Some restaurants get all the attention while others—just as good or even better—miss the boat as if slurping on the sidelines. Do these winners have great PR/marketing teams or are there substantive reasons why a star shines more brightly than others in the same galaxy?
Now that Portland has been named the best restaurant city of the year by Bon Appetit’s roving critic Andrew Knowlton, their coveted picks leave me scratching my head with Drifters Wife–so highly regarded–leading the pack. In fact, the day before it was announced of Portland’s new status as urban dining royalty, I went to Drifters for dinner for the first time since it moved from their old space into the former Roustabout digs.
I had a lovely meal. But was it rave-worthy? Yes and no or maybe too subtle to count as blockbuster fare. Perhaps it’s how a friend of mine summed it up on Drifter’s goodness. He said, “My first meal there in the new space was a big disappointment; the next two were superb. But it just might be it’s hit or miss when you expect the best. Or at least the next level!”
The big-windowed painted black bar room works when the lighting is right
A few nights later I went to Cong Tu Bot next door. Now that was an extraordinary dinner, the novelty of eating Vietnamese street food brought to new highs– wispy Proustian revelations to the markets and street stalls of old Hanoi. Some of the dishes were so hot I could only cure it with bottles of beer to calm the burn. But I can still taste those pork patties in their luscious sweet sauce wrapped up in noodles and vegetables and the burning hot cabbage salad that raged on.
Big food: Lolita’s wood-oven grilled porterhouse and Cong Tu Bot’s cabbage salad
But then just recently we went to Lolita to enjoy the simplest, most deliciously elegant dinner around. A gazpacho was pure magic and the 4-inch thick porterhouse grilled in their remarkable wood oven was a work of art. And the dessert of an almond, orange cream cake was a showstopper.
Other places that send me to heaven include Bolster Snow, Scales, Evo, Little Giant, Chaval, Sur-Lie, Fore Street, Solo Italiano, Central Provisions, Back Bay Grill, just to name a few of the old and new.
Back to the Drifter’s meal, the pâté of tongue spread on Nightmoves bread with little rounds of pickled red peppers was a tasty dish, though it lacked the assertive flavor that tongue is all about.
Lively bar where you can dine or drink
We snacked on a bowl of pickles, which was the best dish; but I like anything sweet, and these pickles would win first prize at a county fair. Another dish of mushrooms was splendid as was an entrée of scallops in a tomato broth and a half chicken with buttery braised cabbage and plums. The leg and breast were so big it might have come from a condor. But it was earthy and tasty, a bit dry perhaps and the plums should have added more sweetness.
Drifter: mushroom conserva; pickles
Now, if the Hales can do something about the acoustics–it’s unbearably noisy just as predecessor Roustabout was– it then might be the perfect little restaurant even with its black walls that love high decibel machinations.
Clockwise, Drifter fare: scallop, tongue, chicken
Owners Peter and Orenda Hale—a lovely, affable couple who want to do nothing more than please their patrons– are former Brooklynites, along with their chef Ben Jackson, typifying the new wave of millennials who are coming to Portland to open restaurants. Startup costs are still far less here than in Manhattan or Brooklyn, and the closeness and availability of all the local farm food here is astounding. Our real estate is getting more expensive, but nothing like the Bushwick or Williamsburg tenements that cost $10 million to buy and repurpose into retail storefronts and slick condos.
Malabi, a panna cotta style custard with blueberries
Chef Jackson was a miracle worker in the old Drifters cooking on what amounted to a hot plate and little else. At the new digs he inherited the stainless-steel kitchen from Roustabout, cooking on a multi-burner professional range with all the room in the world to cook up a storm. Still his menu generally has only three entrees and a few smaller dishes, which merely spell a selective exclusivity. Jackson should let loose to show what he can really do.
Drifters Wife, 59 Washington Ave., Portland, ME 207-805-1336 www.drifterswife.com
Rating: Flavors confined to a tasty exclusivity, preciously prepared by chef Ben Jackson, the food is at once earthy and austere
Ambiance: Too millennial hip for words and still the noisiest restaurant in Portland
Tables: Bar dining, tables
Parking: On street or at the 75 Washington St. parking lot after 6PM
$$$: Dinner for two with tax, tip, wine and cocktails: $200
