Portland Restaurant Inspections

A friend texted me a link at an oddly early hour for such things: Portland Restaurant Inspections. This Portland Press Herald report is a list of recent restaurant inspections with the status of the inspection (pass or fail) and the date of the inspection(s).

Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about the list. (N.B.: I am going to say The List a lot, and I’m not referring to the one from Kennebunk.)

The list has 91 restaurants, some with multiple inspections, which is nowhere near the number of food service establishments in Portland. This list includes places from Dunkin’ Donuts to Hugo’s. If you think of every place that serves food in Portland (which legally has to include any place that serves alcohol), the numbers are close to mind-boggling.

So this eliminates the compulsion to check the list before deciding where to eat tonight – many places have not been inspected recently (the earliest inspection listed is February of 2011) and as such, are not included in this report.

But what of those that are included? If the establishment was inspected, failed, and never reinspected, how does that make you feel? Poor Nosh is left hanging with a ‘Failed’ status from August 22, 2011.

So let’s take Nosh for example. Since the pass/fail/complaint status of each restaurant links to a PDF of the inspector’s report, you can see what the specific violations are that led to a failed health inspection.

These standards come from the Maine Food Code, which is a beast of a document, and details everything from the materials to be used for the walls of food-prep areas during construction, to of course, the squickiest section of employee hygiene.

So Nosh failed this particular inspection due to improper tasting, eating, drinking habits, or tobacco use of employees, inadequate kitchen hand washing supplies, unsanitary food contact surfaces (the ice machine), and improper storage of chemical supplies.

Having worked in kitchens, I can tell you that these things are fairly common. A hand wash station that runs out of paper towels and is not restocked for a shift is out of compliance with the food code.

But read ‘improper hand wash’ and everyone thinks E.coli in the appetizers. That said, I don’t think that this particular failed inspection is hurting Nosh’s business. The sinister ‘improper employee drinking habits’ violation was fixed while the inspector was still there – employee drinks just need to have lids on them and not be kept on a workstation.

But would you decline to visit a restaurant because the ice bin doesn’t have a “proper air gap” or because the trash cans in the women’s room don’t have lids? Both of these violations contributed to Nosh’s failed health inspection.

But some inspection histories tell a more damning story – check out the Porthole’s list:
8/18/12    Failed
8/19/12    Passed
9/13/12    Complaint
9/13/12    Imminent Health Hazard
9/13/12    Failed
9/14/12    Failed
9/15/12    Passed

The complaint listed is some poor employee beseeching the city to come address the rat infestation and dangerous food handling practices. It’s hard to believe the restaurant was cleared to open two days later after the litany of violations, but we now know that the place closed and never reopened.

So great, the health inspection process worked to shutter a place that was apparently a great public health hazard. But, um, how many times did I eat there before it was inspected?!? (Many.)

This rabbit hole of paranoia can lead to a total avoidance of eating out. But ever since I heard about a middle school acquaintance putting Ex-Lax in a pizza at work (and fired for it, fortunately), I’ve considered the trust that is implicit in going out to eat.

So what is the role of restaurant health inspections? It would be great if every food service establishment were inspected frequently and up to code. But with one health inspector for the entire state, that’s not happening.

I’d like to say I’m not going to consider this list at all. But there are some reports that mesh with what you see in the restaurant – and that may give you pause when picking up a menu. I mean, yes, I know I should probably not be ordering a ham Italian from my neighborhood gas station, where the cashier doesn’t stop to wash her hands before heading behind the deli counter.

But truthfully, it’s probably not going to change my dining habits all that much. I’m going to continue to believe that the pride many Portland chefs take in their work will translate to clean kitchens where it really matters. 

Best Portland Food Blog Nominee

I am so happy to announce that the Blueberry Files has been nominated by readers as one of Portland’s Best Food Blogs! Thank you so much for the nod; I am in great company with the other nominees.

Go to the Portland Phoenix to vote for your favorite food blog – the category is in the Food & Drink section and to complete your ballot, you’ll need to click ‘Submit’ twice. You do not need to enter your email address, and you can vote once a day until the contest ends. Thanks again!

Click here to vote.

Allagash Brewing Company Tour

We just got so much snow in Maine! Thirty inches is our record-breaking total in Portland. The city was shut down yesterday, and after venturing to Ruski’s for my typical snow day breakfast, I stayed in, drank Dark and Stormies, played board games, and ate soup. 

Last Saturday though, the weather was just cold, and the ground was bare. Friends and I scheduled a tour of Allagash Brewing Company, as I’ve lived in Maine for quite some time and have never been. It was starting to become negligent. 

Allagash is Portland’s craft brewing golden child, as one of the most creative, well-known small brews to come out of Maine. (Yes, you may argue that that is Shipyard Brewing, but I prefer Allagash, so I say it’s Allagash.) 

Their moneymaker, the White, is a Belgian-style Wheat beer, which then allows them to experiment with smaller batches and different techniques.  

The tour of the brewery starts in their retail shop and tasting room. I love that the tour starts off with the beer, since I knew the business side of the tour would be far more interesting once I’d had a few tastes of beer. 

We sampled the White, the Grand Cru (the Winter ale), the Interlude (a Farmhouse Ale aged in wine barrels), and the Curieux (the Tripel aged in Bourbon barrels). 

Our entertaining tour guide Ashley led us into the brew house with the warning, there’s going to be a lot of shiny shit that you’re going to want to touch. But don’t. 

We stopped first where the tanks are, continued onto the bottling and keg line, and ended in the barrel aging room. The tour script is friendly to non-beer nerds, and our guide was also willing to entertain any questions, no matter how basic, like… what does ‘coagulate’ mean? (No joke.) I wanted to know why the big bottles are finished with a cork and cage, rather than a bottle cap (because of tradition and in-bottle carbonation). 

The barrel room contains beer aging in old wine and Bourbon barrels, and here we also learned about a process I was really interested in – the Coolship. The Coolship is a process that allows beer to ferment with wild yeast for 24 to 36 hours in an open container. 

The results are unpredictable and different each time. We sampled some, and it was very tart, sour, and fruity (the one we tried was infused with cherries). Coolship beers are available only at the brewery.  

I loved the Allagash tour; you should go – it’s free, but you do need to make a reservation, as the tours fill up. The brewery is located in outer Portland, almost Westbrook, on Riverside Dr. It’s right next to Yankee Lanes, so we went bowling afterwards, natch. 

In addition to taking a peek behind the scenes of some of the best beer made in Portland, the staff is super friendly, the merch is very cool (Allagash embroidered Patagonia gear, cribbage boards made from old barrels), and beers are for sale that are only available at the brewery. Plus, well, free Allagash beer, duh. 

Ravens Super Bowl Champs!

As my roommate greeted me this morning, welcome to a world in which the Baltimore Ravens are the World Champions! Man, that was an incredible post season run – four games in which the Ravens were predicted to lose, beating some of the best teams in the NFL on the way. 

Our Harbowl Shrine

Obviously, I was extremely excited for yesterday’s game – I said, it’s like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one! – and I rallied the less-than-enthusiastic troops for a Ravens Nation party in Maine. 

I must thank my awesome friends, roommate, and boyfriend, as they all supported me (reassured me) and rooted for the Ravens on my behalf. 

Ravens cupcakes from East End Cupcakes

The Super Bowl is exciting to many though for the commercials and the food – in addition to the Maryland Crab Soup I made, we had Buffalo wings, “totchos” (tater tot nachos from S. at Edible Obsessions) that blew my mind, Rummy Worms (gummies soaked in rum, in honor of Flacco’s Harbio contract), pulled pork sliders, soft pretzels, grilled veggies… man oh man, it was a feast. 

Even Rhoda the dog was attentive, but that may be a chicken wing she’s staring at off camera. 

While that was one one of the weirdest/craziest football games I’ve seen (30 minute power outage, faked field goal, intentional safety, Williams shoving a ref and no call, Flacco’s 30-yard under pressure dump pass to Boldin, Smith’s no-holding call on Crabtree, etc etc etc.), a win is a win! 

CAW!

Maryland Crab Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, cut into small pieces

8 cups water

2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon, beef

1 cup carrots, sliced

1 cup potatoes, diced

2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 cup peas, frozen

1 cup yellow sweet corn, frozen

1 pound crabmeat

Heat oil in 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, saute until translucent. Add garlic, saute for one minutes. Combine tomatoes, water, beef bouillon, carrots, potatoes, and Old Bay. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Decrease heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Add peas, corn and crabmeat, reserving some crab for garnish. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Serve garnished with crab meat. 

Related: Hottest NFL Quarterbacks of 2011 and 2012 (I take back all the nice things I said about you, Colin Kaepernick). Most Elite Quarterback of 2012: Joe Flacco.  

Maine Maple Syrup: Use It

My order of waffles at brunch recently prompted my server to ask, would like real Maine maple syrup with that? My affirmative response then added $1.50 to my tab. And this has me thinking. 

Why is the inclusion of maple syrup to a brunch dish an upcharge here in Maine, where tourism one of our biggest industries? Why would a fairly nice brunch spot, one that has hour long waits on the weekends and is known as one of the best brunch spots in town to tourists and locals alike, default to serving corn syrup with waffles? 

Maine maple syrup and a Maine Coon cat for good measure

Now, I’m not talking about breakfast at Ruski’s or a diner, where the squeezy bottle of pancake syrup sits in the tray of condiments all day long. And to be fair, there are plenty of restaurants that serve maple syrup without an separate charge.

But for those that don’t, shame on you. (That’s right, shame!) In Maine, Maine maple syrup should be the default syrup served with pancakes and waffles. We’re a tourist-driven city, and if we don’t show off our state’s products, then how are we to expect visitors to be interested in them? There’s tons of people that don’t even know Maine produces potatoes at all.

For those of you forming the counter-argument that maple syrup is expensive, I hear you. So please absorb this cost into the cost of the dish, as you would with any other ingredient. Charge me $7 for waffles instead of $5. I’m pretty sure the market will bear that cost. And if you don’t like maple syrup, but prefer corn syrup? Fine. You’re still paying $7 and subsidizing the cost of future maple syrup purchases.

Did someone say waffles?

Surprisingly, in discussing this issue with friends, a whole host of other issues comes up. It’s a touchy subject apparently! Also related: the (not so nice) attitudes of servers in tourist spots such as Moosehead Lake, the labor and cost involved in the production maple syrup, government subsidies of large commodity farms, and the need to balance the desire for a free market with that of supporting the local economy (see: Maine Congresspeople urging 5 Guys to use Maine potatoes).

I’m not asking that every product that is available locally be used, although it is lovely when a restaurant can do that. I appreciate food costs and profit margins. But for a product as visible as Maine maple syrup, it seems like a simple switch.  Because you’re in Maine, of COURSE your waffles come with local maple syrup! How charming! Just charge me appropriately from the start. 

Super Bowl Eats

I’m still relishing that the Ravens beat the Pats and are this year’s AFC Champions. Since I live in Maine, the smack talk was pretty ramped up this past week (my facebook wall was covered in demeaning Ravens photos – especially that stupid Ray Lewis retirement billboard). 

Everyone up here seems to want to move on quickly and forget their team’s pitiful performance in that game – although there are plenty of good sports who congratulated me – and I’m already looking forward to the meal at the Super Bowl. 

I love to make food themed to whichever teams are playing and thrilled to host a Baltimore themed Super Bowl party this year. 

I’d love to have steamed crabs and Natty Boh, but neither are available up here. Maybe some crab cake sandwiches, but that would get pretty pricy when crabmeat is $22/lb. 

My sister makes sure to stock crab dip when I come home for the holidays, but I’m thinking that might not be the best showcase for crab meat (don’t get me wrong, I love creamy crab dip!). 

So I think I’ll make my mom’s Maryland crab soup. For those of you not familiar, it’s a spicy (spiced with Old Bay), tomato-based vegetable soup with big pieces of lump crab meat and whole crab claws, if you have them. 

My mom makes it after a crab feast, saving a few crabs to picking for the meat, and boiling the crab claws in the soup to flavor it. My favorite veggies to include are peas, green beans, corn and potatoes. Rather than drench the crab meat in creamy ingredients, the soup with show off the crab meat without being too heavy. 

Also, chicken and waffle wings!! Last year, I made Buffalo chicken cupcakes, and I’ve enjoyed a chicken and waffle cupcake, so this seems like the next logical step. If I cave and buy a waffle maker in the next two weeks, I will definitely make these. 

This HarBowl will be epic – Jim vs. John, Dungeness vs. Blue crab, chowder in a bread bowl vs. MD crab soup, San Francisco Bay vs. Chesapeake Bay! I could go on, but I won’t – you obviously know my preference. Let’s go Ravens! 

Baller Pocket Brunch

I really came in at the top here – attending my first Pocket Brunch on Sunday, where the theme was “Baller” and the guest chef was Rob Evans of Duckfat (and formerly Hugo’s). Pretty baller of me, if I do say so myself (I feel I must disclose that I bartered with a generous friend for the $100 a head tickets, lest you think I’m actually bragging). 

Pocket Brunch is a monthly brunch series started by Josh and Katie Schier-Potocki, Joel Beauchamp, Nan’l Meiklejohn and friends – all assorted restaurant owners, chefs, and talented cooks. This month’s brunch was at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, housed in various outbuildings and greenhouses, decorated with a farmhouse-chic vibe – bundled boughs, milk glass, and white paper poofs. 

Bartender Nan’l Meikeljohn, known as the Bearded Lady, started the morning off with cocktails – I had the Ball-ionaire: gin, green chartreuse, blanco sweet vermouth, orange biters, topped with Cristalino (cava). The drink looked and tasted like sparkling wine, with herbal, citrusy notes. 

I heard raves about the Dean Martini: a savory, clear martini of vodka, tomato water, and spices with a celery garnish, and so I tried one next. The fresh, grassy flavors were unexpected from such a clear, simple drink. A. and I shared it and sipped it slowly throughout the six-course meal. 

As we milled around the cocktail hour, exclaiming over people’s ‘ballin’ outfits and meeting new people, we snacked on ‘Pocket Bacon’ bites of skewered Broadturn mozzarella balls and thick-cut bacon cubes resting in a fermented tomato sauce. We debated how many of these constituted our fair share (somewhere in the neighborhood of 5). 

We then were escorted by our fabulous hostess (decked out in bling and fur, natch) to the greenhouse, which had been outfitted with two long tables, set with white linens and glasses of bubbly. 

While we were presented with printed menus that looked like a wedding invitation, I wanted to keep the details a surprise. I read the description for each course only after I was presented with the dish, and so was always amazed to take in each dish after it was placed in front of me. 

The meal started with a Maine sunchoke soup, garnished with a fried egg yolk, black truffle oil, and a beef tongue grabiche, which is a sauce that in this case contained capers and chopped egg whites. 

The soup was wonderfully smooth, with the additions adding different textures of crunch and tender meat, salty capers, and earthy truffles. 

Next, my favorite course, the salad of spicy gravlax, trout roe, fried Maine potato shreds, creme fraiche, and pistachio marmalade. I was really wowed by this course – so simple and perfectly done. Roe that pops in your mouth, crunchy potatoes, creamy sauce, spicy salmon, and the sweet, salty, crunch of the pistachios. 

Because this dish was fried to order, we had plenty of time to get to know our table mates and to get to know the “Brunch Monkey,” a half-full bottle of sparkling wine, filled with various juices and liqueurs  Each one was different, all of them good. 

By far the most baller of the courses, the 23K gold flaked foie gras, with apple butter, pickled apples, quince, and brown bread was buttery, spicy, and rich. We joked that our insides were now worth considerably more, being coated in gold leaf.  

The sunnyside duck egg over a Mortadella ball with Brussel sprout has and saffron-tabasco hollandaise was a fun dish, as the Mortadella at first looked more like a carb-based product. But why carb when you can meat? 

I ate carefully around the clear whites of the egg (shudder) and cooed over the adorable cubes of veggies in the sprout hash. 

After our plates had been scraped clean and our flutes drained, we were invited to migrate to the cocktail room again and to enjoy our dessert. 

We applauded the hosts, servers, bartenders, chefs (Chef Evans and Potocki seen above) of Pocket Brunch, before grabbing our Broadturn yogurt parfait, made with almond milk tapioca, blood orange, and couscous granola and heading outside. 

By now the place looked more like your typical farm party, with various bonfires erupting, groups of smokers, and people tromping through the snow and mud on the way to the outhouse.  

A. and I had to jet, as we’d now been at the farm for almost six hours and had a kickoff to make. I enjoyed my parfait in the car as we zoomed down the country roads back to Portland. 

Warm from the sparking wine, I was so happy to be a part of a creative food community, to be able to enjoy a fantastic event such as this one. I do hope to see you at another Pocket Brunch (sign up on their website to be notified of ticket sales), since it the food is so good and the greenhouse is always full of characters.