Portlandia!, East Coast Edition

It's a weird and long story as to how I ended up in Portland, Maine the other weekend. Suffice it to say that I (finally) made it there, and I reaped delicious rewards for doing so. The trip was inspired by Maine's exploding craft beer scene, but I had several sweet treats alongside the Belgians and saisons. This travelogue will speak as much (or more) about the meals (and brews) as the desserts!

I have a weakness for - or, perhaps more accurately, obsession with - Belgian-style frites. Portland has a restaurant specializing in frites fried in duck fat. The appropriately-named Duckfat, therefore, was the first place we ate, and wow, were the frites amazing! Take a look at them in their cone, accessorized with garlic and Thai chili mayos as well as a hefeweizen from Belfast.

The Maine potatoes were substantive and earthy, and their frying medium imparted a rich, fatty flavor as well as a delightfully consistent, crisp coating. The cone was depleted in record time, washed down by the refreshingly light, orange-tinged hefe. Duckfat also offers panini sandwiches, so I enjoyed their house-cured ham and local Gruyere pressed on bakery bread.

That filling meal did not obviate dessert. Two Fat Cats Bakery specializes in pies, but they also have smaller treats. We split a chocolate whoopie pie with chocolate filling while walking back across the city. The cake part had a tough surface, with a soft and airy interior. Its chocolate flavor was very rich, analogous to that of Flour's homemade Oreos; I'd love to know what cocoa powder they used! The intensity was disproportionate to how light the cake was, which made for a very strong impression in relatively few bites. The filling was subtly flavored, somewhere between white and milk chocolate, and light on the tongue while being more solid than standard whipped offerings. There was a lot going on here, and I loved it! (I apologize for not having a picture; I did not want chocolate cream on my phone.)

Next came the pilgrimage-worthy Novare Res Bier Cafe. You could spend hours, days, weeks in that bar - it's a fascinating hybrid of cellar-style beer geek hangout, German-inspired biergarten, and hipster dive. Anyone and everyone fits in! I went there to access Maine brews as well as something rare and European (their list of Cantillons had me drooling), both of which were easily found. Maine came in the form of Oxbow's Freestyle #15, a light saison with Centennial hops that had an odd (but delicious) Fruit Loop quality...and Europe appeared as Brasserie de Cazeau's Saison Cazeau.

It's a dry, rustic saison that's brewed with elderflowers. I have likened elderflower to the mythical nectar of the gods; its honeyed, floral sweetness is among the most transcendent flavors (and aromas) I have ever encountered. Now a hint of that glory manifested in a favorite beer style, and I wept. Well, not really. But my appreciation was deep and sincere.

Eventually, it was time for a nightcap. An imposing edifice along Commercial Street promised "haus-brewed beer"...

...so in we went. In'finiti Fermentation and Distillation opened 2 months ago, and I wish them every success! The atmosphere is great - think dark, shiny wood tables and chairs; lighting fixtures made from barrel staves and hoops; portholes in the wall; visible brewing apparatus; and a sweeping view of Portland's industrial harbor. Their drinks and food are similarly excellent. I sipped the dankly floral Headstash DIPA, brewed in collaboration with Maine darling Oxbow, and snacked on a soft, sweet pretzel dipped in mustard.

The following morning brought a return to Two Fat Cats - but not for another whoopie pie! Instead, this cheerful chalkboard sign dictated our eating.

Here's my slice o' blueberry pie on the bakery's outdoor picnic table.

The pie, predictably enough, contained tiny Maine blueberries. Those small fruits are sweeter than their larger cousins, which made the filling rather sugary; I'm sure the actual sugar in the filling didn't help. However, the filling also had a Julie-approved (read: excessive to most) quantity of cinnamon. The spice cut through the sweetness nicely! The flaky yet substantive pie crust was near perfection...and the coffee? Two Fat Cats' proprietary blend, of course!

Lunch was a waterfront lobster roll and clam cake, courtesy of Portland Lobster Company. Their lobster roll's filling is simply lobster meat, tossed in butter - none of the 'lobster salad" embarrassments often seen elsewhere. Delicious! Also: lemonade with maple syrup is fantastic.

After lunch came The Reason I've Wanted to Go to Portland All These Years. I've been a fan of Allagash Brewing Company since 2009's Interlude triggered THE moment of my beerwakening. Their Belgian lineup is both accessible and creative, offering standard abbey ales as well as inspired experiments in yeast, flavors, fermentation, and storage. I was eager to get closer to their processes and products via a tour and a tasting! Their tour took us through their expanding operation, which involved shiny new fermentation tanks, barrels...

a foudre... 

and this cheerful definition.

This apparatus lover was in heaven. Post-tour, our guides offered pours of Allagash's four flagship beers - White, Dubbel, Tripel, and Curieux. I left the brewery with a bottle of Coolship Cerise (a lambic-style cherry beer, brewed in an open fermentation vessel [the coolship] inoculated with naturally-occurring area yeast) and FV 13 (a sour ale brewed in the aforementioned foudre). I also have a cookbook of dishes inspired by Allagash's beer. I can't wait to try the recipes!

I knew it would be hard (read: impossible) to top the Snallavisit, but dinner and dessert back at In'finiti was a solid way to end my time in Portland. Their pilsner wasn't as noteworthy as their DIPA, but I appreciated its calm drinkability after all the Allagash hullabaloo. My fish 'n' chips were fried in a delicious and substantive beer batter; the batter was solid enough that I could eat the fish as finger food, dipping the pieces liberally in a tangy, spicy sauce. Then, our dessert defied all expectations.

The Gingerbread & Bacon dessert features a gingerbread cake and black pepper ice cream, both of which are drizzled in salted bourbon caramel and joined by granola and candied bacon. The cake was soft and moist with an assertive ginger flavor, while the ice cream's pepper was subtle and complementary. The salted bourbon caramel won by having some bourbon flavor, but none of the boozy zing I dislike - much like the Curieux sampled earlier! The bacon's candy coating was sweet and grainy, though the bacon bits themselves were a tad fatty and chewy. I've never had a dessert that combined so many unusual or savory elements together; the fact that it disappeared in 5 minutes or less is a testament to how well it worked. I can't wait to see what In'finiti is up to whenever I'm in town again.

...and with that, I was on my way back to Boston.

Oh, I almost forgot a treat I saved for the trip home! Bam Bam Bakery sweetened last summer's business trip; now, I had a gluten-free treat on my own time. The chocolate chip cookie dough bar was an immense square - at least 3"x3"x1.25" - of blondie-style dough, baked and interspersed with chocolate chips, that in turn was topped with heaping chocolate chip cookie dough crumbles. A bittersweet chocolate drizzle decorated the top of the bar. Part gooey, part crumbly, and all so good, I highly recommend this treat (and bakery) to the gluten-free crowd and omnivores alike.

Lastly, some words on the city itself. I had assumed it would be a larger version of the standard seaside village - quaint streets, neatly manicured buildings and gardens, cute shops, creative eateries, waterfront parks, and so on. Portland has all those things, but in limited quantities; the city as a whole is grittier, and more dilapidated, than I anticipated. There's an edginess and tiredness to the place that you don't see or feel in the seacoast's other havens. Also: so many hipsters! The whole thing almost felt out of place in the larger context of New England. Still, I appreciated the exposure to something so unusual - and as this post attests, there's plenty to enjoy and go back for.

Until next time...