Tag Archives: Reviews

Pre-Show for the New East Ender

Last night My wife and I attended the combination 1st birthday party for my favorite restaurant Central Provisions/ guest chef night for the soon to reopen East Ender.
A large crowd of area foodies and kitchen luminaries turned out to support chef owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy, formerly of the out of this world Small Axe Truck. Most prominently, Chefs Rob Evans of Duckfat, Jason Loring of Slab and Sean Wilkinson of Might &Main all showed up to show support.

The dishes on the East Ender side of the showed great promise for their upcoming opening. I loved,loved, Loved the Pastrami cured salmon I had. It was some of the best salmon I have had in recent memory. Topped with mustard seed and accompanied by roasted root vegetables the dish was good enough that I briefly considered ordering a second.

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Fans of the former Small Axe will be happy to know that a small plate version of their famous burger was on the menu. During our hour and and half dinner I saw dozens of these perfect little beauties head out of the open kitchen making it the clear favorite of the night. Also very popular and more daring were the chicken fried sweet breads. These were so good that the couple sitting next to us, did order a second order. This despite it being one of the larger dishes served. Happy,happy!

Highlights on the Central Provisions side of the menu were: a fantastic La Luisiane cocktail made with New England Distilling’s Gunpowder Rye, sweet vermouth, Benadictine and then Barell aged.

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A wonderful carnitas apparently made with Crispy Suckling Pig! So gooood!

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I also was blown away by the seared Maine scallops with peridots black truffles and cognac cream sauce. It was so good I unfortunately devoured it before thinking to take a photo.

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Yummy in my tummy!
Overall a perfect night, I can’t wait for the New East Ender.

Ten Ten Pie

What a great addition to Portland! Ten Ten Pie is a great little neighborhood bakery, restaurant, and market specializing in Asian inspired foods.
On this my first visit I picked up some amazing treats to put together for a weekday brunch with my sweetie.
Starting with the savory I picked up the Chinese sausage croissant, a Nikuman steamed bun with pork and Kimchee and a savory pastry filled with kale and goat cheese. For the sweet I bought the chocolate pudding with miso caramel cream, double chocolate sake cake, and a yummy pop tart like creation topped with almonds and honey.
Everything was really,really good. The chocolate sake cake was amazing! I will definitely be back again.

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Boozy Christmas Gifts

Stop by New England Distilling for your Boozy Christmas needs. Prefer Beer? Allagash Brewing is right next door.

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Egg Nog and Cookies

Boozy egg nog and gingerbread cookies at Central Provisions. Now that’s what I call Christmas Joy!

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