Lenora, a taco bar in Portland's Old Port, starts serving lunch and dinner today—the café opened for breakfast a few weeks ago, with a menu of tacos, a breakfast sandwich, assorted pastry, and a fruit and yogurt parfait. I've been excited for Lenora's opening for a long time, what with Rian Wylie, the former pizza chef at Maine Beer Company, at the helm.  The café (formerly the home of Walter's) has been beautifully renovated to be warm and airy with plenty of tables for enjoying a coffee. There's wifi and outlets at each table if you want to stay and work for a while.  The b ..read more

Rosella KPT, a sustainable sushi restaurant, is opening in Kennebunk's Lower Village this Memorial Day. This will be the second location of the restaurant—Rosella is located in New York's East Village and is known for serving local seafood, like steelhead trout raised in the Hudson Valley and South Carolina-caught shrimp. The chefs' unique approach to sushi was featured in Bon Appetit's "Can Restaurants Reinvent 'Sustainable Sushi'?" in April 2022.  The Maine location of Rosella will be in the Kennebunkport Resort Collection's Grant Hotel, which is just next to Batson River. Last weekend ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, November 2022. A moody aesthetic and top-notch drinks make this hot new destination an instant favorite. by Kate McCarty The Danforth’s bartenders begin pouring drinks at 4 p.m., so I arrive at the Portland cocktail bar at 4 o’clock on the dot for an early happy hour. As I step through the restaurant’s front door toward the host stand, the afternoon sun is streaming through several large windows, illuminating the space that has been recently renovated into a posh, modern lounge. One wall of the bar area is lined with three plush, dark red velvet bo ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, October 2022. Restaurateurs Michelle and Steve Corry opened 555 North with fan-favorite dishes from their former Portland hotspot. by Kate McCarty 555 Congress Street in 2003, it was part of an emerging cadre of Portland date-night destinations, such as Fore Street, Street and Co., Rob Evans’s Hugo’s, and Walter’s on Exchange Street. Five Fifty-Five became known for its elevated American cuisine and impeccable service just as chefs across the country were embracing the farm-to-table movement. Chef Steve Corry was the first in Portland to serve truf ..read more

Originally published in Maine magazine, September 2022. Offering an upscale pub menu in a hip industrial space, State Lunch is a key part of Augusta’s renaissance. In 2019, inspired in part by the city-led revitalization efforts of Water Street in downtown Augusta, longtime bartender Shawn McLaughlin and chef Matt Margolskee decided it was the right time to open a restaurant together. The two friends had met years prior in the midcoast when McLaughlin was managing the Cellardoor Winery tasting room and Margolskee was cooking at farm-to-table pioneer Primo, and they envisioned a neighborhood pu ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, August 2022. I’m sitting at the six-seat bar in the 190-year-old building that now houses Wolfpeach, a new fine-dining restaurant in downtown Camden. My back is to the historic brick hearth that doubles as makeshift wine storage, and I’m enjoying a few deviled eggs and an intriguing terrine made from eel and pork. I finish the last of a flight of four house-made soft drinks— kombucha and kefir flavored with various tree saps and herbs—then turn to the cocktail list for my next drink. As I decide on a gin and tonic made with Blue Barren Distillery g ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, July 2022. Chef Evan Richardson has strong opinions about mustard—specifically, the mustard sauce used on the pressed pork sandwich known as a Cuban or a medianoche. He insists there shouldn’t be just mustard on the sandwich, but a sauce made from the drippings from roasted pork mixed with mustard. “I’ll never win that argument. It’s just one I’m willing to have,” he says with a laugh as we sit in the sunny dining room of his South Portland restaurant, Cafe Louis. When I try Cafe Louis’s medianoche, I am struck by the difference made by the mustard ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, May 2022. Yazmin Saraya Jean, owner and general manager of Chez Rosa, says she and chef Kyle Robinson have only one hard-and-fast rule: “We’re pretty strict about not putting things on the menu that are not French.” She says it’s tempting at times to stray from their self-imposed edict, but they enjoy researching until they discover a French dish that fits the season and the availability of ingredients in Maine. “We’re not quite purists, but we always want to stick with French cuisine,” Saraya Jean says. To that end, Chez Rosa’s menu is full o ..read more

Originally published in Maine magazine, January 2022 necessary), but this year I’m ready to go back inside where it’s warm. Let’s reconnect with loved ones over a shared meal, surrounded by the pleasant buzz of strangers enjoying a night out. Maine has so many destination restaurants, so here’s a pared-down list of nine worthy spots for when you need to shake up your “Netflix and chill” routine. Ditch the sweatpants and put down the takeout menu: we’re going out. Joshua’s 1637 Post Rd. | Wells Cozy up with some farm-to-table fare at this restaurant located in a restored 1774 Colonial-style hou ..read more

 Originally published in Maine magazine, January 2022. The town of Lisbon has seen a lot of changes in the past half-decade. The defunct Worumbo Mill that anchored the town at its southern end was demolished in 2016, and a medical cannabis shop recently popped up on the site. The Moxie Museum, an homage to Maine’s iconic soft drink, shuttered after owner Frank Anicetti passed away in 2017. In its place came Frank’s Pub, which pays tribute to the museum’s charismatic owner with plenty of Moxie memorabilia on the walls. Then, in April 2018, brothers Jason and Tyson LaVerdiere opened their r ..read more