Initially, the discreet charms of the Drifters Wife—so highly touted in media reports –eluded me on my first visit for dinner last week. Still, I sensed that the food could be very good, enticed by such starters as potatoes in mackerel aioli or mustard greens in lemon and clothbound cheddar. That and chef Ben Jackson is nothing less than a miracle worker to be able to produce such sophisticated dishes â la minute in a miniscule kitchen: To wit–two induction burners barely bigger than a YMCA-room hot plate and a mini convection oven, which chef Jackson admitted to me is not all that satisfying to use. And that’s the rub. I’d love to experience what this chef could do in a proper kitchen. Still, what’s there is a tapestry of exotic small plates (a few brilliantly devised) unlike the more complex, broader dishes created by small-plate citadels Sur-Lie, Lolita or Central Provisions.
Drifters Wife, Washington Avenue, Portland
The menu is not large, but I’m thrilled that I chose the radicchio salad as a starter. Jackson dresses these bitter leaves with an earthy, sweet bacon vinaigrette that was wholly satisfying (more on this later).
Still, going in I was armed with certain preconceptions—hyperbolic impressions laid out by the media: In Bon Appétit’s August issue, for example, the magazine included it on their list of “Best New Restaurants 2016” (the year isn’t even over yet). The tag line was a “big-city wine bar with a New England accent.” What does that mean?
Ayuh!
Big city?
Didn’t we used to be the smallest foodie town in America? But spin is spin is spin.
Then there’s the sweeping declaration last month from the Financial Times of London whose correspondent judged it “The most European restaurant in scale and approach in the US.” Oh, c’mon. Must have been the Bentwood chairs that melted the reviewer’s heart.
European room? It’s a charming, no-frills space with the wine shop in the rear; lower left: Chef Ben Jackson
If it sounds like I’m bitching about the food–and the restaurant itself–I’m not. But the ring-around-the-rosey coverage on this cute little place has been ridiculous, as though Drifters Wife reinvented the culinary wheel rather than what they’ve really done: to offer a uniquely charming place in Portland’s ever-expanding canon of restaurants that strive for excellence. Indeed, the owners, charming and sociable, have given Portland something fairly unique.
Co-owner Peter Hale talks to diners
Still the media gushing goes unabated like a run on Japanese rain goggles. Consider the provenance of the owners’ Brooklyn connections as reported by the press. They love to paint Brooklyn in broader strokes than the Holy Roman Empire. Geez! So that owners Peter and Orenda Hale are hardly ever referenced without mention of their Brooklyn past, as though in receipt of prized tickets to birth and background. It’s a tale of how they clicked, married and moved to Portland, Maine—in one fell swoop. One report burbled that it was a “modern Brooklyn” romance (like “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”?) —all this and heaven too along the salty shores of Casco Bay where with the debut of Maine and Loire, the wine shop, and ultimately the wine bar within a wine shop, Drifters Wife, opened. The only thing missing are performances of haiku at the door.
So it was on the cold waters of a Friday night that we finally made it in to waggle amongst the nightly asylum of diners there for good drink, food, music and talk as though convening with striving souls looking for gastronomic revelation.
Loud music blared over the sound system, disconcerting in such a low-key environment, and I asked our waitress at the bar if she could turn it down. She did immediately. No sooner done than the owner walked over to turn it back up only to give a little Hillary-shoulder-shimmy in tempo to the music as though to drown out an unhinged Donald.
The stock and trade of Maine and Loire’s wine shop is they sell wines that are “farmed without synthetic chemicals, hand-harvested, fermented naturally with their own yeasts and see minimal manipulations or interventions in the cellar.”
Chef Ben Jackson, who also hails from Brooklyn (though not as a native), showed his cooking mettle at two of Williamsburg’s most forward restaurants, Reynard in the Wythe Hotel and the Diner, both owned by New York restaurateur Andrew Tarlow whose trendy, pricey haunts sell $46 pork chop entrees and $22 sides of bok choy.
Jackson prepares much more modestly-priced fare tantamount to an artist’s easel of ingredients meant to tease and please with unusual combinations. Again consider the aforementioned radicchio salad, splayed on a bed of Jacob’s cattle beans—a true Maine bean—and its bold splash of bacon vinaigrette that’s made with the rendered fat emulsified into Jackson’s homemade apple cider vinegar. Topped with a boiled egg, it’s a godly good plate of radicchio like you’ve rarely had elsewhere.
Add the bread course for $6, and you’ll enjoy the efforts from artisan baker Kerry Hanney whose Night Moves Bread + Pie crafts some of the finest hearth-baked loaves in Maine using Skowhegan milled wheat. The only shops in our area, besides this restaurant, that have her baked goods are The Farm Stand in South Portland, Oxbow Blending and Bottling and Maples in Yarmouth, which is where Hanney does her baking. The texture is dense and luxurious with a pronounced sour dough taste. At Drifters it’s served with dulse, a kind of seaweed butter spread, which I’m not crazy about. It’s the color of mud. And as seen on the plate under Drifters low-lighting, it’s a grim visual.
Night Moves Bread and dulse butter
Radicchio salad
There are only two dishes as main courses or large plates on the menu. On the night we were there one offering was squid with yogurt moistening mounds of chick peas mingling with cous cous. The fish, which can be tough if improperly cooked, was perfectly tender; the mix of beans, grain and yogurt overshadowed the very small piece of fish, but it was a nice dish. The other dish was tongue ravioli hand rolled and set in an oxtail broth, with futsu squash, Piave, a hard cheese similar to Parmesan, and rosemary. The dish was pleasantly enjoyable, though I don’t think pasta is Jackson’s forte; but the dish was alive with good contrasting flavors and textures.
Tongue ravioli; squid with chickpeas and malabi with blueberries
The menu changes almost daily. A small plate of potatoes in mackerel aioli is tweaked to become potatoes slathered with anchovy mayo and scallions; the radicchio is reinterpreted as a plate of frisée with radish, pistachio and feta. Instead of the squid or tongue ravioli large plates, a more current list has offered duck confit; halibut with chickpeas, cabbage and cilantro or pork coppa with roast carrots, sweet onions and rhubarb mustard.
Dessert is a milk-pudding called malabi. It was topped with a compote of wild Maine blueberries. It’s firmer than panna cotta and quite likeable for its rich texture. More recent versions have local raspberries. It’s the only dessert on the menu, understandable given the limitations of size and equipment in the kitchen. So don’t expect anything fancy like floating island or nesselrode pie!
What doesn’t seem to change is the by-the-glass wine menu, a small list that should offer more choices in a place billed as a wine bar. But it’s well curated with natural wines, from vintners you’ve most likely not encountered before. I had a very pleasant French chardonnay at $6; most glasses are in the $10 to $12 range.
Final impressions? I would definitely return to dine at Drifters for its low-key vibe and creative cooking. I would also check the menu first to see if the dishes that night have appeal–it’s one of the few restaurants in Portland who make the effort to update their online site regularly. Only wine is served at drifters, and I do, however, like to have a cocktail before dinner. Roustabout is next door to satisfy that need and maybe a nibble or two from their hors d’oeuvre bar menu for preprandial indulgence before lusting after the fine food and wine one door away.
Drifters Wife, 63 Washington Ave., Portland, ME 207-805-1366 www.drifterswife.com
Rating: Low-key, charming, delightfully different fare in a congenial relaxed setting
Ambiance: casual
Tables: seats about 20 with 8 at the bar
Service: excellent
Attention to detail: Peter and Horenda Hale keep a sharp eye on food and beverage and diners’ well being
Parking: On street or adjacent parking lot at 75 Washington after 5 PM
$$$: moderately expensive depending on wine choices: dinner for two $100
