I'm a creature of ridiculously boring habits. Until this week when I vowed to give up soy products I've been eating the same breakfast every day. Now, unfortunately, I'm going to need to find a replacement for my much-beloved Morningstar Farms fake sausage patties. It's fairly tragic. If anyone has any suggestions I would much appreciate it!

Breakfast is such a balancing act. I want to have enough food to keep me satiated until lunch, but not too much-- I'm often just a touch queasy before 8 a.m., but since that's when I get to the office I need to eat around 7. I've been trying cereal (Barbara's hippie brand) but I start getting hungry at 11, which is inconvenient. I love eggs on the weekend, but I don't have the energy or time to cook in the morning. For a while I had wasa with peanut butter and cottage cheese on the side, but for some reason that's just not satisfying me lately either.

If I could afford it I would get a breakfast sandwich from the OhNo every morning on the way to work, but the cost would add up quickly, and I would feel too guilty about being extravagant.

Weekends are another story. There are so many options for a breakfast out in Portland it's crazy! (Erin of TypeA is doing a poll at the moment-- head over there and vote for your favorite.)

Depending on how we feel and what we're in the mood for, Otis and I will head to Ruski's, Local 188, the Porthole, the Bayou Kitchen, Hot Suppa, or the Front Room. All of these are great for what they are-- obviously you can't expect gourmet food at Ruski's but it's always well cooked and yummy. (Note; I like weird fake hollandaise sauce. If you don't, don't order the benedict.)

One restaurant I don't enjoy is Bintliff's. When we first moved here about four years ago we went there frequently... but the quality of the food was very inconsistent, and the prices are astronomical. The last straw came when I ordered huevos rancheros and got a pile of unseasoned canned black beans and white rice with eggs on top and a teaspoon of bland salsa. It was so nasty I sent it back to the kitchen...and still got charged the $12.95 or however much it cost. It's just not worth it, especially when you factor in the long waits for a table.

I'm excited to try a new option Mothers' Day weekend-- Caiola's is opening for weekend brunch! It will be wonderful, I'm sure, and once the sun warms us up again we'll be able to sit outside on their lovely patio. When I was growing up the West End Cafe was in that location and I loved going to brunch there with my parents.

The one restaurant that developed my love of brunch, though, was the Magic Muffin on Congress Street. When I was in high school I'd go there with friends all the time. They had the best little glass/ceramic coffee mugs that they'd eternally fill with coffee, and the coffee cake muffins were phenomenal. It was a long time ago, but I think the special breakfast, which included 2 eggs, coffee, meat, and a giant muffin, was around $4. I loved that place. The waiters were always great to a bunch of degenerate teenagers, and let us nurse our coffees forever.

I wasn't living in Maine when it closed. I wonder what happened to it?

Edited: As I was posting this, evidently Erin was posting the results from her poll. Bad timing. Regardless, I think it's interesting that her results, and opinion, diverge so dramatically from mine. That's why there are practically as many restaurants as people in Portland, I suppose.

Edited again: The Breakfast Club (which I was not aware of and just added to the blogroll; I found them courtesty of the Portland Food Map) just re-reviewed Bintliff's.

John Golden steps quietly back into the Portland food blog world with his take on Evangeline.

I felt compelled to respond to the sneakers thing.

Also, I apologize for failing to include any details about Evangeline. I think it's my biggest flaw as a blogger-- I almost never remember that people might want to, you know, call and make a reservation or something.

Evangeline, 190 State Street, 207-791-2800.

What a meal!

Last Friday we were feeling frisky and flush with our $132 Maine tax refund (don't even get me started on what we owed to the feds) and went out on the town to the new Evangeline, owned by Erik Desjarlais from Bandol and Ladle. We arrived around 6 and grabbed open seats at the gorgeous red cast concrete bar. The decor is lovely; it's a homey, friendly space with a great vibe.

Joe, the sommelier, was a wonderful host whose energy clearly went toward making every guest feel welcome and special. (Full disclosure: he's the roommate of my high school friend Jon Dietz and the co-host of Deathmatch Japanese, so we do know him. But I saw how wonderful he was with every guest that night-- it wasn't just us.)

While we were sitting at the bar Jenn and I had a few glasses of red wine Joe recommended. Of course, I don't remember exactly what it was-- we ended up drinking a few (ahem) glasses and I forgot to bring my notebook. But the wine list is huge, and informative, with great maps of wine-growing regions, and Joe did a great job offering tastes of different options based on our preferences. One of the nice things about the wine list is that there are many wonderful wines available by the half-bottle, and the prices range from affordable to astronomic (depending on your budget of course).

The crowd was very diverse and friendly-- we chatted with a nice couple, who shared a bite of their calves' brain appetizer with Otis (I declined. Yes, offal is not my thing, but Otis said it was tasty). We also talked with a lovely older man, a quintessential 'Old Mainer' wearing a plaid shirt and red overalls. While we were waiting for a table we ordered the charcuterie plate, which had head cheese, prosciutto, and lamb prosciutto. I had never tasted head cheese before, but it really was delicious-- pieces of pork in a sort of jelly, molded into a loaf and sliced. My only complaint was that the bread that we were served was mediocre-- a basic focaccia. I would have preferred a crusty French-style bread, and I think it would be more appropriate to the food.

By the time we sat down for dinner (which took a while, but I can't really fault a restaurant for that on their second evening open) we were ready to order, having digested the menu at the bar. It's a fairly simple menu, with about as many small plates/appetizers available as entrees. I was excited to have the steak frites, which has always been one of my favorite French dinners. The entrees are reasonably prices, with most between $19 and $23.

Our waitress was excellent-- always on hand when we needed her, and knowledgeable about the menu. Amusingly, when I ordered the steak I asked for it medium rare, and she told me that's the only way they serve it! When I wondered what would happen if someone wanted it done to a different temperature, she said that they suggest an alternate entree. Although I absolutely agree that medium rare is the correct way to serve steak, I imagine that will make for some difficult conversations!

When the entrees arrived we were all so famished and impressed with the food we ate silently for a few minutes. My steak was perfect-- delicious, and served with a red-wine butter that was divine-- and the fries were such perfectly uniform tiny spears I had to wonder if they were hand cut. (They are.) The portion was generous; I took some of the steak home, although I ate all of the fries. (Everyone else cleaned their plates.)

After we finished, we declined dessert, but we were brought a plate of wonderful tiny sweets, including a chocolate with a little salt that I could probably have eaten six pieces of, despite my satiety. Sadly, I had to share with my husband and friends. Damn them.

Overall, our meal at Evangeline was outstanding. With our drinks (which, again ahem, we had quite a few of) the bill came to $112, including tip, per couple. It's not the kind of money we can drop on dinner every week, but for a special occasion (including tax refund time, depending on how you define special occasion) Evangeline will definitely be at the top of our list.

Last weekend we finally made it to Miyake, and I'm really regretting that it was the first time...I've wasted so much time!

The meal was phenomenal. Every single piece of sushi exploded with freshness and flavor, and contained a perfect balance of flavors. The clearing of each plate was a little depressing, but then a new plate would arrive with a new and amazing array of flavors.

It really was a wonderful meal. Otis and I made an improptu date with our friends Spencer and Shea, who had dropped off their toddler with the grandparents. Miyake is a busy place, and there was a bit of a wait, but the server was nice enough to take our cell-phone number and call us when a table was ready, so that we could go up the the Downtown Lounge and have a beer while we were waiting. Overall the service was very good; the college-aged server was friendly and prompt, and he had an excellent command of the menu.

We ordered pretty much exclusively from the specials menu, which totally paid off. The fabulous dishes included a ceviche roll; a salmon sampler; a California-style roll with seared Maine shrimp in a light spicy mayo on top; seared Kobe beef; and much more. Literally every plate was perfect.

I've had sushi in a lot of places (NY, SF, LA, Hawaii, etc.... unfortunately not Japan), and the meal at Miyake stands out as one of the best.

Prices are very reasonable, and it's BYOB. If we hadn't gotten the Kobe beef, which is $8 a piece, the total bill would have been about $100 for four people.

Don't do what I did and waste potential Miyake-eating meals! Go! Go!

(We went to the new Evangeline last night and had a lovely dinner...I'll post about that shortly as well. Yum, steak frites.)

General Tso's Chicken... who hasn't at one point appreciated its greasy, sweet, weird wonderfulness?

Happily for me, Cook's Country, one of the many many food magazines that we receive, featured a recipe for the General in its most recent issue, and my husband, being undaunted by deep frying, agreed to prepare it for dinner this week.

A word about deep frying. I can't do it. Partially because it scares the hell out of me for some reason-- I am positive I am going to either set the house on fire or, alternately, cook something at an excessively high or excessively low temperature and destroy it. (Yes, we have a thermometer. Doesn't help the phobia at all). I also shy away from deep-frying because I know I shouldn't be eating that sort of food, because it is bad for you, and if I don't prepare it myself I can still eat it an pretend there aren't 50,000 grams of fat in my dinner.

Otis, however, does not share my phobias, and prepared a masterful rendition, although he insisted on calling it 'General Gau's Chicken' and kept talking about some place called the Food Wall. Memories of his former life as a Massachussan, presumably. It took about a billion hours, which is par for the course for recipes from Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country, but I was willing to wait. It was worth it.

General Tso's Chicken

SAUCE
1/4 C hoisin sauce (Otis cut down the amount of hoisin by quite a bit, so it wasn't too sweet)
1/4 C rice wine vinegar
3 T soy sauce (we use light)
2T cornstarch
1 1/2 c water
1 T vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
2T grated fresh ginger
3 t red pepper flakes

CHICKEN
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks

FRY
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
lotsa vegetable oil for frying

1. Whisk hoisin, vinegar,soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and water in a bowl.
2. Using just enough to cover, mix with chicken in a bowl or bag
3. Reserve the rest of the sauce
4. Heat 1 T oil in a skillet and cook garlic, ginger and pepper flakes for 30 sec-1 min.
5. Add 2 cups of the sauce and and simmer while stirring until dark brown and thickened; remove from heat and cover.
6. Whisk egg whites until foamy.
7. Combine corn starch, baking soda and remaining sauce in a shallow dish until resembles coarse meal.
8. Pat chicken dry with paper towels,
9. Dredge egg whites and then cornstarch mix.
10. Transfer to a plate to fry.
11. Heat oil to 350 degree oil; fry chicken until golden.
12. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
13. Toss with sauce.

I've been battling a hideous cold all week and can barely sit still without coughing, but I remembered I wanted to make a point about service. I do frequently bitch about waiters so I wanted to make sure I called out what I consider to be outstanding service.

Last week when Otis's parents were here we went to breakfast at Hot Suppa. I was starving, and I ordered biscuits and sausage gravy, with eggs over medium. When the plate arrived I noticed the eggs were undercooked (more like over easy, which makes me a little queasy). I told the waitress, who promptly whisked my plate away, returned it without the eggs so I could eat my biscuits while waiting for the refire, and then took $2 off our bill without being asked.

I was so impressed! Good service doesn't require fine dining, or snobbery. It just requires someone who cares about his or her job. Thanks Hot Suppa waitress whose name I don't know! You've restored my faith in Portland waitstaff!

(Plus the food was tasty, as usual!)

We had a wonderful weekend last weekend, as Otis's parents Jane and Walter came up for the Maine Boatbuilders Show, some delicious eating, and lovely conversation.

Friday night we went to Local 188 for fancy old-timey cocktails, and then headed over to Caiola's for dinner; as usual everything was delish (channeling Rachael Ray, sorry), especially our deep-fried sardine appetizer.

It's always nice to have Walter and Jane here, although they do tend to bring pretty crappy weather with them-- what's up with that?

Anyway, my fingers are sore from all the typing I've been doing on the big paper I have due Tuesday, so I hope everyone will forgive me for a short-but-sweet entry. Happy Easter!

Otis and I, along with our friends Seth and Jenner who were visiting from New Haven, had the honor to attend the 'Deathmatch Japanese' dinner party on Sunday, hosted by my old friend Jon Dietz and his roommate Joe. 15 courses of incomparably delicious Japanese food was served, prepared by some of the best chefs and cooks in Portland...we also got to sample an exhaustive list of sake.

Seth and Jenner needed to drive back to New Haven early on Monday, so we didn't make it to the fifteenth course, but every single dish in #s 1-11 that we tasted were phenomenal. I honestly don't know if I've ever had a better meal.

My personal favorites were the following (although I really don't want to seem like I am criticizing any one else's food, which as I said was amazing):

Shabu-shabu prepared by Erik from the former Restaurant Bandol and forthcoming Evangeline, which featured shiso-miso marinated black cod, saffron-bonito fumet, mussels and pickled fennel, horseradish rouille, and fennel pollen. This dish was an incredible meld of Provencal and Japanese flavors, which played off the richness and subtlety of both cuisines.

A Duo of Fish prepared by 'Sean' (I don't know who he is, so if someone could tell me, that would be super helpful). This pairing of a light snapper tartare in tangerine rice wine vinaigrette and a sashimi of tarahiki in a ponzu glaze over an uni emulsion tasted like Spring, with a perfect balance of acid and smoothness.

Sweet Potato Gyoza with a dipping sauce of coconut, sesame, ginger, and sake, from 'Shane' (again, I didn't meet him so I am not sure who he is) that were ridiculously addictive.

And finally, my favorite dish, the Tampopo Ramen from Bronwen, who cooks at 555. This dish included a chicken and pork broth, braised pork belly, pickled ginger and dandelion greens, and a hard-boiled duck egg. The intense flavors were simultaneously exciting and comfortable. Yum yum yum was really all I could say while eating it. Well, technically it was more 'mmm. mmmmmm. mmmmmmmm.'

Thanks to all the talented folks who cooked for this meal, and thanks again to Dietz for the invite. I am a very lucky woman.

EDITED to add: check out John's much more comprehensive (and photographed!) rundown of the event. (John's gorgeous Maine shrimp were also fab!)

So I really really have problems with lunch. They are as follows:

1. We usually eat our leftovers for dinner the next day.
2. If there is food I can take for lunch, I invariably leave it on the counter when I leave for work.
3. Sometimes I will find something I like, such as the Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodle Soup, and I will eat it every day for weeks until I can't stand the thought of eating it ever again, plus my office smells like lemongrass to the extent that I need to buy air freshener.
4. I try to avoid non-organic meat and stuff that has tons of preservatives or ingredients I can't pronounce.
5. The 'hippie' frozen entrees tend to be both incredibly expensive and ridiculously small (8 oz.), which makes me not want to buy a bunch and see if they're palatable.
6. I refuse to buy anything from Seeds of Change, based solely on the hideous advertising campaign they ran when the brand first debuted. (Yes, it was over 7 years ago. So what?)

However, I have learned this morning that salvation might be at hand.

HeatEatReview is a blog that reviews prepackaged meals and includes information about the ingredients and health info. I am poised for a better life. As soon as I have time at work I am going to bop off to whole foods and pick up some of the highest-rated items. I'll report back.

In the meantime I have leftover pot roast, mashed potatoes, and roasted green beans for lunch today. Thank goodness.

I've been spending the week crunching numbers, which makes a girl crave something a little more crunchy and tasty. How about...bacon cups? What a brilliant idea. There is a 100% chance I will make these for our next party. The possibilities for filling are endless!

In other news, the continued battering from Ye Olde Man Winter is starting to get me down. However, last week I invented a speedy way to make creamy and delicious chicken pot pie in a remarkably short period of time.

Short-Cut Chicken Pot Pie

1 grocery-store rotisserie chicken (I got the herb-rubbed chicken from Whole Foods)
1 bag frozen peas
1 bag frozen carrots, or whatever other veg you want. (I used mixed carrots & green and wax beans, which Otis didn't like that much. I thought the beans were tasty.)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Splash white wine
1/2 cup half-and-half
s&p and herbs and spices (I used thyme and marjoram)
Drop biscuit dough

a. Preheat oven to 350.
1. Make a roux with the flour and butter. add the garlic. Sautée in heavy pot until brown.
2. Slowly add chicken broth, stirring, so as not to form lumps
3. Add herbs, spices, s&p, any other seasoning you desire
4. Add wine
4. Simmer on med-low for 5 minutes
5. In the meantime, pull all the meat off the chicken and put it in a bowl.
6. Pour the drippings from the chicken into the sauce.
7. Snack on some of the chicken skin. Give some to the dog. Give some to Otis.
8. Add the half-and-half to the sauce, simmer for another 5-10 minutes until it seems the right creamy texture. Remember to stir once in a while!
9. Remove from heat, stir in chicken and frozen vegetables
10. Pour into large flat pyrex pan.
11. Make biscuit dough* and drop in large spoonfuls onto top of pot pie mixture
12. Bake in oven until biscuits are nice and brown and pot pie mixture is bubbly and hot, about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. In the meantime, catch up on your law school reading while drinking a Pabst.

* A note on biscuits. There is no need for bisquick. Seriously, people. Cut 1/4 cup butter into 2 cups flour, 1 T baking powder, and 1 t salt, add a cup of milk, mix with a fork. Ta dah!!

That's it! A nice cozy dinner requiring less than half an hour of prep time. I wonder if chicken pot pie would be good in bacon cups. I guess the filling would run out the holes...