Review of Sunday Brunch at One Longfellow Square

Maybe it's my age.  Maybe it's my love of music and food.  Whatever it is, one thing is sure - I've always been a sucker for a jazz brunch. There's something special about a relaxing Sunday brunch with live music playing that just turns a ho-hum meal into something more, an event.  Which brings TA and me over to One Longfellow Square on the 3rd Sunday of the month for their jazz brunch.

First, there's brunch. One Longfellow Square (OLS) is not a food venue, it's a music venue. There is an $8.00 cover charge (free for OLS members). There are no chefs slicing and dicing and no servers refilling your coffee. You can get a shot of booze in your coffee or a bloody Mary although I didn't see anyone drinking one but this is really about a spread on a couple of tables and some really good music. The cost for brunch is $5.00 for one big plate or $8.00 for unlimited trips to "the table". Although no one is cooking your food to order, there are quite a few options that are well worth your five bucks for the single plate which happens to be a really big plate. There are cakes and pastries. Quiche, which for some unknown reason I didn't try. A surprisingly very fresh fruit salad for Maine in January. Then there were bagels from Scratch over in South Portland with containers of cream cheese which I believe were imported from Philadelphia. Good coffee - the folks I asked didn't know where it was from but it tasted good and familiar so I believe it was local but I could easily be wrong.  Add some tea and juice choices and I think you could do much worse at a much higher price point elsewhere around town.

Quiche, coffee and tea are out of the picture but for $5, hard to beat.

The music. Disclaimer: I am as equally unqualified to review music as I am to review food. That being said, for brunch, they move the stage to the right (from the viewpoint of the audience) and set up cafe-like tables around the room with the food spread in the back.  Where this differs from most jazz brunch's is in the make-up of the band and the selections they play.  Your stereotypical jazz brunch selections usually consist of bland background music as you are normally there for the food with the music to lend a sort of coolness to the meal.  At OLS, the band that John Clark has put together goes way beyond your typical jazz brunch trio playing out of a "fake" book (this should get me some street cred from the musicians out there). Besides Clark on Bass, last Sunday's band consisted of Frank Mauceri on sax, Carl Dimow on flute, Glenway Fripp on piano, and Peter McLaughlin on drums.  These guys are legit musicians and are a real treat to listen to. The music consisted of mostly upbeat numbers from the likes of Mingus and Monk as well as several I had never heard of. Throw a few nice originals, mostly by Fripp, into the mix and you get a really good jazz fix. It's very lively and does not lend itself to chatting during the sets. They may make adjustments to their program in coming months and it's pretty informal so, for better or worse, you may be surprised by the show.  The crowd was made up of mostly my demographic (age - 50's but very attractive) with some younger people sprinkled about. As those people would say, it was a chill group with one table sifting through the NY Times and at least one woman reading a book.

Dare you to find a cooler place to hang for a couple of hours on a cold winter Sunday.

There you have it. For $26 two of us each had a Scratch Bakery bagel, some pastries, coffee, juice and a nice fruit salad (we missed the quiche which looked good). We also listened to a bit over two hours worth of good jazz played by excellent musicians. If you're planning on a quiet brunch with some "background" music, this is not for you. If you're really into some excellent jazz with a more than adequate buffet to go along with it or just want a change of pace from the other brunch's in town, on the 3rd Sunday of the month, this can be something worth trying out. No one is looking to turn tables so you can hang as long as you like. You'll be the cooler for it.

Review: Little Tap House

During the summer and fall it's not unusual to see me all over the city, either on foot or on my bike.  I regularly ride or walk to Standard Bakery or the Porthole for breakfast.  Lunch at Duckfat, Blue Rooster or Eventide is pretty common.  Sunday's on the deck at the Portland Lobster Company listening to music and drinking beer - yeah, for an old guy I get around quite a bit.  And then I flip the calendar to November.  As the weather gets cold, I don't venture as far from the West End.  I find myself eating closer to home. Pai Men Miyake, Boda, Local 188 and Caiola's become my regular haunts.  I walk down to Salvage BBQ and, being a combination of old and lazy, avoid the climb back up the hill by taking the elevator in the Maine Med parking garage seven floors up and then a nice level walk back to the house.  Like most people I hunker down a little and unless I get in the car, I tighten up that perimeter a bit.  Just on the edge of that cold weather perimeter is the Little Tap House.  It's located on the corner of High St and Spring, long-time home of Katahdin and short-time home of Plush (which I think was destined for failure when they came up with the name) which is pretty close to everything but still has the feel of being off the beaten path.  There appears to be very little parking nearby but there's an actual city lot right across Spring St that very few people seem to know about.

My first couple of trips to Little Tap House were fairly soon after opening and, although the beer was very good, the rest of the place needed time to develop and develop it has. They filled in the once spartan bar area with barrel-like high tops and the decor is finally getting there.  Where the space had a cold feeling during those first few months, it now has a much warmer, comfortable and inviting feel.  I've now eaten at the bar, the high tops and at a table.  The three different types of seating areas work as they should.  If you want to be in the action, sit at the bar.  Like the action but are a little bar-adverse? One of the high tops is perfect and if you want a nice meal with some peace, wait for one of the tables in the back.  I like the action so I tend to be at or near the bar.  I will note that on our last visit, both TA and I noticed that our bar stools were very wobbly - the legs are in desperate need of tightening or maybe new stools altogether.  Either way, when you're big enough to play linebacker for the Patriots a wobbly bar stool is somewhat disconcerting.  As much fun it would be to see an overweight guy rolling on the floor amid a splintered bar stool, I might not appreciate the humor quite as much if that fat guy on the floor happened to be me.  Bar stools aside, Little Tap House is a very comfortable and casual space.  If you were uptight or stressed before entering, you quickly relax just by sitting down.

My first thought in going to Little Tap House is the beer.  There's usually some unique varieties from some of my local favorites like Rising Tide, Bunker, Allagash or Oxbow. Skip a few weeks between visits and there will likely be four or five new choices to pick from including selections from away.  I like that in a pub.  On a recent trip we happened upon happy hour where Allagash White was being served at $3 and a house wine was also $3 (maybe $4??) a glass. I went with the Allagash while TA had the wine which was a Spanish red and actually pretty good.  When happy hour ended, I switched to a stout but TA was satisfied with the happy hour wine and decided to stay with it only to find that it's only served during happy hour - that's right, you can't get a glass of it after 6:00 PM even at a higher price - bizarre.  It usually doesn't bother me when TA has trouble ordering a drink as long as I have mine but the bartender, being a gentleman, didn't throw out the "I'll get his beer while you decide" so I too was sans drink.  She finally settled on something red - the bartender was very up on his beer, not so sure of his wines.  My advice, stick to the beers.

And then there's the food.  I have had a slight issue with the consistency of the food. Nothing has been bad but I've had some dishes run from good to great.  Twice in the past month I've had the fish and chips.  One time it was possibly the best I've ever had, perfectly cooked with a great crunchy batter.  Excellent fries. Next time it was still good but a bit greasy.  First time I had the shepherds pie it was good and hot, almost too hot as in "oh my God, this is hot!" hot.  TA recently had it and it was lukewarm - still tasty but, well, lukewarm.  I really enjoy the poutine and there's a very good burger - both have been consistently good if you want to play it safe.  Service has been consistently friendly and very good.

So, what's the verdict?  The space is convenient, comfortable and friendly.  The beer alone makes Little Tap House worthy of repeated visits.  The food is a nice addition and, when it's really good, it's worth a trip for the food itself with a nice beer or two as an accompaniment.  When the food is "just" good, it's still worth a trip for a great place to have a beer and something nice to eat.  My hope is that the food will become as consistent as the beer so TA, who is not interested in the beer, will regularly give me the thumbs up when I suggest Little Tap House.

What's Up With This Place?

That's it. What 's up with this place?

Whenever I walk by this place I find myself looking up in the sky in the direction where those dishes are pointing expecting to see ET or something.  Never happens.

Review of Bite Into Maine lobster roll truck

Bite-Into-Maine food truck on the grassy knoll at Fort Williams

If you had asked me two years ago where you could find a really good lobster roll I would have had a difficult time answering. You see, I really never went out for a lobster roll or lobster for that matter. It's not that I don't like lobster, I love lobster. I could eat it every day and never tire of it. My issue was always the price of eating lobster out vs. buying and cooking lobsters at home. I couldn't reconcile the $17 lobster roll (2 for $34) when compared to buying seven lobsters for the same price, cooking them at home and making four or five overstuffed rolls that were about as good as anything I could find in most restaurants. That has now changed as I've found myself regularly eating lobster rolls in all kinds of settings.

What's changed you ask? I moved. It wasn't technically the move that turned me into a lobster roll buying fiend but, now bear with me on this one, the change in garbage pickup at my old house from Monday to Tuesday at my new place. Stay with me here - with Monday garbage pickup I cold cook up a ton of lobster on Sunday, gorge myself until bursting and most important of all, the remains were taken away before they got to stink up the whole house. Fast forward to Tuesday garbage pickup. It just doesn't work, the remains from Sunday make my place smell like the docks at low tide in less than 24 hours. I know what you're thinking, why not eat lobster on Monday but no one cooks lobster at home on Monday so that's out of the question. How about freezing the remains? Great idea if I could ever remember to take them out of the freezer and put them in the trash.  I've tried but what I ended up with three months and several lobster feasts later was a freezer filled with about 50 lobster carcasses and a 26 pound turkey (39 cents a pound the day after Thanksgiving, couldn't pass it up). My only alternative was to start eating lobster rolls outside of home which finally (thank God!) almost brings us to the Bite Into Maine lobster roll food truck.

This past year I've had lobster rolls at the Lobster Dock in Boothbay, Thurston's in SW Harbor, Red's (I can't spell that particular town), Bailey's in Scarborough, Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, and finally in Portland - Portland Lobster Company, Eventide, Fisherman's Grill, as well as Bite Into Maine again in Cape Elizabeth. I think that gives me some legit lobster roll street cred. Before I get into details on Bite Into Maine let's make one thing clear - even bad lobster rolls are pretty good (except the one I bought from Shaw's) and it just gets better from there. If you were to line up all these rolls on a table I'd have trouble picking one to eat. It would depend on my mood.  If I were looking for a ton of wonderful lobster meat and didn't mind waiting in line for an hour to get it, then Red's might be my first choice. A side of crab cakes with my lobster roll, probably the Lobster Dock. A great lobster roll without having any kind of view or ambiance to distract from the eating experience, Fisherman's Grill. Something "upscale" and delicious and pricey, Eventide - actually their roll is the least expensive of the group but you really can't eat just one roll at Eventide and leave - add a drink and maybe some oysters and the price goes up pretty fast. Finally, if I'm in the mood for a great lobster roll, maybe something different from the basic mayo on a grilled roll, complete with a second-to-none view and a very reasonable price, I head over to the Bite-Into-Maine lobster roll food truck located at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth and home to the Portland Head Lighthouse, possibly the most iconic and most photographed lighthouse in the country.

The traditional roll with a little mayo and chives

I usually ride there on my bike, about five miles from Portland. That way, I feel as though I earned my roll by having to work to get it. My wife even takes a short break from getting on my "when are you going to stop eating?" case as at least I'm getting some exercise. Anyway, you enter the park and ride (or drive) up the hill toward the lighthouse and you'll find the truck parked on the right side on a grassy knoll. There are a couple picnic benches but I'd advise walking a couple hundred feet up the rise and eat with an unobstructed view of the lighthouse. What sets the Bite Into Maine truck apart from the competition is more than just a great view and a batch of lobster meat on a grilled bun even though you do get a good sized batch of fresh lobster meat, cooked and picked daily - nothing sitting around a few days and nothing ever, God forbid, frozen. What really sets them apart is the variety that you can get. Sure, you can have that traditional Maine roll with a little mayo and chives or the picnic style with cole slaw but I like trying something different from the same old thing. My favorite by far is the curry lobster roll. Just enough curry and mayo to give you that curry taste without taking away from the lobster. It's really different and so good that we've taken to making them with curry when we do make them at home. Another one I tried on a recent trip was the wasabi roll. I had wanted to try this one for quite awhile but I hated passing on the curry so I asked if I could get one with curry on half and wasabi on the other half. The three people working all kinda looked at each other and then decided that they had the technology to pull that off. Actually, they were pretty happy to accommodate my special request - in fact it appeared that they had never had such a request and seemed pretty stoked to try it out. They didn't seem quite as stoked when I suggested the half and half roll to the next customer who was having trouble deciding although they accommodated her as well. I get the feeling that any special request will now be blamed on me but really, the service is very friendly and efficient. Anyway, there was that perfect amount of wasabi mixed in with the lobster, for me the perfect amount is just enough to almost clear my sinuses while coming up just short of that brain freeze. Like the curry roll, the lobster was still the star, the seasoning simply made it better.

They have a Connecticut style lobster roll with butter that appeared to be popular with a group near us. There's also a chipotle version which I have yet to sample. Most people from away (if you're unsure, you are from "away" if you can not trace your Maine lineage back to at least 1820 when Maine became a state) appear to go with the traditional Maine varieties while those of us who might be tired of eating plain old lobster rolls (please don't hate us) are the ones who seem to try the more non-traditional versions. The menu says they have some vegetarian sandwiches which I assume is to appease the granola crowd who can't get past the cruel death the lobsters go through to make the rest of us happy. I can assure you, I will never pass up a lobster roll for a butternut squash sandwich no matter how good it may be. They also have traditional side dishes and whoppie pies but I go for the lobster. Drink choices are local - from the Maine Root Co (very good sodas) and they carry Moxie which I drink once a year to remind myself how much I dislike it. Some swear by it and it is a Maine "thing" so if you're from away, go ahead and give it a shot.

An OK view while you eat your roll at Bite Into Maine

Fisherman's Grill.  A great lobster roll in a not-so-great spot on Forest Ave

Red's.  One of the best but that line... and that traffic...

Finally, you might think me pretty stupid reviewing a place just a couple weeks before they're done for the season but I have some good news for those of you who want a curry lobster roll fix throughout the winter, they will be a fixture at Sunday River ski resort - up on the mountain by North Peak which means you'll need a lift ticket to get one. They're not quite sure what those rolls will cost (around $14 at Cape Elizabeth this summer) but it might get pricey as they insist that they'll continue using fresh lobster meat during the very expensive winter lobster season and bring it to the mountain daily. When you're already dropping a small fortune for a day of skiing, how much more can a lobster roll really hurt? So, there you have it, great lobster rolls and when you combine the price, locale, freshness and taste, it really beats just about every other roll in the area.  I even rode the bike one day from Bite Into Maine to Two Lights to compare them side by side and there was no comparison. Find them on Facebook (sometimes they're at other places besides Cape Elizabeth) and if you go for a "special order" you didn't get the idea from me - got it?

This winter, you take lift #7 to get your Bite Into Maine fix.

Review. Yordprom Coffee

The picture may be fuzzy but those are cars parked in the free spots out front.

I'm the type of guy who drinks coffee every day.  I like good coffee but I'm not a coffee snob - when I need a fix, I'll drink bad coffee and when desperate I've even been known to reheat a cup in the microwave or even buy one from a vending machine.  I drive through Dunkin Donuts at 5 AM and, working at the airport, I drink more than my share of Starbucks. These are not my favorites but they're fine in a pinch.  I'm just being honest here, I'm not a big enough coffee aficionado to be able to get into the nuances of a special free-range bean grown at exactly 7000 feet on the south facing slope of a volcano that was picked by virgins during the vernal equinox and then roasted by elves one bean at a time.  I have no desire to try a cup brewed from Indonesian Kopi Luwak beans that have passed through the complete digestive system of a cat even if it were free (it goes for up to $80 a cup - people actually pay that much for a cup - no kidding!). Having written this, I'm certain that I've managed to alienate more than a few "coffee people" who take their coffee more seriously than me.  This is just a heads-up: even though I appreciate a good cup, I really don't know enough about coffee to review a coffee shop based solely on the coffee and I just wanted to let you know where I'm coming from.

For several reasons, I like hitting local coffee shops over the chains.  First and foremost is that I like buying local. Second, when I'm going to hang out in a coffee shop to maybe read the newspaper, I like being comfortable and the locally owned coffee shops tend to be the most comfortable.  Finally, it's for the coffee. Although I am not the perfect "coffee guy", I think I can discern the difference between a good and a bad cup of Joe.  I tend to like the coffee served at what are considered the better coffee shops in town.  I've also found that I enjoy a pour-over drip individual cup a bit more than something that's been sitting around a few hours.  My pallet isn't good enough to fully appreciate some of those coffee's that are brewed in an apparatus that looks more like a science experiment, complete with beakers and test tubes, than any familiar kind of coffee maker although those things do look cool and I am a sucker for things that look cool.  Oh yeah, almost forgot, this is supposed to be a review of Yordprom.

OK, so my camera sucks. Matching furniture and pleasing colors.

Yordprom is located at 722 Congress Street in the West End (just beyond Hot Suppa! - a couple blocks from Longfellow Square) in an inviting building set back from the road to accommodate off street parking.  Off street parking in-town - plus one for Yordprom.  I rarely park there because, for me, walking to my local coffee shop is part of the appeal of going out for coffee but if you're someone who sometimes has to drive in-town for a cup of coffee, non-metered parking right out front is hard to beat.  Next is the décor.  Unlike many in-town coffee shops whose décor seems to be comprised of whatever was left laying around after demolition with walls painted in colors made up of mismatched cans from the "returned" section of the paint store (all things that I kinda like), Yordprom features very appealing colors with comfortable matching furniture throughout but they got rid of the couch which I miss.  It's clean, as in very clean.  Tommy, the owner, is a clean freak and that extends to the restroom and patio.  It's air conditioned in summer and there's a gas fireplace for winter.  There's a TV which I've never seen turned on.  Free Wi-Fi.

As comfortable and pretty as the place may be, I've never stopped in just to hang out without actually ordering something to drink.  The coffee is very good.  I usually get a medium roast pour-over drip coffee which I'm told is an Ethiopian Sidamo - I'll take their word for it.  When I'm in a hurry, there's the pre-brewed Sumatran which happens to be excellent as well.  To be honest, I like this as much as the pour-over but all the cool kids are drinking the pour-over these days and I want to be one of the cool kids.  The coffees are all organic free trade from several places including SE Asia, Africa, and the America's.  They make great latte's and there's a Vietnamese iced coffee that is my favorite warm weather drink.  To sum it up, the coffee is way better than most places and as good as any.  They also have a batch of organic loose leaf teas that I have never and will never try (I don't do tea in a coffee shop) although I've seen people drinking it and they appear to be happy.

Great coffee, free parking and matching furnishings are not the only things that set Yordprom apart from the others.  The outdoor patio and garden.  Some places have sidewalk seating which is good for people watching but every now and then it's nice to get away from it all, to have some peace and quiet and to enjoy the outdoors without breathing the exhaust from passing buses. Yordprom boasts a private garden that has to be the envy of every other coffee shop in town as I don't think any place has anything comparable.

OK, that's a bit better.  The garden.

Then there's the food.  Like other places, there are a variety of pastries available.  They're sourced from several different bakeries.  I'm not sure if there is a standard rotation of the goods for sale - it does appear to change regularly which keeps it fresh.  There are limited choices of breakfast and lunch sandwiches   There are often Thai dishes as well (the owner is from Thailand) which can be a real treat.  A great Tom Kha Gai soup and hopefully, when it gets cold outside, he'll bring back some curry dishes.

Finally, the place is as dog friendly as the restaurant inspectors allow which I guess these days means you can't hang out inside with your dog - I'm not sure what the current policy is for chilling with Fido on the patio but if the city is ok with it, Yordprom will be as well and your dog will probably get a treat from the staff.

Bottom line: I don't know if I'd walk past some of the other really good coffee shops just to grab a cup at Yordprom but I certainly wouldn't pass by Yordprom to go anywhere else either.  Basically, it's a really nice coffee shop with excellent coffee, free parking and a great garden.  Giving this some more thought, I just might pass by some of those other shops just to have a cup in that great garden before it gets too cold. 

Congress Street (part 2, The Walk Home)

Mini Restaurant Row at Monument Square

Once you leave Monument Square for the walk down Congress Street to the West End, one enter a unique world - one that at its essence is pure Americana.  It is a picture of contrasts.  It's got a combination of some of the best and worst of what Portland has to offer from successful businesses and great restaurants to homeless (and often mentally ill) people, pawn (and porn) shops and second hand stores.  If the Old Port is for the tourists, this part of Congress Street - the Arts District - is for the locals and the more adventurous visitors. This is the real Portland, complete with all its blemishes.

It's about seven or eight blocks from Monument Square to Longfellow Square.  Mr. Google says it takes about 3 minutes to drive that length of Congress St.  In that 3 minutes, you will pass about 26 places to eat, 5 coffee shops, many art galleries, a college, 5 live music venues, a few jewelry stores, a florist, several places to get your hair done, a bridal shop and even the childhood home of America's most famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  That's a lot of stuff.

The first thing I notice during my stroll along Congress Street is the people.  This has changed over the past few years.  About a decade and a half ago, after leaving the immediate vicinity of Monument Square and it's business people you would quickly notice mostly a hodgepodge of what at first glance looked like street people.  Yeah, there were a lot of street people although most of them actually lived in the surrounding buildings, many existing on small social security benefits, whether from retirement or some type of disability. Like you would see in many cities, we had (and still have) many people talking hands-free as they walked, but unlike other places, ours do so without the benefit of a blue tooth.  These people were supplemented by some transient younger individuals just, well, passing through. There were a few eateries that stayed afloat by feeding the lunch crowd and those brave souls going to Civic Center events.   As an aside, making note of how just about everyone tries to avoid people talking to themselves, TA and I now use this as an anti-mugging strategy.  When we see a potential mugger/rapist heading towards us at night, we start talking to ourselves. The greater the perceived threat, the more elaborate our own show sometimes culminating in a full blown argument with a non-existent adversary, complete with swiping at legs and arms while yelling "...get it off me!  Get it off!".  So far, so good.  The theory: even bad people don't want to deal with crazy people.

Cutting hair for over 50 years in the same location.  You want stories?  Hang with this guy for a bit.

And then things started to change.  David's moved from the Old Port to Monument Square which was a ballsy move at the time. The City Council designated this stretch of Congress Street the Arts District which had a pretty big psychological effect on the area. At the urging of the Libra Foundation, LL Bean moved in as did Olympia Sports (both now gone).  Local 188, originally at 188 State St, joined Cafe Uffa at Longfellow Square.  The State Theater was transformed from porn movie house almost back to its original grandeur with legit national touring bands.  555 brought us some real upscale dining and a tipping point was reached.  The Maine Collage of Art (MECA) took over the abandoned Porteous department store building which brought new life to a too-long desolate section of the street. People who only a couple of years ago feared walking down this stretch of Congress Street started to make it a destination and that's where I now find myself walking several times a week.

I still walk past plenty people talking to themselves or sitting against a wall not looking too good but they are now only a small percentage of the total.  There are real life tourists at the Longfellow House.  I know this because I see them when I sometimes grab a sandwich and eat it in the open-to-the-public garden behind the house.  It's a hidden gem that I try to hit if only for a walk-through once or twice a month to see how the garden changes with the seasons.  Continuing up the street you pass MECA with its freak show of a student body - I say freak show in the most affectionate way possible because I think these kids add so much to the vibrancy of the area.  Sure, to an old(er) guy they may have a few more piercings and tattoos than I like to see on otherwise attractive young people but I probably had a bit too much hair and wore too much tie-died clothing back in my day.  I really like walking past MECA and often step into its galleries for a look around. Talking galleries, there are a ton of them - some you have to look hard to find as they're often on second floors like the one that shares space with the florist.  The biggest gallery of all, of course, is the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) which may not be the Louvre but it is a pretty darn good museum.

Port City Music Hall

Then there's the music.  I've not made it into Port City Music Hall or Geno's (I won't add a "yet" at the end of that statement as I may have to grudgingly concede that I might actually be too old for these places) but have been to shows at the State and One Longfellow Square.  I've seen some interesting music at Local Spouts where I'm certain I could wear some of my old Grateful Dead tee-shirts and fit right in.  Blue is another favorite even if my aging eyes say it's a bit too dark for me inside.  The place has the feel of somewhere you would go to in the Village (Greenwich that is) in the 60's where you would snap your fingers instead of clapping your hands.  Even Otto has live music once or twice a week and, even though Empire has exchanged it's B, B, and B (the always popular burger, beer and bourbon all for $6) for dim sum and dropped the "dance" from it's name, you can still get your groove on upstairs.

The change that has made the biggest impact on the street has to be the food. Wealthy people sampling tasting menu's at 555 and David's or grilled octopus and ouzo at Emilitsa.  Budget minded students grabbing a slice at Otto.  There's great vegetarian fare at the Green Elephant.  Bacon dusted fries at Nosh.  You want ethnic?  How about 4 Japanese places, a few Thai restaurants and throw in some Greek, Indian, Mexican, Chinese and French just to keep it interesting.  Did I mention this is all along a seven block stretch that only a few years ago was on its way to becoming a mini Detroit?

"Hank" Longfellow (I assume his friends called him Hank) sitting in front of LFK, Pai Men Miyake and Petite Jacqueline

It's not all Monet and foie gras on Congress Street just yet and hopefully it will never get there.  We still have used furniture shops.  We have Joe's Smoke Shop and Paul's (Quality Foods!).  There's the Senior Citizen Barber Shop - yes, I've been and am happy to report that I'm still a couple years shy of my discount but the guy cutting hair has been in that spot for over 50 years.  Now here's a guy with some really good stories. There's still the porn shop which baffles me in this day and age of the internet.  What can you get in that place that you can't get from your home computer?  Wait a minute, don't answer that because I don't think I really want to know.  And the people. Sure, there are now middle aged couples out for the fine dining.  There's the hipsters with their tight jeans, tight jackets and bowling shoes.  There are your rougher biker types and your preppies as well as the art students all in search of something that can be had on this little section of downtown.  Then there's the classic failure of urban design that is Congress Square.  And there are still the retired and the ill, both physically and mentally in the same numbers as in years past, only they've become outnumbered by everyone else.  Yeah, this is the land of freaks and misfits.  I fit right in and I love it.

Review of Blue Rooster Food Company

About two weeks ago TA and I stopped to get a couple sandwiches at the Blue Rooster Food Company (5 Dana St, Portland’s Old Port) and something bad happened, the counter person already knew my name.  I know, I know, really, how is that bad?  Well, you don’t know the dynamics of my marriage.  Just the look from TA put me on the defensive, “I wonder where I know him from?” I tried, but her look did not change.  “Maybe he’s good with names” I lamely blurted out.  No luck with that either.  OK, OK, I was busted.  I had to confess, I’m a (gulp) regular.  Strike one for the Blue Rooster – like bartenders who innately know not to be too familiar with a customer when he one day shows up with his wife, Blue Rooster’s counter help needs to show some discretion – my wife did not need to know how often I eat there.

I never meant to become a regular, it just happened.  It was unexpected and quick.  It literally took one bite from my first Red Eye Breakfast sandwich and I was hooked faster than a drug addict and his first crack experience.  Pork belly, hash browns, “red eye” mayonnaise, fried egg, all on a buttermilk biscuit.  The perfect breakfast sandwich even if they don’t open until 11AM.  There needs to be a warning label on the sandwich because the egg is so perfectly cooked that on that first bite, the piping hot runny yolk splashed onto my hand.  Hot egg yolk is like napalm, it sticks and cannot simply be wiped off with a napkin and one must either shower or lick the yolk off your hand.  I chose the latter.  That was just the beginning.

The menu stretches across the entire counter wall.

Tot-tine (tater tot poutine).  Tater tots, chicken gravy and cheese curds.  Need I say more?  (Ask for a four-tined plastic fork instead of the two-tined one they give you as the tot’s tend to fall apart when soaked with gravy).  I love the fried Brussels sprouts with queso but the tots keep calling to me like an antsy 2nd grader raising his hand with the answer to a question, “me, me, me!”  I have trouble resisting, though when TA is with me, I go with the sprouts and am always glad I did.  That’s the thing about Blue Rooster, even though they have food for me (The Crafty Swine - House-made country pate, peach mustard, pickled vegetable, local arugula – come on, this is just a sandwich shop), there are a lot of choices for her, including the Farmer Ted (Hummus, goat cheese, etc.) or the Schooner Tuna (with pickled onions and herbed fennel).  Unlike other hog-centric places, we can both eat here and be happy.

There are also the Maine made hot dogs.  You can get it plain, create your own, or chose from the long list of specialty dogs like the Das Boot (bacon-wrapped and house made kraut) and the Barking Dog (bacon wrapped, cheese sauce, onions).  I think the menu actually throws off a lot of tourists as I see many walk in, look over the choices posted on the wall-to-wall chalkboard and then turn and leave. Forgive them for they know not what they eat, unlike the drunks that I’m told line up late night (open until 2 AM weekends) who even in their intoxicated state, know this is really good food.

I couldn't just walk in and snap pictures.  That would be rude.  The Junkyard Dog.

I forgot to mention that this is basically a take-out place with limited inside perimeter stool or bench seating along two walls and the front window.  Even though the food is pretty sophisticated, this is not a fancy place. You are either served to-go in simple cardboard boxes or eat-in in plastic baskets.  On nice days, it’s not uncommon to walk across Commercial St. and find others sitting on the benches by the water eating tots from tell-tale brown cardboard boxes.  The counter people are friendly and efficient.   The main guy behind this place is Chef (that’s right, a real life chef in a sandwich shop) Damian Sansonetti, formerly of Bar Boulud in New York City which caters to the Opera crowd near Lincoln Center.  Think nose-to-tail French inspired.  Who knows why he left NYC to open a Portland sandwich shop (and a soon to open honest to goodness real restaurant).  Don’t ask, just be glad he did.