Lobster and Other Financial Mistakes

No-regrets. Credit limits be damned!

Ummm so which of you were going to tell me Maine (Portland specifically) kinda rocks??? Maybe this isn’t revelatory to anyone else, but I was not expecting to eat this well in Maine. I kept having to remind myself I wasn’t in Brooklyn — though Portland does seem to suffer from the same tiny dining room syndrome.

In typical me fashion, I’d like to present my trip through the best bites.

Beginning at the beginning — our local Portland pal, Emma, took us, bleary-eyed and hungry AF, to a very cute little café in her West End neighborhood called Smalls.

I got the grilled spinach + artichoke sandwich with white beans, kalamata olives, red onion, and peppadew cream cheese — and the gem Caesar salad with croutons, jammy egg, Spanish anchovy, and shallot–parmesan dressing.

We were off to a great start.

We talked and talked and talked, reminiscing and gossiping about all the crazy things happening in our lives. Aka tying a proverbial knot in the bond of friendship. This is also the moment our beloved Rose walked in the door. I was obsessed with her immediately. We swapped compliments on shoes and sweaters, and candidly shared our mutual feelings about a certain bad egg.

Good food, good company, good goss.

The next few hours we spent wandering down cobblestone streets stopping at every cute vintage store, boutique, or specialty store. Blabbing the entire time.

We of course worked up quite the appetite and urgent need for a glass of wine, so our hosts suggested an oyster bar on the West End of the peninsula called The Shop by Island Creek Oysters. The interior leaned “brewery” which usually I’m not a huge fan of, but the out-on-the-dock / rugged-fisherman vibe helped mellow whatever bro-y elements I was picking up. We had three types of bright and briny oysters (please don’t ask what they we’re called, you know I don’t know.) I can’t imagine you’ll get a bad oyster in Portland but the small extra salty ones were my favorite.

For dinner we had a Portland “must” called Duck Fat. And my honest review is that we ate delicious food there but I don’t think it was a top 5 of the weekend. As the name suggests it was a heavy meal and though I love poutine, I just don’t think I could realistically eat there more than once in a blue moon. We had the poutine, cream of tomato & fennel soup (my fave of the night), and a green goddess salad with $100 add on of lobster claw meat. We also had a a duck fat caramel milkshake, which was delicious but sent me completely over the edge of full into stuffed.

The following day was LOBSTER ROLL DAY. Which up until this point I had never cared one bit for lobster rolls. The only one I had prior was cold, wet, and desperately in need of salt. As a born and bread Gulf Coast Princess most seafood I have comes breaded and fried or boiled in a sear-your-nostril-hairs broth — so, saltless rubbery lobsters never appealed to me. Like, I can think of much cheaper and more delicious ways to house a stick of butter.

But today I was proven wrong and still now I am salivating over that $35 sandwich.

After some internet research we landed on - Bite of Maine - a little truck parked next to a gorgeous light house on an idyllic grassy hill on Cape Elizabeth overlooking the ocean. Now if you’re a hardcore Mainer, you might want to close your eyes for the next few sentences. I got the Connecticut style. Warm buttered roll, with warm butter drizzled all over.

My GOD. So good. Worth every penny.

Sadly there was nothing else that day worth wasting precious Substack real estate over. This is where we start to muddy the timeline so that I don’t bore your with details of the lunch we made at home and the breakfast sandwich I wouldn’t recommend to my worse enemy - so we’re going to jump around a bit.

Honey Paw had a decent khao soi, brothy mussles, and sautéed veg. Bread & Friends offered us a nice salmon breakfast bowl before heading to the library to knock out some work and we popped over Crispy Gai for a quick week day lunch of cabbage salad and pad ka prow. Do yourself a favor and skip the Siu Mai dumpings - not a fave of mine.

I’ve lost the plot here, was this post supposed to have a plot? At this point we’re beyond plot verging on self-indulgent reminiscing about good food into oblivion.

Scales was not on my radar at all until a coworker suggested we meet there for dinner. Usually, I’m wary of trusting any old recommendation, and frankly, I had no idea how much of a foodie my coworker, Rachael, really was. From this point forward, I would trust both Rachael and her oyster-loving boyfriend with my dinner reservation anytime. This spot could break the bank if you’re not careful — and we were not careful — but it was worth every bit of credit card debt!

The stand out for me was the scallop special with aqua chile, chilli oil, and garlic flowers. I ordered the Grilled Whole Branzino green garlic butter, fennel, grilled lemon, but liked Nina’s Pan Roasted Halibut brown butter, hazelnuts, Maine potatoes, lemon better….so like the absolute angel she is (and the brat I am) we traded and she let me have the yummy Halibut. Thank you baby <3

Our final dinner with Emma & Rose (and the newest edition, Corinne) was at Izakaya Minato - a bittersweet send-off. I will spare you the blubbering ramblings of joy and friendship (see the next post for my love letter to Emma) and stick to the important stuff for now: char-grilled oysters.

Um, yeah, so these oysters were amazing. They’re called Motoyaki oysters, and they’re broiled with a miso custard and ponzu sauce. So good. Honestly, everything we had was amazing. As a table, we decided to do the omakase menu and got more than five hungry girls could handle

Let me try to remember everything we got. For sure: okonomiyaki, kimchi fried rice, bacon-wrapped mochi, sashimi, Japanese fried chicken, kinoko salad, shichimi tuna, and some amazing stuffed mushrooms. Yeah, I think that was everything. As you can imagine, we rolled out of there like Violet Beauregarde post-gum.

Some honorable mentions I wasn’t able to try for myself but will certainly be adding to my list for next time:

• Leeward - Pasta

• Rose Foods - Bagels

• Ramona’s - Sandwiches

• Mr Tuna - Sushi

• Via Vecchia - Italian

Encore: Peaks Island

Though our first impression of the island left us VERY hungry and rushing back to the mainland for dinner (everything in this sleepy town closes at 5 PM sharp) - we were pleasantly surprised by what we did find before the sun went down the next day.

Hannigan's Island Market, whose fitting and snarky slogan “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!” had me giggling. This tiny, barebones grocery store has a deli counter tucked in the back. They sling subs to locals and summer vacationers, and for a grocery store sub, I couldn’t ask for more. Turkey on a roll with all the American-Italian fixings. Best enjoyed right away on a rocky beach, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. I mean, just look at that gorgeous tomato glistening in the sun!

Now, usually I’m not a pizza girl. Don’t get me wrong — I love pizza — but for me, it’s not special, and I rarely seek it out. Il Leone is well talked about (at least among the few people I know in Portland), and for good reason. Il Leone is naturally leavened (aka sourdough) pizza — Maine’s best attempt at the classic Napoletano style. Beyond the beautifully fluffy crust, the savory-but-fresh tomato sauce, and the perfect char from the wood-burning oven, what’s really lovely about this place is the atmosphere. Tucked into the woods along the shore, this spot is no more than a couple of picnic tables, a wood-fire oven, a prep station, and a few Bluetooth speakers hanging from tree limbs. The picture of simplicity.

We got the Bufalina & the Diavola - 10/10 for both.

That’s all for now! I’ve got so much more to share so subscribe to see what’s next & comment if you have a favorite spot in Portland, Maine!

xoxo,

Haley