porthole on Custom House Wharf is in one of those "time rifts".

Just standing outside of the place makes you feel as if you're back in days of old when briny, seasoned fisherman and sailors ruled the port instead of rowdy drunken frat boys. Looking at it from the outside tells you that not much has been done since the place opened decades ago.
Walk inside and you are definitely transported to the early part of the last century. It appears that every stool, chair table and even the counter is original. This has been one of our favorite spots in Portland, partly because it is "authentic" from the decor to the surly waitresses right down to the down-home honest cooking. On a good Maine day you have a great deck overlooking the harbor. A wonderful way to spend the afternoon with a plate full of mussels, a cold draft beer, good friends and a live reggae band on Sundays.

It came as no surprise that Denae wanted to come here for Mother's Day brunch. We arrived around noon and immediately got a table. The staff looked like they had just gone to hell and back and certainly acted like it. Let me start by saying that the service here is spotty. Sometimes great and sometimes a bit sub par but it's usually made up for with a charming personality. Today was an exception. The service was horrible. I understand that Mother's Day is the busiest day for a restaurant, but by the time we got there things had settled down to an even keel and not much different from the dozen or so other times we've eaten there. I was baffled. As always I like to make light of a situation and when dining with kids one can often find ways to entertain.

The food that day was a little dissapointing as well. One of the big reasons we go there is for the Haddock sandwich. Normally this is one of our favorites. A guilty pleasure of fried haddock on a fresh housemade Foccacia bread with handcut fries. Not gourmet but good honest food. Today the fish was smaller and the bread which is normally chewie with a slight crispy texture seemed undercooked. The fries though were a solid ten as always!

The Breakfast Club ( a local group of food bloggers not the 1980's angst ridden teens of the movie) would attest that homefries are the cornerstone of a good brunch. At least these didn't disappoint. Crispy golden on the outside yet tender and billowy on the inside. The true stand out on a plate of steak and eggs. The over medium eggs were well....over medium eggs. The steak however, was ordered medium. It came out rare...bloody rare! My favorite mind you, but a nightmare to the 11 year old boy who ordered it. The odd part is the fact that despite being severely undercooked it tasted burnt. Either the char-broiler rack hadn't been cleaned properly or someone had taken a lit piece of charcoal and drew the grill lines on the steak. It was so overpowering that even 1/2 a bottle of A1 couldn't mask the horrible bitter burnt taste.

Being in the restaurant business for so long I know we all have bad days every now and then. So to have 1 bad experience after 12 or so visits isn't so bad. I hope this isn't a consistent theme for them because until I get my time machine I will still go back to The Porthole.

Kitchen and Cork!!!!

It's happening! Jane and Wayne are moving all the merchandise in. I visited them for a bit tonight and had to leave in a cold sweat. It was like visiting a chef's Heaven!!! Every toy you could possibly imagine. They're going to try and open early. The tentative date is this coming Tuesday. I'll keep you posted!

View from the front door


















View from the back















The Demo Kitchen!!!













Two happy but exhausted people,
Jane and Wayne

Get me away from Margaritaville!

Last week we had a going away party for someone here at my day job. Whenever this happens it's sometimes a nightmare because someone has to choose a place where 25-30 people will be happy or at least content. This is what brought me to Margarita's on St. John St.

Now normally I wouldn't waste my time writing about such a place but there was something that really annoyed me. The place was packed!!!!!

The lobby was full when we entered. My sweetie Denae and I snaked our way through the crowd and were immediately met with a look from the hostess that was one of slight disgust as if she were saying "Are you two crazy, you'll never get a table!". Even though we made eye contact it took her another several minutes to acknowledge me because she had to finish her benign conversation with a waitress.

The rest of our group had been there for a 1/2 hour or so and were having a great time. Now there is something to be said about servers who handle large parties such as ours. They either are horrible and confused or perky and efficient. We luckily had the latter. She and the Dos XX's were the only highlights of this place.

Jenn was very efficient taking our order and was prompt bringing back our watered down margarita's. They say that alcohol and caffeine dehydrate the system. Not these babies! They were so watered down I was able to get two days worth of hydration. I immediately ordered a tall Dos XX's to do the job.

The food. Not much I can say about it. Like most "Mexican" chain restaurants the menu is the same. One big huge mess! The food arrived promptly but I would've been happier if it didn't arrive at all. My spicy chipotle wings were deep fried with no discernible flavoring at all. The flavoring was some sour cream mixture in a tortilla "cup". Denae's chimichanga had plenty to it but absolutely no flavor at all. I recommend avoiding this place like the plague. The next time I want sub par food I'll go to Taco Bell with a 6 pack of Schlitz.

Normally I wouldn't waste my time writing about a place let alone go there, but as I said before this place was packed!!! There are many choices here in Portland. Many of them good choices so why was this place so special?

My purpose for writing about this embarrassing experience is to encourage people to go out and try the little guys. The independents who work hard to give you good, honest, real food! Like La Familia on Brighton Ave. or Tu Casa on Washington. It would be nice to see those businesses packed every night! Buy Local, Eat Local!