Exit stage left. The instrumental chef who launched Scales’ creative menu, adding an edge to New England traditional fare, fries his last squid tonight. To fill Mike Smith’s place in this stunning waterfront restaurant, two chefs step up: Frederic Eliot and Travis Olson. Smith leaves the top post at Scales in Portland after a four month stint. […]

  The cat’s out of the bag. The New York Time’s Travel section shines a light on Maine’s largest city this week, spending 36 jam-packed hours searching for fun from prom to prom. So what can you do in a day and a half in Portland? Eat Holy Donuts, visit the Portland Observatory, down some elegant […]

  The owners behind the James Beard-nominated Central Provisions may do for pizza what they have done for the small plate: Make it sexy again. Chris and Paige Gould of the madly popular Old Port destination dine, just announced plans to open their second Portland restaurant in a former Borealis Bread shop in Back Cove. And […]

  This must be the fastest turnaround in dining history. Seems spring just started to bloom when Shannon Bard, chef/owner of Zapoteca in Portland, announced her plan to take over a rambling bookstore in Kennebunk and turn it into a food empire. Now, a few months later, her flagship restaurant Toroso is ready for prime time. […]

It’s the best thing to happen to a neighborhood restaurant: Get purchased by local chefs who are in no rush to take the wheel and make a hard turn. “We are going to move slowly, slowly and take baby steps,” said Ilma Lopez, seated in a front booth at Caiola’s Restaurant with her husband Damian Sansonetti. Why […]

When did Brooklyn bashing become a thing? It’s no secret that the Brooklyn-to-Portland pipeline is robust. Nowhere is this more manifest than on Portland’s diverse and teeming food scene. A recent screed posing as a restaurant review in an alt-weekly denigrated the influx of immigrants From Away, specifying Brooklynites particularly as “unwelcome” cultural interlopers. The target: Drifters Wife. […]