Because the first installment of this story in January resonated with readers — Who wouldn’t want dish recommendations from local chefs and restaurateurs? — we’re serving up another.
We asked four more local chefs for their favorite dishes from area restaurants (discounting their own, of course). Once again, we’ve highlighted one selection from each chef, and listed their other recommendations in More To Try, below.
This time, each chef or restaurateur’s tip led us to the next, in a chain of professional acclaim. Besides the four featured dishes, the industry experts also raved about eight other must-orders in Greater Portland. Asian-food lovers, especially, are in for some treats.
YAKITORI SOBA WITH SWORDFISH TORO AT AOMORI
Maine Chef Ryan Nielsen, formerly at Cuties, loves the yakitori soba with swordfish toro (belly) at Aomori in Bayside.
Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) and yakitori (grilled meat skewers) are staple dishes for izakaya-style restaurants like Aomori. They took the innovative step of combining the two in this dish.
“It just had a nice ring to it — yakitori soba,” said co-owner Reo Miyake, who launched Aomori in December with his partner, Helen Carter, and his father, Chef Masa Miyake. While they also offer the dish with grilled chicken thigh, what makes this version sing is the Atlantic swordfish belly they usually source from Harbor Fish Market. “It’s an underrated cut that a lot of places actually end up throwing away, but it’s a great part of the fish, nice and fatty,” Miyake said.
Miyake walks us through the dish, starting with two skewers of swordfish toro seasoned with aji-shio, a combination of salt, pepper and umami-boosting MSG. He sets the skewers on Aomori’s binchotan grill, a traditional Japanese charcoal grill set to about 650 degrees. Binchotan coals produce almost no charcoal scent, “so it gives it a really clean cook,” Miyake said.
Now and then, he fans the grill vents for more air flow and heat. Flames lick the skewers as rendering fat drips onto the coals, sending up plumes of smoke. Miyake moves the skewers just beyond the charcoal — so the smoke and flames subside and the fish doesn’t take on any acrid flavors — then brushes savory soy glaze over the seared cubes.
As the belly finishes cooking to nearly medium doneness, Chef de Cuisine Josue Lopez fires the noodle stir-fry, letting the pan’s oil reach its smoke point so the egg noodles, cabbage and carrots won’t stick. After about a minute, he adds sweet and savory yakisoba sauce and gives the sizzling pan a few quick tosses.
Lopez plates the noodles and tops them with squiggles of Kewpie mayonnaise, sliced scallions, dried seaweed, beni shoga (pickled ginger strips), and shichimi togarashi, a seven-spice blend of peppers, roasted citrus peel, sesame seeds, ginger and nori. They finish the dish with the glazed skewers.
Miyake said the soy-based yakitori and yakisoba sauces help the noodles and swordfish harmonize. “They marry each other perfectly,” he said.
MI’KMAQ TROUT AT FRANCISKA
Miyake and his father love Franciska, an Argentinian wine bar in the Old Port. “Their (wine) selection is excellent, and the food is just as impressive.”
In particular, they said the Mi’kmaq trout with chimichurri is outstanding. “It was cooked perfectly — crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside,” Miyake said. “What we love about trout is its mild, clean flavor, which really shines when prepared well.”
The dish begins with fresh brook trout raised by the indigenous Wabanaki tribe at Mi’kmaq Farms and Fish Hatchery in Caribou. Franciska Chef de Cuisine Rudi Schnetzer fillets and pin-bones whole trout, then gives the fish a quick drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of salt.
He adds a fillet to a hot pan with neutral oil, skin side down. Since the middle of the fillet naturally buckles in reaction to the heat, Schnetzer presses it down gently with an offset spatula to keep it in contact with the pan. Once the skin is brown and crisp, he sets the fillet flesh-side down on a small sheet pan over a bed of herbs and lemon, then briefly roasts it in a convection oven at 350 degrees until just cooked through.
Schnetzer centers the fillet on a rectangular plate, then spreads fennel and red onion escabeche around it. The aromatic veggies are pickled in a white wine vinegar brine with ginger, garlic, Fresno and serrano peppers.
After adding sprigs of fresh chervil and cilantro, Schnetzer finishes the dish with a few spoonfuls of chimichurri, a vibrant Argentinian sauce of fresh parsley, oregano, grated garlic and fried chilies. Chimichurri is often served with meat, and gets its tang from vinegar; this version uses lemon juice to pair better with the fish.
“Everything we do on the menu, we want the product to showcase itself,” said Franciska owner Alex Marchesini. “We don’t do too much to it. We’re not trying to mask the flavor of the trout.”
LOX & AVOCADO TOAST AT OCOTILLO
Marchesini said before he moved to Portland, he was doing a wine bar pop-up at acclaimed Tartine Bakery in Los Angeles, where smoked salmon toast was his favorite item on the menu. “I really missed that dish, and although it’s a classic, many places struggle to execute it properly,” he said. “Ocotillo absolutely nailed it — it’s as good as Tartine’s.”
Wilson Rothschild, executive chef of Ocotillo in the West End and its sister restaurant, Terlingua, conceived the dish. Ocotillo General Manager Lea Pillsbury said they wanted to work the stellar sourdough from neighboring ZUbakery into their menu, and this simple dish made the perfect vehicle.
They spread guacamole over a thick slice of griddle-toasted sourdough, then fan Maine’s Ducktrap cold-smoked lox on top. Red onions pickled in red wine vinegar lend crunchy tang.
What puts the dish over the top, though, is a generous drizzle of salsa macha — a soul-warming blend of toasted guajillo, ancho and chiles de arbol, studded with bits of roasted almonds, peanuts and sesame seeds, all united by the house chili oil. They plate the lox & avocado toast alongside a mixed greens salad with rainbow carrot ribbons and citrus vinaigrette.
“A big part of what makes it work is the bread,” Marchesini said. “I think it would be difficult to achieve the same result without ZUbakery’s sourdough. The quality of the salmon, combined with the pickled onion and the subtle heat from the salsa macha, makes this, for me, the ultimate lunch dish. I could eat it every day.”
RARE BEEF SALAD AT THANH THANH 2
Multiple local chefs put this one on their lists of essential local dishes, including Reo and Masa Miyake and Rothschild. It’s been a darling within the hospitality industry for decades.
“I love the spice factor, and the total dish just pops,” said Rothschild. “It’s a great summer dish if you like the heat.”
Thanh Thanh 2 owner Thanh Nguyen explained that his mother, restaurant founder Lyly Ho, learned the dish from a chef in Vietnam before bringing it to the Forest Avenue venue. She also serves the salad at her Biddeford restaurant, Pho Ly.
Raw, tender slices of eye of round form the base of the dish. Nguyen said they freeze the beef so they can slice it extra-thin. They slice daily to keep the beef from oxidizing and turning brown.
Nguyen demos the salad, spreading a layer of fresh, rosy beef slices inside a mixing bowl. He adds thin-sliced white onion and fresh cilantro sprigs, then sprinkles in their special seasoning mix, which uses sugar, garlic powder and seven other secret ingredients.
“My mom wouldn’t even tell me what’s in (the seasoning) for about 15 years,” Nguyen said. “But it’s like an explosion of taste in your mouth.”
He adds a generous squirt of spicy sriracha, though the restaurant can tailor the dish to your preferred heat level. He folds the meat into the bowl and stirs until all the ingredients are evenly coated. Then he spreads the mixture on a plate, tops it with fresh Thai basil, and rims the dish with slices of lime and jalapeño. An ample squeeze of lime and a showering of crispy fried shallots and crunchy chopped peanuts, and it’s done.
Acid from the lime juice partly “cooks” the raw beef, but for any customers who prefer their meat fully cooked, they’ll gladly quick-poach it in chicken broth.
“How beautiful,” the vivacious Ho said. Then, with a broad, playful grin: “But I am more beautiful.”
Though Thanh Thanh 2 is staffed by Nguyen’s family, he said he and his mom are the only ones who know the recipe for this dish. Even Nguyen’s fiancée is in the dark.
“Until we’re married,” he laughed. “Then I’ll write it in the vows.”
8 MORE TO TRY
Reo and Masa Miyake, Alex Marchesini, Wilson Rothschild and Thanh Nguyen suggest more standout dishes in Greater Portland.
Winter squash mousse at Magnus on Water, Biddeford. “I loved the use of squash in a dessert — it felt both unexpected and thoughtful,” Marchesini said. “The torched meringue worked beautifully, adding lightness and contrast, while the praline brought a great textural element. The dish felt very original and well balanced overall — not too sweet, not heavy — just a perfect way to end a meal.”
Goi moo salad at Boda, Portland. “It’s salty, sweet, and sour all hitting you at the same time,” Nguyen said. “I usually get it 4 stars or 911 spicy if I want to really turn up the heat. I never skip on this dish whenever I go there.”
Pepperoni and mushroom pizza with extra sauce, Flatbread Company, Portland. “The crust is awesome,” said Rothschild. “It’s chewy and wood-fired using organic, good ingredients. The pepperoni is high-quality, and with the extra sauce it has perfect ratios.”
Chicken fried rice at Thanh Thanh 2, Portland. “It’s peppery, packed with vegetables and protein, and simply delicious—perfect when you’re in the mood for something comforting and straightforward,” said Reo Miyake.
Eventide brown butter lobster roll at Eventide, Portland. “Brown butter … adds an extra layer of sweetness and complements the lobster so well,” Nguyen said. “If my out-of-town friends visit, I always bring them here to try Maine lobster.”
Gobi 65 at Taj Indian Cuisine, South Portland. “Gobi 65 is a cauliflower appetizer,” said Rothschild. “It’s lightly battered, fried up crispy and tossed with onions and peppers in a nice, bright, citrusy sauce that can be spiced to preference.”
Avocado salad with granola, almond, pickled onion, and miso dressing at Mr. Tuna, Portland. “This is my favorite dish at Mr. Tuna,” Marchesini said. “The execution is simple, but very precise — the avocados are always perfectly ripe. The balance of sweetness and saltiness in the dressing, combined with the richness of the avocado and the crunch from the granola, makes for a very satisfying dish.”
Hamachi kama at Yosaku, Portland. “This is the collared section of yellowtail fish — they grill it to perfection and add a little salt to it,” Nguyen said. “This is also one of my daughter’s favorite dishes in Portland.”
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