Maine a la Carte

A Look at Ruby Thailand, A New Restaurant in South Portland

Angie Muhs — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:29:48 GMT

My colleague Ray Routhier took his wife to lunch today at the new Ruby Thailand Restaurant in South Portland.

The restaurant, located at 179 Cottage Road, about a block up from Red’s, has only been open two to three weeks. Ray kindly shared some photos so you can have a look. He also brought me back a menu. which looks really interesting - it includes a few more options than the usual cookie cutter Thai menu.

For one thing, Ruby Thailand has some dishes it calls “Thai fusion.” How about some Thai-Mexican? The Thai nacho platter uses curry sauce instead of taco sauce, and the nachos are made with chicken curry, chili sauce, onion, jalapeno, tomato and Monterey Jack cheese.

One of the house specialities is lightly battered frog legs sauteed with onion, red peppers, green beans, bamboo shoots, basil and homemade chili garlic sauce. They also have a softshell crab house specialty dish. The lightly battered softshell crabs are topped with ground pork and yellow curry sauce, and served on a bed of steamed vegetables.

Ruby Thailand Cuisine apparently makes its own crab rangoon with Maine crab. Here’s hoping the taste of that crab comes through as much as the cream cheese.

Ray says there’s plenty of parking. Inside, there are about a dozen tables, and the service is quick. They are open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and open for dinner those days at 4 p.m. They’re open from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and are closed on Sunday.

Here’s what the Routhiers had for lunch:
This is the Tom Kha soup – a coconut broth with mushroom, green onion and cilantro.

This is the Larb Chicken salad – ground chicken seasoned with lime juice, rice powder, onion and mint leaves.

This is the Mango Curry with chicken - snow peas, onions and tropical mangos in yellow curry. Ray says it as “a little sweet, warm and rich, not spicy.”

PHOever Maine Opening in Westbrook

Angie Muhs — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:14:30 GMT

The dining room at PHOever Maine/Courtesy photo

Portland resident Truc Huynh and his sister-in-law Mai Huynh will open Westbrook's first Vietnamese restaurant at 100 Larrabee Rd. on Friday, May 31. In the former Top Dogs location, PHOever Maine will serve "Southern Vietnamese comfort food": pho, banh mi, grill rice, noodle bowls and stir-fries. The restaurant will have a full bar and offer local beers.

The Huynh family emigrated from Vietnam as refugees in 1989. Truc's father worked for Barber Foods in Portland, while his mother worked as a housekeeper while raising their six children in the city. "After many years of encouragement from friends and family we decided to start PHOever Maine and share our love of Vietnamese food with you and your family," Truc said in a press release. Before settling on the whimsical name, he and Mai tried out a few others, including "PhoGasmic, Pho Refugees, PhoGetAboutiT, Pho Score & 7 Eggrolls Ago, and Phofever. Ultimately we settled on PHOever Maine because we wanted something that pays tribute to the great State that we live in now while at the same time honor our past from Vietnam."

Also on the menu, which references famous Maine people, places and institutions in the names of several of its dishes, are two "Weekend Warrior Challenges." Diners who finish the Cathedral Abol of Pho in 30 minutes or less without leaving their table get their meal free and their photo on the "PHOReal Wall of Fame." Those who finish the Westbrook Blue Blaze, "a bowl of pho from hell" in 10 minutes and "suffer through 5 minutes of pain at your table," get the same perks. If you fail at either challenge, your photo goes up on the "PHOGetAboutIt Wall of Shame."

Sunday Brunch, Anniversary Dinner at Tao

Angie Muhs — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:11:33 GMT

Press Herald file photo

Tao's next monthly Dim Sum Sunday Brunch will be this Sunday, May 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be some new dumplings on the menu (available here), say owners Cara and Cecile Stadler, but be forewarned that it's Bowdoin graduation weekend, so reservations may be already tough to come by. The restaurant will also be open for dinner on Sunday.

Fans of Tao will want to mark their calendars for Thursday, June 13, when the restaurant will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a special prix-fixe dinner. Details will be forthcoming.

Otto Pizza Finally Coming to South Portland

Shannon Bryan — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:52:37 GMT

This former gas station at the corner of Cottage Road and Highland Avenue is the future home of Otto Pizza South Portland. Photo: South Portland Public Library

SoPo fans of Otto Pizza, rejoice: you no longer have to drive across the Casco Bay Bridge to get your fix. You do, however, have to be patient, because at the moment, the Otto people are busy building a new location in Lynnfield Mass. literally from the dirt floor up.

Last night, the South Portland City Council approved a wine and beer license for the new Otto. "They were unanimous and seemed very enthusiastic about it," said Otto spokesperson Eric Shepherd. "The company was always very keen on South Portland but it was always a matter of the right location." That location is a former service station at 150 Cottage Rd. next to Red's Dairy Freeze. This is an ideal spot, he said, because of the high visibility and "Otto has always relied on foot traffic."

Unlike the Lynnfield, Mass. Otto, the SoPo location is "not a difficult build-out for us ... equipment, tables, painting." As for decor, "The old gas station certainly lends itself to creativity," Shepherd said. The 1,000-plus square foot space will have 26 seats, a bar and counter; local delivery will also be offered.

Lynnfield, which has to be open by a set date in August, will be the sixth Otto Pizza, making South Portland the seventh. "We thought we were giving birth to one and instead we're having twins," said Shepherd. "We're pushing very, very hard to get (South Portland) open this summer."

Sample Two Fat Cats' New Breakfast Items, Sweet Treats at Tomorrow's Open House

Shannon Bryan — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:44:54 GMT

Photo: Facebook

Two Fat Cats Bakery, 47 India St. in Portland is hosting an open house on Wednesday, May 22, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. to showcase its new breakfast items, pies and desserts. Offerings will include roasted garlic, chorizo and goat cheese pocket pies; a bacon, cheddar and caramelized onion breakfast biscuit, cajeeta magic bars, raspberry whoopie pies and the bakery's version of Shaker lemon pie. Beginning this Sunday, May 26, Two Fat Cats will be open on Sundays from 8 to 4 p.m.

No More Bresca For Summer, Future Uncertain

Angie Muhs — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:04:51 GMT

If you’ve tried to go to Bresca for lunch or dinner lately and found the doors of the Portland restaurant locked, you’re just simply too late.

Chef Krista Desjarlais and her staff held their last dinner service a week ago Saturday, and everyone has moved on to new projects and life adventures.

“We put the last ticket in the spike and everybody cried,” Desjarlais said.

Despite the tears, closing the doors means a new beginning for Desjarlais, who is opening a summer snack shack at Outlet Beach on Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester.

She’s now devoting all her time to the new business, which will open for boating and swimming Memorial Day weekend and start serving food June 10. Guests will be able to build a picnic from the menu, which will include hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and other simple fare. (Given Desjarlais’ talent in the kitchen, though, it will probably be the best hot dog you’ve ever had.)

There may also be a new bakery in the works.

The chef isn’t ready to say yet that Bresca is over for good. She still holds the lease on the restaurant space at 111 Middle St., and if no one steps forward to take it over, she may have to re-open in the fall in order to pay the rent.

“If perchance nobody wants to take the lease assignment or take the current rate and renegotiate new terms, I will rethink what I’m going to do in September,” Desjarlais said.

For more on Desjarlais’ transition, the reasons behind it, and her new business, pick up a copy of the Maine Sunday Telegram on Sunday.

Grace Chef Peter Sueltenfuss Is 'Chopped Challenge' Champion

Angie Muhs — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:23:36 GMT

Peter Sueltenfuss, with Jason Loring. All photos courtesy of Ted Axelrod/Axelrod Photography

The chef with home-kitchen advantage took home the prize - very appropriately, a meat cleaver - in Good Shepherd Food Bank's first-ever 'Chopped Challenge' at Grace last night. In front of a sold-out crowd Peter Sueltenfuss beat Jeff Landry of The Farmer's Table, Mitch Gerow of East Ender and Jason Loring of Nosh in three rounds of heated competition based on Food Network's Chopped. The event raised $12,000 for Good Shepherd's Cooking Matters program, which teaches food recipients how to cook.

From left: Meredith Goad; Rob Evans; Joe Ricchio

Judges for the event were Portland Press Herald's own Meredith Goad, Joe Ricchio, formerly food editor of Maine Magazine and Rob Evans of Duckfat, an actual Chopped Champion. Guests nibbled on food from Eventide Oyster Co., Buck's Naked BBQ, The Holy Donut, and other restaurants while behind the bar, mixologists from Portland Hunt & Alpine Club, LFK and Grace shook up signature cocktails.

Jeff Landry of The Farmer's Table and Jason Loring working on the first course

Pete Sueltenfuss' first course: Broccoli soup with pollock sausage

Peter Sueltenfuss of Grace and Mitch Gerow of East Ender under the gun to finish the main course

Jason Loring's entree, which Joe Ricchio dubbed "Swamp Nachos" and all the judges thought was delicious.

Sueltenfuss' entree: Venison Bolognese with spaetzle

Event master-of-ceremonies Spencer Albee and Grace owner Anne Verrill

Joe Ricchio (right) and Jeff Landry after Landry was "chopped" in the appetizer round.

Action at the bar

Jason Loring's dessert featured tempura-fried bacon

The winning dessert: Sueltenfuss' graham cracker churro

And the winner is ... Peter Sueltenfuss, being congratulated by Jason Loring.

Get 'Em While They're Hot: It's Soft Shell Crab Season

Angie Muhs — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:01:55 GMT

Photo: Facebook

Unlike, say asparagus, or oysters, which used to be available only at a certain time of the year but can now be enjoyed year ‘round, soft shell crabs have a definite season. For a fleeting few weeks in late spring, the blue crabs of the mid-Atlantic shed their shells, leaving them soft enough to eat whole. Although they are not native to Maine, soft shell crabs are such a treat that local chefs are featuring them now, for as long as they last. Here is where you can find them, in limited quantities, on specials menus in Portland this weekend.

Po Boy's and Pickles - In a po'boy, of course.

Back Bay Grill - Beer battered soft shells with mint and basil pesto; cucumber, chili and garlic remoulade

Miyake - Deep fried soft shells with rocket and pinenut salad, campagnola sauce

The Farmer's Table - Tempura fried

Eventide Oyster Co. - Yeast battered and deep fried soft shells with bonito aioli, ginger-scallion sauce and housemade ramp kimchi

Fore Street - Pan-fried cornmeal crusted soft shells with wild mushrooms, Bibb lettuce and tarragon yogurt sauce

Grace - Crispy soft shells with pickled cabbage, mango, jalapeno and mint.

Matthew Kenney Opening The Gothic in Belfast

Angie Muhs — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:50:23 GMT

Press Herald file photo

If you've lived in Portland for a while, you may recall chef Matthew Kenney. In 2000, when the Portland Public Market was on Cumberland Avenue, Kenney, a native of Searsport, opened Commissary, his first restaurant in Maine. Less than two years later, it was closed, mired in financial controversy that also plagued Kenney and his string of restaurants in New York City. Since then, the one-time Food & Wine Best New Chef and James Beard Award nominee has refashioned himself as a champion of raw food, writing a number of cookbooks and opening raw food restaurants and culinary programs in Oklahoma City and Santa Monica Calif.. Another is currrently in the works in Miami. The Portland Press Herald's Avery Yale Kamila wrote about Kenney's raw food empire in October, 2011.

And now, Kenney has turned up back in Belfast, where he has a home. He is turning the distinctive space that housed The Lost Kitchen, the restaurant recently vacated by Erin French (to the great disappointment of her fans), into a raw/vegan eatery called The Gothic. According to Kenney's spokesperson Juliana Sobral: "The cuisine at The Gothic will be inspired by local ingredients and prepared with modern techniques ... The cuisine at all of our restaurants has always had a strong respect for the seasonality and abundance that Maine offers, and we believe that The Gothic is a perfect partner for our style of food preparation."

This should be interesting. Stay tuned ...

Rising Tide Debuts Maine Island Trail Ale

Angie Muhs — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:22:45 GMT

Chad Fay, director of sales for Rising Tide Brewing Company, serves Maine Island Trail Ale. Photo/Susan Axelrod

The latest of Rising Tide's collaborative brewing efforts was introduced last night at this month's Portland Greendrinks, held at Portland Yacht Services. Maine Island Trail Ale was created in partnership with the organization of the same name, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The crisp, hoppy beer is a limited edition; a portion of sales will benefit MITA.

From left: Eric Larkin of Allagash Brewing Company; Zach Poole of The Maine Brew Bus and Laura Nixon Belair of North American Breweries. Photo/Susan Axelrod