part 2. lunches and dinners and other comments coming later.
BAGELS: got to try out scratch bakery (scratchbakingco.com) in south portland for their bagels. went in on a thursday at 830, and i took the last 4 bagels. there was a 15 minute wait after that, and about a dozen people buying food then, so i can only imagine how crazy it gets on the weekend. so the bagels - not comparable to the nyc/northern nj great places, but a different style. i believe they had “maine salt” “plain” and something else that was empty - everything perhaps? there was not large chunks of sea salt on the outside of the salt bagel, i think it was more included in the dough, along with some other flavors i couldn’t identify. it seemed more to me to be a bread that was cooked in the style of a bagel than those i am more accustomed to. not bad, not great, but good and different.
ALCOHOL: liquid riot (liquidriot.com). resto-bar right on commercial ave. i tried the primus (belgian style) which was clear but not great. then i had heart of glass (blonde beer aged 6 months) which bowled me over, almost a wine like beer, which is my preference. i was able to get 2 32 oz. crowlers of it to go (crowler = can, they get the beer out of the tap, then a machine puts the lid on) because i liked it that much. they don’t sell it in cans, and i was really hoping to try their ichigo cream (strawberry ale with sake yeast) but it was “on nitro” so not available. however…
novare res (novareresbiercafe.com) is a beer cafe with a ton of beers on tap, and they had it listed. so off i went, a little off exchange st, and sat out on the patio (with trees as cover) and had it there. i thought it was a good beer for my liking (i don’t like heavy beers and prefer fruitier or wine-like ones that are crisp), glad i had one, and would probably buy some if it was available near me.
bissell brothers (bissellbrothers.com). they’re on thompson point, and i went on sunday to see if their beers were as good as everyone says. you can buy 4 packs there, or you can drink what they have on tap, plus there’s usually a food truck outside so you can get eats with your beer.
tried the baby genius, it was smooth but not exactly what i wanted. then i tried the seed (a fruity beer) but NOT overpowering fruit. this i fell in love with , and definitely DID want to get some to go - but no chance. they had packs for sale on friday, and they were long gone. next time they were open was wednesday, with two varieties on sale - substance and reciprocal - so i decided to blindly but them.
showed up wednesday morning at about 11 am. there were 20 people already in front of me for the noon opening. a guy came out later and said there were limits of 3 (4 packs) on reciprocal and 2 (4 packs) on substance. the people behind me were from massachusetts and had a couple people in their group, texting their co-workers if they wanted to buy a full order for each of them (the answer was yes). by the time the place opened at noon, there must have been 100 people behind me online. went in, placed my order, the reciprocal was dated the day before and the substance was coming off the lines as we were being served (!), got some seed (still on tap, still delicious) and tried the beer the next day at home.
since i was buying it blindly, i was REALLY happy that they were both crazy good beers. smooth to go down, not filling, and flavorful. i preferred reciprocal, but i was happy i got them. was it worth the wait? for me, likely because i had the time and it was a one-time thing. frequently? i don’t know, unless it was with a crew of friends and we would rotate waiting. i’m not a big fan of long lines.
urban farm fermentory (fermentory.com). i had a sumac cider which blew me away, but when i went back to get a growler of it, was sold out (it was the forage-of-the-week). didn’t care as much for the other ciders, but that was because they were drier, which i usually don’t like as much. i did get some of the blueberry kombucha to take home, however.
DESSERT: two standbys: two fat cats (twofatcatsbakery.com) for blueberry pie (and other slices, depending on the morning; i had cherry) and whoopie pies.
gorgeous gelato (gorgeousgelato.com) on fore street, with absolutely amazing gelato. the other gelato place is more like really good ice cream, but gorgeous is the melt-in-your-mouth kind.
pictures are bissell brothers, gorgeous gelato and novare res patio at night
