III Forks Visited 8/25/2014 4 Forks

III Forks 1201 San Jacinto St., Houston, TX 77002

So not to be super judgey but I don't there's much Texas does better foodwise than NYC except in two categories - Mexican and Steaks.  I was in Houston for a client meeting and the only type of restaurants downtown that were worth of a client dinner were all steak houses.  Luckily, everyone in our party ate meat so going to a steak house was not an issue.

I had to laugh that this place is called Three Forks and luckily for them they were better than 3 forks. Our waiter did an excellent job of describing all the dishes and told all of us that their 3 fork salad was "award winning".   Everyone at the table ended up ordering it but I bucked the trend and ordered the ahi tuna appetizer ($16) and went with the petite filet mignon ($36) with King's Butter toppping (essentially a giant pat of truffle butter for an extra $8).   The tuna appetizer was a about 5-6 thin slices of tuna, seasoned with a mix of spices and lightly grilled.   It wasn't quite as rare as I would have liked but it was a good start to the meal none the less.  In addition to the steaks we all ordered, we got a bunch of sides to go with our meal:  mashed potatoes, lobster mac and cheese, and sweet potato hash (all $10).  As you can see there wasn't a vegetable in sight.  When the steak first came out, I was a bit disappointed in the presentation of the steak just sitting by its lonesome self on a giant white plate.  But then the helpful waitstaff actually comes around and helps plate all the side dishes for you in addition to bringing out a plate of grilled tomatoes and spring onions to go with your meat.  As soon as I cut into my filet I knew it would be a good one.  It was perfectly rare in the center but not blue rare.  The king's butter was the perfect heart stopping topping to it although I did have to scrap off half of it for fear that I would actually end up with a heart attack at the table if I ate all of it.  I hadn't had steak in a long time and this made we remember why I love steak.  It was juicy, moist but with the right amount of sear on the outside.  Heavenly.  The lobster mac and cheese was good with the right amount of cheese - although obviously I always wish there is more lobster in everything.    I'm glad that I got the petite filet because I didn't finish it which made me super sad to leave that kind of meat on the plate to only be thrown away.

Of course, I left some small room for dessert and I split the bread pudding ($9) with someone else at the table.  It was very sweet - almost too sweet for me.  It was also a bit heavy on the sauce which is the fatal mistake most places make with bread pudding - a good bread pudding can still be delicious without being sauce heavy or dense like a rock (see Maialino).  Overall, it was still a very solid dinner and made ever better with several bottles of a great unfiltered California red wine.   I can't say I was a huge fan of Houston itself, but Texas does know how to do steak right.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bodega Negra Visited 8/23/2014 3 Forks

Bodega Negra 355 W 16th St., New York, NY 10011

I'm usually very skeptical of hotel restaurants because they are either way overpriced or just serve mediocre food.  I'm even more skeptical of trendy hotel restaurants - so when we ended up at Bodega Negra for Jenn's bachelorette party I was a bit worried.  But it actually ended up being super fun and the food really surprisingly good (although I'll talk about the prices later).

The restaurant is in the uber trendy Dream Hotel near the Meat Packing District, so you can only imagine what the crowd is like.  Even at 7pm, you could see the crowd of young club goers trying to get into the rooftop bar of the hotel.  The entrance to the restaurant is pretty hidden and once you enter it almost felt like I was in a club in Vegas - it was almost dark I nearly tripped going down the stairs and it's very loud (yes, I know this makes me sound like an old lady). Since we were such a large party,  we had arranged to have a set menu for dinner.  When I first looked at the menu I thought I was going to choose from the different dishes but then I was told we were actually getting everything on the menu and sharing it family style.  Oh my - there were 12 dishes on the menu and apparently we got 2 of everything on the menu.

We started the meal with the guacamole which was nice and smooth and it was served with chips, jicama and radish.  It was a solid guacamole - no complaints here.  Next for the "first course" which was 4 different dishes:  quesadilla rustica, chopped salad, fish tacos and chicken tostaditas.  The quesadilla was more like a very thin crust pizza instead of an actual quesadilla in a flour tortilla and folded over.  It was served with four cheese, habanero, roasted tomato and chimichurri - it was a nice starter dish.  The chopped salad included avocado, queso fresco, pumpkin seeds and jalapeno cilantro.  It was a HUGE salad and actually very tasty.  It could definitely be a stand alone meal for someone if they were looking for something on the lighter side.  The pumpkin seeds were a nice touch and added a smokey crunch to it. The fish tacos  came with tomatillo orange salsa, chayote jicama slaw and crema and it was fantastic.  The fish was grilled and was cooked perfectly - very firm but still moist at the same time.   The combination of the all the ingredients made it quite a refreshing but satisfying taco.  At this point, I barely had any more room to try the chicken tostaditas but I managed to eat a few without the tortilla shell and the shredded chicken was quite tasty.

I could have totally be done with dinner at point and been really happy but we still had our main entrees to come.  They rolled out the Roasted Amish Chicken, Carne Asada and Chile Relleno along with sides of black beans, fried plantains and green rice and I thought I was going to burst.  There was literally no room on the table for everything so we ended up just laying some dishes on top of each other.  The plates were each gigantic and we could have gotten away with just one of each instead of 2 of everything. Of course I had to try a little bit of everything and I gotta say I was impressed with most of it.  The chicken still had the skin on it and the meat was very moist and juicy and it was served with grilled zucchini, squash and avocado tomatillio with chile chicken jus poured over it.  Next I tried the carne asada - which was cooked nicely medium rare and served with mole negro and roasted peppers.  It's hard to go wrong with grilled skirt steak - yum!  At this point I really just couldn't eat anymore, so I didn't try the chile relleno but it smelled great.

Of course I say I can't eat anymore but then they put the plate of dessert out in front of us and I couldn't resist but to dive into the Tres Leche cake.  Delicious!  It was was the epitome of a milk cake because it was incredibly moist and you could tell I had been soaking in all sorts of milks.

So why only the 3 fork rating if I enjoyed the food? Well, unless I'm totally missing something, I felt totally taken advantage of when the bill came.  We were told in advance that it was a $75/person prix fixe - which was totally fine by me and I would not have been bothered by it until I just looked the regular prices on their menu (which are pretty high for what the food costs - i.e. $16 for the guacamole).  I added up the price of all of the dishes and unless I am mis-calculating, if we had just ordered all the food on our own it would have come out to less than $50/person.  That to me is a pretty big difference and considering there were 10 of us, that's an increase of over $250 of what the bill should have been.  On top of that, gratuity was not included which is completely ridiculous. Our waitress was incredibly nice and I didn't mind giving her a good tip but when a place is marking up the already overprice prix fixe and then asking us to add another 20% on top of it, a meal that would probably only cost us $75-90 total ended up costing each person $140.  It's most definitely not the fault of anyone who planned the party and in the end it was fine because it's more about the people you are with and the fun times you have,  but I definitely felt a bit raked over the coals.  So lesson learned, prix fixe is not always the best deal -  don't assume that the restaurants will take care of you and always do the math first!

Photo Credit:  Yelp

House of Small Wonder Visited 8/23/2014 3.5 Forks

House of Small Wonder 77 N 6th St., Brooklyn, NY 11211

House of Small Wonder used to be a cute low key French cafe located not that far from my apartment. I had actually never been there but had always envisioned myself going, eating a croissant and reading the paper there.  Since then, it closed down and moved to this space next to this great Japanese place called Zenkichi.  

With this move to the new place, it's still an adorable cafe but the new space reminds me being in a tiny magical treehouse.  Seriously, you walk in and there are no real windows (so it's a bit claustrophobic) and there's a large tree trunk that runs through the middle of the restaurant.  The menu is a funky fusion of European cafe sandwiches like avocado goat cheese and croque madam sandwiches to Japanese influenced food like the sashimi don to the genuinely bizarre fusion food like taco rice.  I had really wanted the sashimi don (especially after seeing the table next to me get it) but they had JUST ran out.  Sad.  What I should have done was order another Japanese inspired dish but for some reason I blurbed out that I would get the grilled chicken sandwich ($12) while Paige got the Taco Rice dish ($13) and we split the banana cake ($4).  The chicken sandwich did sound really good on the menu:  grilled chicken (dark meat), arugula, tomato, yuzu pepper mayo, with melted gruyere cheese on a toasted brioche bun and served with a side salad (I got the Mediterranean version).  All the flavors and ingredients were great except for me the bun was too dry and crusty.  After having such an amazing sandwich yesterday with The Meat Hook shop, I was a bit let down by this one, mostly because of the overly toasted bread.  I did like that they used the dark meat of the chicken since it did make the chicken juicer.  The "mediterranean" salad was really just a bunch of chopped up red pepper, tomato and cucumber.  I guess I was expecting it to have feta cheese and was sad that it didn't.   I tried a bit of the taco rice and it was a really interesting combination of flavors.  It was ground pork with taco seasoning over a bed of sushi like rice, chopped vegetables, cheese and a fried egg.  I know it sounds weird but it all kind of worked together and seems like it would be a really good hang over food. 

But the real winner was the banana cake.  It was pretty tiny but it was served with the most amazingly fresh whip cream.  The bread was moist and had a nice touch of banana that wasn't overwhelming.  I wish it was bigger but I guess for my health, it's best that it wasn't. 

All in all, I would still recommend this place but I would say stick with some of the Japanese influenced food and get there early so that you can get the sashimi!  The table to the right of us also got the cold ramen dish and the vegetable udon dish which both looked great.   Also they got a small deduction because they are cash only and apparently the ATM in the back charges a $5 fee.   Total bill with tax, tip and drinks:  $27/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Meat Hook Sandwich Visited 8/22/2014 4 Forks

Meat Hook Sandwich 495 Lorimer St., Williamsburg, NY 11211

I usually don't write about take out places or sandwich places since they aren't really restaurants but my sandwich here was so freaking amazing that I had to have a entry for it.  It was possibly one of THE best sandwiches I've had in a really long time and the fact that it's a 10 minute walk from me is incredibly dangerous.  The only reason I may not gain 50 lbs and spend all my money there is that it's a pretty expensive sandwich.

First off, the place is from the owners of The Meat Hook which is a local butcher shop located inside The Brooklyn Kitchen.  I haven't actually bought anything from the shop before but only because I don't have a lot of reason to grill or cook a bunch of meat at home.  So the best way for me to experience their tasty product would be to get a sandwich from their sandwich shop.  It's a tiny shop with 2-3 high top tables.  They have about 5 sandwiches on the menu with one of them being a vegetarian option.  But you really need to come here for the meat based sandwiches.  Upon my first glance, I was a bit put off by the prices - $13 for a sandwich?!  But I figured I had to try one since I made the walk over here anyways.  I am a huge lover of roast beef so I got the roast beef sandwich which came with cheddar cheese, hash, lettuce, onion, and horseradish mayo all on a incredibly soft and delicious Italian sesame bread.  Holy Shit - it was one amazing sandwich.  For $13, you do get an incredibly large sandwich.  It could easily be split between two people and they really pile the sandwich high with roast beef.  The beef was mouth watering rare and moist and full of flavor.  The combination of it with the cheddar cheese and horseradish was perfect.  I also have to give a shout out to the bread which I read comes from the Sullivan Street Bakery.  It was the perfect hero/bread for a sandwich like this.  I don't like the bread that usually comes with hero like sandwiches because they tend to be crusty and too hard but this was pillowy and soft and a star on its own right.  I wanted to leave half of it for later but couldn't stop myself and ate the whole thing.  I was stuffed silly afterwards but yet still thinking about which sandwich I would try later. 

If it wasn't for the high price, I probably would have given this place a higher rating but foodwise, it was simply fantastic.  I can't speak highly enough about this place.  I can't wait to go back and try the roast pork or hot chicken sandwich.  Go hungry and go early as I hear that they do sometimes run out of certain sandwiches.  Total bill:  $13

Photo Credit:  Yelp

ViV Visited 8/16/2014 3.5 Forks

ViV 717 9th Ave., New York, NY 10019

ViV is smack in the middle of Hell's Kitchen/Theater District and is among the sea of other mom and pop Thai places on 9th Ave.  ViV is a pretty solid and standard good Thai place that will most definitely satisfy your Thai craving.  I'll be honest, I would have never picked this place out if it wasn't for Michael's suggestion but I'm glad he did because it was a fun, quick and easy meal for a Saturday night.

The menu is your typical American style Thai food:  noodles, fried rice, stir fry and curry.   I love a good broad noodle so I was torn between getting the spicy khee-mao or the Sriracha noodle but then the more rational part of my brain took over and I remembered my awful spicy noodle experience when I was in Thailand and instead I totally wussed out and got the good ole standard Pad Thai with chicken ($11.95) and the table also split the edamame ($5) to start.  I should make a quick plug here for the specialty cocktails.  I got the Venus ($12) which was I can't remember what was exactly in it but there was vodka and chambord and it was super strong.  I made the mistake of having two and I was definitely feeling it by the time I got home later that night.

As for the food, everything was good - as you would expect from most of these Thai place on 9th Ave. It wasn't blow your socks off amazing but it was a very tasty and spot on pad thai.  The noodles were cooked well and it wasn't over sauced.  The sauce had the right amount of sweetness to it. I didn't try anyone else's dishes but both Anuja and Michael commented that they enjoyed their meal.

All in all, this is a cute and solid Thai place in a street crawling with other similar places.  I did like the decor here - it's a bit kitchy but it works for where it's located and with the overall feel of the place.  I would definitely recommend this place if you're near Times Square and looking for a quick, cheap place to eat before the theater as well just so you can avoid all the other awful places right on Broadway.  Total bill: $42/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Takashi Visited 8/10/2014 4 Forks

Takashi 1952 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

Sometimes I give 4 forks because the overall experience was fantastic and sometimes I give a place a high rating because there's one dish that really stands out.   While I loved the overall experience at Takashi, the fried oyster dish was simply mind blowing and is the main reason why I'm giving this place 4 forks. 

Mr. Takashi is well known for having been on Top Chef Masters but this place is also literally a 2 minute walk from Deanna's and when they opened up a Sunday brunch option, we were really eager to check it out.  It's obviously not brunch in the traditional sense instead they have a bunch of hot and cold Japanese inspired small plates and then a few main dishes with ramen being one of the main entrees.    While they do have some vegetarian options, their best dishes are those for meat and fish lovers.  The table next to me probably ordered one of every small plate on the menu and they all looked fantastic (especially the pork buns and the fried chicken).  Deanna and I split the steamed kabocha squash ($5) to start.  It was 4 large and delicious pieces of sweet, soft squash in a soy-mirin sauce.  It was a perfect summer appetizer.  I loved the pumpkin like flavor to it and the sauce was perfectly light but flavorful as well.  For my own personal appetizer, I got the fried oyster ($9) and it f*cking amazing.  It was 4 huge juicy and perfectly fried oysters.   I mean the outside was crisp without being oily and there wasn't much filler or breading to it - just an amazing large bite of oyster.  While 4 is definitely more than enough for 1 person to eat on their own, I would have gladly just sat there and eaten a whole basket of it if I could have.   Deanna also got the kinpira ($5) which was lotus root, carrots, burdock, and yam cake.  I'm not a huge fan of lotus root, so I didn't give it a try but Deanna enjoyed it.

For my main, I ordered the Kaisendon ($19) which is really the same thing as Chirashi.  It's raw pieces of big eye tuna, hamachi, sweet shrimp, fluke, octopus, squid and salmon served over sushi rice, wasabu and umami soy.  It was a solid sushi dish with really high quality fresh fish (I was especially impressed with the octopus which was not chewy at all) and nicely seasoned sushi rice.  I definitely enjoyed my meal but as I saw the waiter bring out all these other hot small plates, I kind of wish I ordered more of those because I can get chirashi almost anywhere but some of the small plates looked pretty unique to the restaurant.  Deanna got the Kinoko-Mochi ($13) which was long tubular pieces of rice cake with a medley of fava beans, mushrooms, corn and tofu.  I had a bite of it and the sauce was fantastic but I can see how the rice cakes can be a bit filling as they are very dense and heavy.  We ended our meal with the green tea tofu cheesecake ($7) - which was much more on the green tea and tofu scale than the cheesecake side.  It's served with red bean and tofu ice cream and it was a pretty light dessert compared to what it should have actually been with a real cheesecake and ice cream.

All in all, I'm really happy that we finally made our way here.  I definitely would recommend it with more people and with those that can split more of the meat/seafood based appetizers.  The small plates are all very reasonably priced at around $5-11, so if you split it with a bunch of people, it'll make for a pretty affordable meal at such a high quality restaurant.  Total bill:  $72 for 2 with tax and tip

D'Noche Visited 8/9/2014 3.5 Forks

D'Noche 2710 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

Deanna and I hit up the red hot Logan Square area for dinner on Saturday night.  I was surprised at how much stuff had opened up on this street - tons of really cool bars and restaurants.  We originally tried to go to Revolution Brewery but they quoted us a 45 minute wait, so we walked around to see what the wait would be at some of the other restaurants.   When we got to Longman and Eagle they also quoted us 45 minutes.  By this time, we were both starving and didn't want to continue waiting any longer.  Deanna had remembered that there was this Cuban place nearby, so we went to go check it out.  Unfortunately, Cafe con Leche was more of an actual cafe than restaurant but next door to it was D'Noche and while it wasn't strictly Cuban, the adorable host at the door had convinced us enough about all the delicious sounding Latin/Mexican food they had that we were sold.

Luckily, they have a lovely yard in the back of the restaurant which was perfect for the gorgeous summer night.  They have a medley of a lot of different kinds of South American foods:  ceviche, empanadas, tamales, tacos, burritos, cuban sandwiches, chiles rellenos, etc.  Originally when I thought we were getting Cuban food, I had my heart set on a chicken dish, so I ended up opting for the Pollo en Mole Poblano ($15) and Deanna got the Chiles Rellenos ($15).   The pollo en mole poblano dish was 2 large pieces of grilled chicken covered in mole poblano sauce and served with Mexican rice and refried beans.  I was impressed with how large the dish was and even though it was served exactly how it was described on the menu, I was a bit let down at how it was presented.  You could barely see the pieces of chicken because there was so much mole sauce.  But none the less, the chicken was grilled quite well and as for the sauce, I actually could have used a bit more smokiness to the mole sauce.  But a combined bite of the rice, beans, chicken and sauce was quite pleasing to the palate.  It just felt like it needed a bit more than just the chicken breasts - maybe it would have been good to add some lettuce, tomato, cheese or sour cream.   I also tried Deanna's dish and holy crap was it spicy (but of course she only thought it was mildly spicy  - I am a spice wimp).  But it was a deliciously hot and flavorful combination of poblano peppers, cheese, and salsa.  If I could have taken the heat, I would have eaten the whole thing.

We ended up moving back to Longman and Eagle and The Owl for nightcaps, but I was happy to have discovered this low key joint.  While there seemed to be a plethora of other trendy hot restaurants nearby, I can see this place being a good back up option if you ever don't feel like waiting an hour for dinner.  Total bill: $ 30/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

IPO Visited 8/8/2014 3.5 Forks

IPO 172 W Adams St., Chicago, IL 60603

Usually when I am in Chicago, I don't eat down in The Loop area but I was taking a client out for lunch, so I asked him what was near the Sears Tower for a quick lunch.  He had mentioned that the W Hotel was a short 2 blocks away and frequented by many of his colleagues for lunch, so that was an easy enough decision for me.   I usually am not a huge fan of hotel restaurants but given that I couldn't think of anything else around there, I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty decent lunch.  It was indeed a 5 minute walk from the Sears Tower and pretty spacious and not to loud so that you can have an actual conversation.   The decor isn't super high end or impressive but it was totally functional.  The menu is a variety of salads, sandwiches and sides and they were all fairly reasonably priced.  Despite my general policy of not ordering crab cakes outside of the MD area, I ended up getting the open faced crab cake sandwich ($16) as did my client.   When the sandwich came out, I was pleasantly surprised by not only the large size of it but the fact that it looked like it had actual chunks of crab meat.  In a Midwestern place like Chicago you wouldn't really expect them to be big on crab.  I also liked that it was an open faced sandwich, so there was not as much bread to it which really allowed you to enjoy the actual crab cake.  The bread bottom was a pretzel roll and covered in an aioli and spicy tomato relish with some butter lettuce.  It was a really solid crab cake - very little filling and I could really taste the crab in it. Plus it didn't taste very deep fried which was great because sometimes that another big downside of a crab cake.  What was even better was that the dish was served with truffle fries.  I thought that was pretty generous to have truffle fries and not just regular fries.  Truffle salt is usually a very strong taste and they did a good job of not being too heavy handed with it.  The fries were a bit overcooked but the sandwich was so filling that I really barely touched the fries.

All in all, it was a perfectly fine business lunch place.  It's not some super fancy place, so it's not a place that I would recommend if you were trying to really impress your business partners or blow a ton of cash on your corporate card but it is a solid place to really catch up and have a real conversation in a casual environment.  Total bill:  $40 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Parson's Chicken and Fish Visited 8/8/2014 3.5 Forks

Parson's Chicken and Fish   2952 W Armitage, Chicago, IL 60647

Just when I thought I had escaped the land of hipsterville by coming to Chicago,  I had dinner at a place that is possibly more hipster than any place I've been to in Williamsburg.  Everyone here had a beard, tons of tattoos  (apparently thigh tats are very in these days), and/or flannel shirts - but I still enjoyed myself here because of the fabulous patio, fun people watching and heart stopping fried chicken.  Plus it's owned by the people behind Longman and Eagle, one of my all time favorite restaurants in Chicago.  The only downside really was the fact that we waited over 30 minutes for our food, which I just find really unacceptable.  

When we first arrived we were told that a seat outside in the patio would be 1 1/2 hours, but we could sit inside immediately.   That was totally fine because we ended up going to the patio for drinks afterwards anyways.  The menu here is exactly what is sounds like, lots of fried chicken (in regular form and in sandwich form), fish fry, hush puppies and some other sides.  Surprisingly for vegetarians there were a few items that catered to them as well.   They are also famous for their alcoholic slushy drinks - I got the John Daly slushy but they also had a dark and stormy, "purple drink" and negroni version.  It's kind of cheesy but they are great summer time drinks.  For food, we started with the chickpea salad ($6) and I got the fried chicken sandwich ($10) and Deanna got the veggie club sandwich ($9).  The chickpea salad came out first and it was a nice refreshing salad of chickpeas, feta cheese, pea shoots, radish, sunflower seeds and herbs and all dressed with olive oil.  I really enjoyed this dish because it seemed so simple yet you could really taste all the different components of the salad.  Then we waited and waited and waited for our main food.  If I hadn't had the salad, I might of actually passed out from hunger.  That is probably why when my sandwich came out, I demolished the whole thing in probably 10 minutes.  It's a pretty hefty sandwich of a fried chicken thigh, cole slaw, American cheese, hot sauce, pickles and aioli mayo on a giant pretzel like bun.  There was a bit too bread for me - it had a Texas toast like quality to me and I just find bread like that too overhelming.  But the inside of the sandwich was heart stoppingly fantastic - a classic Southern sandwich.  I'm glad that it was served with housemade potato chips and not another round of cole slaw, not that I really needed anymore salt from the dish.  But it was just a very satisfying sandwich.  At this point I was totally full until the waitress mentioned that the pie of the day was key lime pie ($6)!  Yum - it nice and sour and the graham cracker crust was delicious.  It was served with a nice big helping of whip cream on top of it too.  

I had hit my limit on food at this point and we then happily stumbled on to the patio for one more round of drinks and people watching.  All in all, I really did enjoy my meal and drinks there and it really is a lovely place to hang when the weather is nice outside. I just wish it didn't take so freakin long for our food to get there.   It's in an "up and coming" part of the city but don't be discouraged by it because I was a ton of great looking restaurants on our walk over and judging by the long wait at Parson's already, the neighborhood might have already arrived.  Total bill:  $60 with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Maine Lobster Tour Day 2 & 3 - 8/2/2014 & 8/3/2014 3.5-4.5 Forks

Maine Lobster Tour Day 2 and 3 - Overall 4 Forks

The Lobster Shack - 110 Perkins Cove Rd., Ogunquit, ME 03907 - 3.5 Forks

Day 2 of our Maine lobster tour had us in the very cute but very crowded town of Ognunquit.  It's a lovely beach side town about 20 minutes south of Kennebunkport and the streets are lined with tons of adorable B&Bs, brunch spots and cheesey tourist boutiques.  I can see why it's a popular family destination.  At the end of the main road is Perkins Cove, which is home to 2 of the town's famous lobster places:  The Lobster Shack and Foot Bridge Lobster.  They are next door to each other and literally at the foot of the bridge.  We were initially going to try both places but we only ended up being able to make room for 1 place and The Lobster Shack won out.  We, of course, got the lobster roll ($15), which during lunch time, you also get a free cup of fish chowder!  Then Janet also got a cup of the lobster stew ($10), a corn on the cob ($2)  and I got an order of the steamers ($15).   Given all the lobster I ate yesterday, I was most excited for the steamers and they did not disappoint.  There was a huge pile of them and it was served with the traditional hot water and butter sides.  I understand why not everyone likes them but I was a huge fan of them and these had a nice briny, sea salty taste to it that I really enjoyed.  The lobster roll here was also 1/4 lb of meat served with light mayo on a toasted bun.  At this point, all the rolls were kind of blending together but Janet had mentioned that this one was her least favorite.   I also tried a bite of the lobster stew and there was almost another 1/4 lb of lobster chunks in there.  Janet felt like it need more salt and pepper to it - meanwhile I was indulging in the free fish chowder and it was also very meaty and filling.  I didn't think mine needed any extra seasoning but I generally don't add to much extra S&P to my dishes.  The corn was beautiful and clearly freshly picked but it didn't quite have the sweetness that I typically like in corn.  Overall, it was still a nice sit down place for lunch (this place was an actual restaurant vs. a shack on the side of the road) and it's a good end point for when you are down exploring Ogunquit.  It wasn't our absolute favorite of the trip but it wasn't a bad choice necessarily.   Total bill:  $55

Eventide  -  86 Middle Street, Portland, ME 04101 - 4.5 Forks 

This review will be for the one place where we did NOT get lobster!  Gasp.  Plus it's the one really nice sit down meal we had on the entire trip.  I was excited to check out Portland because of it's burgeoning food scene.  It's really got some serious restaurants in town and I was bummed I couldn't try them all. But Janet and I were originally suckered into Eventide based on their gorgeous website.  It's a very clean and aesthetically pleasing site.  We were also excited because it sounded like they had the best oysters in town.  So of course, there is a long wait to this place, even at 6pm.  We ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a seat.  There are actually only 3 tables inside and then several bar seats by the window and then 3-4 tables outside, so it's not a very big place.  When we sat down, we asked the people next to us if they liked their lobster roll and instead of saying "YES!"  they said "We really liked the fried Hake - so not a real rousing endorsement.  Plus I was sick of lobster at this point and was up for trying something new.  So we ordered a dozen oysters ($29) which were mostly local Maine selections, the crab roll, the fried hake, and the tuna crudo.   Surprisingly the fried hake and crab roll came out first.  The crab roll was amazing!  It was served on this delicious bread that was kind of like the mantou buns you get in Chinese restaurants.  It was super soft and pillowy and the crab inside was fresh and had a lot of seasoning and flavor to it.  It kind of made me think if we should have gotten the lobster roll because I'm sure it would have been just as good.   Next we moved on to the fried hake.  Oh my was this an outstanding fried dish.  It was basically 4 big balls of hake but the outside had a nice light flakey batter and it was served with a fantastic homemade tartar.  The fish was moist and tender on the inside.  Delicious.  Next came the oysters and honestly I can't remember the names of them but they were all great and it was served with a red onion ice and horseradish.  Lastly we moved on to the tuna crudo which was served with ginger scallion and radish.  Another winning dish. The tuna was clean and melted in your mouth while the ginger scallion really helped to round out the taste of it.   And for dessert, we couldn't help ourselves and we got the ice cream sandwich which was homemade vanilla ice cream sandwich in between two soft chocolate chip cookies  It had the right balance of softness but also it wasn't super melty or messy.  The cookies really held up well against the ice cream.  

I'll also do a plug for the waitstaff here.  I'm not sure if it's a Maine thing or what, but all the waitresses were beautiful in this Earthy crunchy way but also super nice and friendly.  I really enjoyed my meal here despite the long wait and would totally come back to sample the rest of the fantastic sounding menu.  I should also note that they have a fantastic wine and cocktail menu as well.  Total bill:  $112 with tax, tip and wine

The Clam Shack - 2 Western Ave., Kennebunk, ME 04043 - 4 Forks

Sob - our last meal of the trip was in Kennebunkport and also very famous for winning lots of awards for best lobster roll.  It's located in the middle of the town square and it's also a very unassuming shack.  We got there right when it opened and unlike at Red's there was hardly any wait and the service was fast and very efficient.  We had our last lobster roll ($17) and ordered a 1/2 pint of fried shrimp ($13) and a small order of fries ($3) - which I am shocked that we managed to make the whole weekend without ordering once.   They have a market where you can buy your own lobster or raw fish and next to that they have a small outdoor area with several benches.  

My first impression of the lobster roll was that it wasn't in a roll but rather a hamburger bun.  It really should have been called a lobster bun.  I thought the lobster meat here was the best and most flavorful of all the shacks we tried on the trip. It was clearly still fresh and they didn't fuss too much with the meat but there was just something about it that I just really enjoyed more than the others.  There was also a touch of mayo to this one as well.  I personally enjoyed the bun bread while Janet would have preferred that it was more toasted.  It was very similar to a potato roll bun which I love!  The fried shrimp were nice and tasty - very similar to a popcorn shrimp texture but they weren't too greasy or overbattered.  They were really easy to keep popping in your mouth.  As for the fries - I loved them because they are the thick krinkly kind that sort of reminded me of elementary school.  But they were crisp and light but I was glad this was the only place we got them because othewise, I would have spent the whole weekend shoving fries in my mouth.  The whole experience was great until I heard the owner of the restaurant berate this couple sitting behind us.  It sounded like while the guy bought food from the shack the girl had gotten take out from another restaurant.  I get that the owner would be a bit peeved for having them bring outside food but instead of just politely asking them to leave, he proceeded to tell the girl how the restaurant where she got her food sucked and that they use frozen lobster and why would she come to Maine to not eat at their place and have frozen food instead? Eventually he "convinced" her to let him throw her entire meal in the garbage and for her to try one of his lobster rolls (hopefully it was free of charge).   Obviously, it's his space and he can do what he wants but I just felt really bad for the girl who was clearly a tourist and being food shamed for simply making a different choice.   While I would absolutely eat here again, I would just make sure to only have their food while sitting on the bench to avoid being yelled at in public.  Total bill:  $41

Final word on the trip:  It was f*cking awesome.  Not just because of the food but Maine is lovely, quaint and a nice peaceful retreat from the city.  It is kind of an old person vacation, so if you're looking for a rowdy time, you should look else where.  But if you are a food lover, definitely check it out.  While I feel like I'm not an expert on lobster rolls, I do know now what I should look for in a classic purist roll. 

Maine Lobster Tour Day 1 - 8/1/2014 3.5-4 Forks

Maine Lobster Tour Day 1 - Overall Experience 4 Forks

First Stop:  Red's Eats - 41 Main St, Wiscasset, ME 04578 - 3.5 Forks

The first stop on my whirlwind lobster tour of Maine was the famous Red's Eats.  It's probably on every "must visit" Maine lobster tour list and has gotten accolades on almost every single food blog and mainstream food publication.  So of course it had to be the 1st stop on my Maine tour.  Being the most famous lobster shack in all of Maine does have its downsides - which I'll get to in a second.

But first, this stand (it's literally a stand with 1 window) is located about 1 1/2 hours from Kennebunkport (which was where I was staying) in a cute town called Wiscasset.  There are a few cute antique shops and local mom and pop markets but there's really not much else to it.  Janet and I got to Red's exactly when it opened, 11:30 AM, and there was already a line that snaked down the block.  I was hoping that the line would move fairly quickly considering most people in line were probably going to order the same thing, the lobster roll.  But this place was horribly inefficient and is an operations professor's worst nightmare.  There is only 1 window and the same person who is taking the orders is also serving the guests.  No wonder it took forever for the line to move.  We literally waited an hour to get up to the front of the line, order and to get our food.  For that alone, I really had to knock off 1/2 a fork because even though it's a small operation, there were plenty of other small lobster shacks that I visited that were run much better with larger menus.

But on to the food.

Of course you have to get the lobster roll ($19) and we also got an order of the fried clam roll as well ($17) and two diet Pepsi (another strike against them that they didn't have coke).  When you first see the lobster roll, it literally takes your breath away.  They shove an entire lobster on to the roll.  They really barely touch the lobster because they put the entire tail, both claws and some of the body in the roll without really chopping it.  They pretty much remove the lobster straight into the roll.  So that was quite impressive.  The roll was also nice and toasted with a nice hint of butter to it.  Unlike most of the lobster rolls I've had before, this one was pretty much naked - no mayo, no butter, no celery, no nothing, just plain lobster meat.  In theory that is a great idea and should have really brought out the natural flavor of the lobster.  We did manage to pour an entire side of melted butter on the lobster but it was missing some seasoning.  I'm not saying it needed a lot, but it was a bit too naked for me.  But in all honesty with the amount of lobster in there, I really can't complain too much.  I've never seen a roll packed with this much whole meat in it.  As for the clam strips - there was a lot of clam filling stuffed to this sandwich but I did think there was a bit too much batter on the clams themselves.  Once I stripped away some of the batter and got down to the clams, they were delicious.  But I did enjoy having a thin salty layer of batter on them while dipping them in a classic tartar sauce.   All in all, it was a great but very slow start to the day.  I probably would have really enjoyed my meal a lot more if it was just run more efficiently.  Total bill:  $42 total

2nd Stop:  Five Islands Lobster Company - 1447 Five Islands Rd., Georgetown, ME 04548 - 3.5 Forks

The 2nd stop on the tour was roughly 30 minutes away from Red's in a cute town called Georgetown.  The place is more of what I had envisioned for my Maine experience.  The setting is absolutely stunning - it's located right on the water with a gorgeous picturesque background of boats, pine trees and big lovely houses.  It was just a very soothing place.  The shack has a slightly larger menu than Red's with whole lobster, crab cake sandwiches, Jenny special (what?! I should have gotten that - it's grilled Haddock with a crab cake on top of it), Haddock sandwiches, grilled salmon, clam baskets, scallops baskets, shrimp baskets, fish and chips, burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and sides such as chowder, stew, corn, fries and onion rings to name a few.  I was so torn but since this was the lobster tour,  we continued with our lobster roll (we got the small size which is a 1/4 lb of meat ($15) vs. the Big Boy option which is a 1/2 lb of meat) and I got a side of fish chowder ($6) since I felt like I needed to branch out.   The operations here was much smoother than Red's and we barely had to wait in line or for a food. 

The best part of the dining experience here is the large dock full of benches with great views.   You can just plop down a few inches away from the water and enjoy your food.  Given that we just came from Red's which had lobster overflowing, it was a bit underwhelming to get a roll with only a 1/4 lb of meat - but that's probably the normal amount of meat one should expect in a lobster roll.  Similar to Red's, the meat was kept fairly intact and not served with a lot of extras on top of it.  There was a very light touch of mayo and a lettuce leaf on a grilled hot dog bun.  Overall, it was a very clean lobster roll.  The chowder was a haddock chowder with corn and potato.  It was a little bit runny and not as thick as I would have liked a chowder to be but since I was preparing myself to eat for the next 48 hours straight, I appreciated that it was on the lighter side but it's definitely not a chowder that could stand alone as a meal.  All in all, I would also highly recommend this place, not just because of the solid food and quick turnaround but because of the gorgeous scenic views.  It's really what you think of when you think of Maine.  Total bill:  $22

3rd Stop - The Lobster Shack at Two Lights - 225 Two Lights Rd., Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107 - 4 Forks

As if the views at Five Islands wasn't beautiful enough, we ended our tour of the day near Two Lights State Park and finished our night at The Lobster Shack.  It's also your classic Maine landscape with lighthouses, sea gulls and waves crashing on the rocks.  It's a great place to bring your family and it's also kind of a romantic spot.  It's less of a shack here and and more of a cafeteria style building.  Again - similar menu to most other places and we came here for the lobster roll, Janet also got a chowder and we indulged and got homemade strawberry rhubarb pie and local Maine blueberry pie with whip cream.   This was the 1st lobster roll we had that really favored mayo.  They put a pretty large dollop of mayo on top of the lobster and maybe it was because the past 2 rolls we had didn't have any mayo, but it almost felt like there was too much mayo here.  But having the mayo on the lobster roll did make me realize how much I do prefer having a mayo based roll vs. a butter based one.  It may be really unhealthy for me but I really loved having that extra touch of mayo on the lobster.   The bun here was also a standard hot dog bun but it wasn't really super buttery or toasted.  I had a few bites of Janet's chowder and she thought it was a bit too thin but it was pretty full of lobster meat in there as well.  But the big star of the meal was dessert.  Oh my - that strawberry rhubarb pie was out of this world.  You could tell that everything was homemade.  They were simply delicious and really just used the sweetness of the local fruit to bring out the flavors.  The crust was perfect - not too overcooked and hard but not too chewy.  I loved that fact that they just slathered the entire pie in whip cream - that's totally the way to do it!   Even though it was a bit cold and windy, I was really happy to end my meal in such a lovely setting and with great food, especially in the dessert category.  Total bill:  $29

Day 2 coming up......