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Eater
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
How to Spend a Food-Filled Weekend in Portland, Maine
Nationally acclaimed dining destination Portland, Maine, is about two hours from Boston, whether you take Amtrak's Downeaster from North Station, the Concord Coach bus from South Station, or drive, making it the ideal getaway for a food-packed weekend. If you only have a weekend to spend in Portland, the following itinerary serves to complement our list of essential restaurants, providing a choose-your-own-adventure insider's guide to painting the town lobster red. Friday 11 a.m.: Begin with brunch Portland's brunch game has never been stronger, making it the perfect meal to start a weekend of ambitious eating. At Ocotillo, the West End sibling to the East End's popular barbecue spot, Terlingua, find solace on the quiet back patio or grab a comfy circular booth upholstered with rust red velvet. Ocotillo channels Tex-Mex into brunch standouts like a smoked brisket hash with poached eggs and house hollandaise and buttermilk-masa pancakes decked with caramelized pineapple syrup, hibiscus sugar, and maple sea salt butter served alongside refreshing morning beverages like the bright green, herbaceous Verdita-rita. As you move on, grab something for the road from James Beard Award-winning Zu Bakery next door. Alternative: Start your day at Dutch's, whose cafeteria-like space belies the quality of crispy hash browns and housemade baked goods that elevate hits like chicken thigh biscuits smothered in sausage gravy and bluebarb pie doughnuts. Securing a ham and cheese croissant from Zu Bakery. Erika Adams/Eater Boston Once you're temporarily sated, it's time for some culture. Head to the Maine Historical Society and the Wadsworth-Longfellow House for thoughtful exhibitions like Stitches, an exploration of 19th-century Maine quilting traditions; the Victoria Mansion for a tour of an elaborate pre-civil war home; or the Portland Museum of Art for the state's oldest and largest public art collection, including works by American landscape artist and former Maine resident Winslow Homer. 1 p.m.: Get cultured Along the walk, shop for art and vintage finds at dozens of local storefronts like Weekend Vintage, the Merchant Company, and Soleil, a gift shop that houses a vending machine for collectible $1 mini food prints by Portland's Anastasia Inciardi. 4 p.m.: Take a lobster break If you come to Maine, you've got to eat lobster. Dive into a new favorite like Highroller Lobster Co.'s Lobby Pop TM — a cornbread-battered lobster tail on a stick — or chef Mimi Weissenborn's rich yet airy lobster popover at Sur Lie. If you're in the mood for a more traditional lobster roll experience on the working waterfront, head to Luke's Lobster for rolls with a captivating view, or have a seat at low-key institution Becky's Diner for a fresh-shucked quarter-pounder — there's nothin' finah, as the local saying goes. While in Maine! Jenny Bravo Photography/Luke's Lobster 6 p.m.: Get a pre-dinner drink At Jewel Box, bartender and owner Nathanial 'Nan'l' Meiklejohn creates an atmosphere of comfort and delight that attracts a crowd of artists, queer folks, and bon vivants — people with open minds and good taste. Amid curated grandma-core and a dreamy wall mural, the creative cocktails and playlists always hit. Order a drink like the Lovers, a blend of fenugreek and coconut rums, lime juice, cane sugar syrup, and Bluet, Maine blueberry sparkling wine. Alternative: Hit up Cuties, a new all-day spot from the cunning minds behind renowned high-low cocktail dive Room for Improvement. Cuties focuses on low-intervention wines by the glass or in some cases as a sidecar, like the pet-nat that accompanies the Pornstar Martinez, a clarified passionfruit number featuring Old Tom gin and vermouths. 7 p.m.: Go to dinner Portland's bakery and brunch darling Bread & Friends is now a winner for dinner as well. Expect a tight menu with seasonal dishes like grilled radicchio with black vinegar XO sauce and Bayley Hazen blue cheese on housemade marble rye crostini, consommé with collard greens and mascarpone tortellini decked in country ham and peas, and dry-aged duck with plum chutney. End the meal with a dreamy orange creamsicle soda made in-house, or a glass of A7 Americano, an aromatized wild Maine blueberry wine infused with herbs and fortified with brandy, from R.A.S. Alternative: Opt for an evening of pizza and natural wine at cool, casual Friends & Family. Start the night with a jamón tower for the table, of course. A brunch plate at Bread & Friends. Erika Adams/Eater Boston 9 p.m.: Post-dinner games After dinner, it's free to enter Arcadia National Bar's Skee-Ball tournament, or you can pump quarters into retro pinball and arcade cabinets while enjoying late-night bites like mushroom-topped pizza and beers from Oxbow and Sacred Profane. The cocktails here, crafted by co-owner Nicole Costas-Rosa, are some of the city's sleeper hits — try the mezcal- and watermelon-forward Pink Pony Club. Alternative: Have a nightcap at the Scandinavian-style cocktail bar that helped launch Portland's cocktail scene in the mid-2010s: Portland Hunt + Alpine Club. The spicy, smoky Bone Crusher is a perennial favorite. Saturday 9:30 a.m.: Grab a bite before the farmers market 11:30 a.m.: Get out on Casco Bay One of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to get off the Portland peninsula and out on the water is with the Mailboat ferry, a scenic ride to the islands of Casco Bay. Get off at Peaks Island for BYOB wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza served al fresco at Il Leone, or head to Great Diamond Island's Crown Jewel, a bright and airy bistro that nods to the tropics with dishes like corn agnolotti featuring Maine crab and seared whitefish with salsa verde. Alternative: Board the 74-foot-tall ship Frances, a historic replica built and captained by Megan Jones, for a Wine Wise Wine Sail with curated tastings led by gregarious sommelier Erica Archer. Portland's downtown waterfront. Erika Adams/Eater Boston 3 p.m.: Shop the waterfront and have a little treat 5 p.m.: Break for happy hour At Papi on Exchange Street, the cocktail and food menus sing with Puerto Rican flavors. For a late afternoon pick-me-up, try the Carajillo — Licor 43 and Italian espresso shaken over ice — and don't miss food specials like the jibarito, a panko-crusted chicken cutlet dressed and sandwiched between fried green plantains. Alternative: Head to the intimate, 20-seat Argentine Bodegón-influenced Franciska Wine Bar, whose menu highlights small-grower South American producers. 7 p.m.: Have dinner On Congress Street, check out Benny's, the buzzy new restaurant from Josh Sobel of Philadelphia-style sandwich shop Ramona's. Here, Sobel again wins hearts and stomachs with his homage to Philly's Italian American heritage, from the portraits of celebrities like Sylvester Stallone on the wall above the long banquet to menu classics like eggplant parm, cheesesteak, and linguini and clams with long hot peppers alongside cocktails like the Balboa, featuring bourbon, amaretto, and citrus topped with a pink Lambrusco-Scotch foam. Alternative: Go for well-seasoned garlic greens and dry-aged pork katsu sandos stuffed with fried Brussels sprouts and slathered in charred scallion mayo at family-owned izakaya Mami. Benny's. Heidi Kirn/Benny's Sunday 9:30 a.m.: Coffee time Stop into Speckled Ax Wood Coffee Roasters for an Early Riser medium roast. Try it with a Grand Trunk breakfast sandwich stacked with housemade hash browns, green tomato chutney, kewpie mayo, Gruyère cheese, and an egg on a Portuguese muffin made by chef Carlos Duarte, previously of Prentice Hospitality. Alternative: Grab an olive oil brioche sticky bun swirled with brown butter and cinnamon and glazed with orange cream alongside an iced malt cold brew at Tandem Coffee. 11 a.m.: Check out the East End The East End used to be a quiet area populated largely by under-the-radar neighborhood spots like pupusería Tu Casa and old-school Italian goods purveyor Micucci Grocery Co. That changed in the 2010s with the arrival of food and beverage perfectionists like Rising Tide and other craft breweries in East Bayside, Maine & Loire, a pioneering natural wine shop on Washington Avenue, and the Portland Food Co-op on Congress Street for largely local groceries and snacks. Now, you could spend all day bopping from one banger to another without breaking a sweat: Onggi Ferments for all things aged and preserved; Root Wild for unbeatable kombucha; Rabelais for antique food books; Oxbow for funky beer and fries via Duckfat Frites Shack; Anoche for hard cider; Sissle and Daughters for cheese, wine, and everything else you'd serve for girl dinner; and the list goes on. 1:30 p.m.: Slip over to South Portland Formerly an underwhelming collection of strip malls, Knightville has finally glowed up into one of Portland's buzziest neighborhoods. (Okay, it's technically in South Portland across the Casco Bay Bridge, but regardless, it's a Portland-area hot spot.) Stop here on your way back south for Japanese-style bar fare and beers from a Maine Brewing Co. alum at the Send Brewing Co., impeccable breads from Night Moves, a glass of Maine's own Oyster River Winegrowers Morphos pet-nat with views of Portland proper from across the water at Lambs, and some of the country's best seafood at SoPo Seafood market and raw bar. Where to Stay Get a good night's sleep at the 48-room Longfellow Hotel, Portland's first independently owned full-service hotel in decades. Longfellow highlights neighborhood contributors such as Ugly Duckling for pastries, and Siobhán and Mike Sindoni of Wayside Tavern run the bar program. Alternatively, check into the 135-room, six-story Canopy by Hilton Portland Waterfront, home to Luna, the city's only indoor/outdoor rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking Casco Bay. Make sure to enjoy the view while sipping a slushy cocktail featuring housemade granita and Prosecco. If you want to spend extra time on the islands, stay at the Inn at Diamond Cove. This charming, family-friendly escape offers 42 rooms and suites in the former Fort McKinley military complex for easy access to the tranquil, car-light island with a semi-secret beach rich with seaglass. Eater Boston All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Paul-to-Chicago Amtrak Borealis sidelined by corrosion
An inspection uncovered corrosion on several of the railcars used on the new Amtrak Borealis line from downtown St. Paul to Chicago, leading to the decision to remove them from service on Wednesday and shuttle passengers by bus in both directions. It's unclear when Amtrak will resume rail trips. Amtrak officials issued a statement Wednesday indicating they worked with the manufacturer of the Horizon railcars and 'decided to remove the equipment from service after learning of additional areas of concern from intensive inspections of multiple cars.' The decision impacts service on multiple Amtrak lines to varying degrees, including the Downeaster, Hiawatha, Borealis and Amtrak Cascades. Some trains, such as the Downeaster, will operate with fewer cars, while 'other services will be provided substitute transportation until a long-term plan is developed,' reads the statement. The Borealis runs round-trips daily between Chicago and St. Paul through Milwaukee, and Hiawatha operates daily with multiple trips between Chicago and Milwaukee. On Wednesday, about half of the Hiawatha departures were replaced by chartered buses as substitute transportation, as were departures in both directions for the Borealis. The Empire Builder service that stops in St. Paul as its travels from Seattle or Portland, Ore. to Chicago was not impacted. An Amtrak spokesperson on Wednesday said no other information was available. After years of clamoring for a second daily round-trip from Minnesota's capital city to Chicago, the Borealis launched last May. Amtrak indefinitely replacing its St. Paul-Chicago Borealis service with buses Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport upgrading snow removal equipment Could the Gold Line spur economic development? Some say it already has. Delta plane from MSP that flipped in Toronto showed high rate of descent, initial report says St. Paul-to-Woodbury Gold Line is ready to roll on dedicated lanes. Here are things to know.
Axios
26-03-2025
- Axios
Corrosion sidelines Amtrak trains on Cascades route
If you're planning to take the train between Portland, Seattle, and B.C., you'll get where you're headed — but more likely it will be by bus. Why it matters: Amtrak sidelined its Horizon car fleet Wednesday due to corrosion issues, highlighting the challenges posed by aging infrastructure and the impact on reliable passenger rail service. Driving the news: Amtrak canceled trains — but not service — on several routes, including Amtrak Cascades, opting to use buses to get people from one place to the next, Amtrak spokesperson Kelly Just told Axios. State of play: Horizon cars are used in all but one train serving the Cascades, according to Just. That's the train that runs the 503 and 508 bookend daily trips from Seattle to Eugene and back. That train, which uses Talgo cars instead of Horizon cars, is still running its regular route, Just said. By the numbers: Amtrak's Cascades route has been booming recently, with nearly 950,000 passengers using the service last year, a 41% bump from 2023, per the Bellingham Herald. What they're saying: Affected guests were being notified of the switch to bus service, Just said. "We apologize for the inconvenience, but this was something that was necessary for us to do," Just said. "It's not the train experience you were hoping for, but we will get you there." Zoom in: Amtrak offers six daily round trips between Seattle and Portland and two between Portland and Vancouver, B.C. Amtrak will continue honoring bike reservations on the bus because "traveling with a bike is important in the Northwest," Just said. Passengers who booked business class will be downgraded to coach and given a refund. Zoom out: Amtrak was forced to sideline Horizon cars on a number of other routes nationally, including the Downeaster in New England, the Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago, and the Borealis, which runs between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Chicago. Some trains on those routes will operate with fewer cars; passengers on other routes will have to use "substitute transportation until a long-term plan is developed," Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari told Axios. What's next: Amtrak did not provide a timeline for repairs to the Horizon cars but told Axios that all impacted cars will have to be sent to the East Coast for repairs.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rail advocates renew push for passenger service to Bangor
Mar. 4—Narrowly defeated last year, rail advocates have returned with refreshed legislation aimed at restoring passenger service from Portland to Bangor. This time they hope to overcome opposition over how much it would cost and whether enough people would ride it and win state support, similar to the effort that brought the Amtrak Downeaster to southern Maine nearly 24 years ago. Previous opponents, including the Maine Department of Transportation, are expected to continue their fight. Proponents see passenger expansion as a practical and necessary investment that would share the opportunity for economic development that rail delivers with more rural parts of Maine. At the same time, it would provide sustainable mass transportation for residents, workers, commuters, tourists heading for Acadia National Park or waterfront concerts in Bangor and students attending colleges in Lewiston, Waterville, Bangor and Orono. "The track is already there. The opportunity is there," said Rep. Tavis Hasenfus, D-Readfield, who submitted the bill. "We should leave no stone unturned to make it happen." The bill, scheduled for a public hearing Thursday, would direct the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), operator of the Amtrak Downeaster, to apply for federal seed money. The funds would be used to develop a proposal for passenger service from Portland through Auburn, Lewiston, Waterville and Bangor to Orono on the CSX Corp. freight line. Other stations would be added as passenger service developed. LD 487 is a slight retooling of a previous bill, LD 860, introduced by Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, that was rejected last year. The Senate approved Baldacci's bill, 23-11; the House voted it down, 80-64. The previous bill also drew strong opposition from officials with the MDOT, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and NNEPRA, who testified that passenger service to Bangor would be too slow, attract too few riders and cost too much to establish and operate. But proponents of the new bill say opposition last year was based on recommendations from an advisory group that didn't consider Lewiston when factoring traveler interest. That's because proponents and the advisory group initially considered a different rail corridor that passed through Brunswick and would have bypassed Lewiston. Excluding Maine's second-largest city was a mistake from the start, Baldacci said, noting the importance of connecting its three largest municipalities: Portland (population 69,104), Lewiston (38,404) and Bangor (31,628). It's also unfair to deny passenger service to central and northern Maine, he said, especially after investing more than $50 million ($89.7 million today, when adjusted for inflation) to bring the Downeaster from Boston to Portland in December 2001 — and continuing to spend $17 million annually to subsidize the service that now extends to Brunswick. "We're denying the same economic benefit to the northern half of the state and two of Maine's largest cities that was granted to our coastal communities," said Baldacci, the new bill's co-sponsor. "It's short-sighted, really, for the MDOT to say they've got enough to take care of." MASS TRANSIT AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS LD 487 is scheduled for a hearing Thursday before the Legislature's transportation committee. It would provide $20,000 to apply for as much as $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a proposal for passenger rail between Portland and Orono. Hasenfus grew up in nearby Winthrop, where the CSX line, formerly the Maine Central Railroad, brought summer visitors to boat and swim at a resort on Maranacook Lake in the early 1900s. The railroad ended passenger service in 1960. "A lot of my constituents are interested in having passenger rail service again and the economic benefit that would come to communities along the corridor," Hasenfus said. "It would be a shame not to give this a really good look." Hasenfus and other proponents said they expect MDOT officials and others to resurrect their opposition, but they question old feasibility data that doesn't account for a stop in Lewiston or the impact of recent track upgrades made by CSX, which would make passenger service faster, more attractive and a less expensive proposition. CSX Transportation, which operates on 481 miles of track and maintains 269 public grade crossings in Maine, has made rail improvements in the last two years allowing freight train speeds to increase to 40 mph, up from 10 to 25 mph. The improved tracks would allow passenger trains to travel up to 60 mph, according to Federal Railroad Administration standards. MDOT OPPOSITION PERSISTS In testifying against the previous bill, Nate Moulton, transportation planning director at MDOT, said a study completed in February 2023 estimated that it would cost $375 million to $902 million in equipment and track improvements to expand passenger service to Bangor, depending on which lines were used. Moulton said current Downeaster service covers about 50% of its costs with passenger fares and requires an annual public subsidy over $17 million. He noted that passenger service to Bangor would parallel interstates 95 and 295, where commuters can travel up to 70 mph in personal vehicles or buses. He referred to an MDOT pilot commuter bus service that started last year between Lewiston-Auburn and Portland. "Given the relatively low transit demand, low population densities, high capital and operating costs, low climate and equity benefits, and extensive transportation needs statewide, (MDOT) has determined that it would be imprudent to continue the study of extending passenger rail to Bangor at this time," Moulton said. MDOT didn't respond to a request to interview Moulton but indicated via email that its opposition hasn't shifted. It also expects the cost of establishing passenger service to Bangor would be even higher than previously estimated because of inflation. That doesn't fit the department's planning model. "In our regular transportation planning, (MDOT) places a priority on pragmatic improvements that balance the department's limited financial resources with anticipated benefits to the greatest number of people," said Paul Merrill, department spokesperson. SUPPORT FOR PASSENGER EXPANSION Notable support for the previous bill came from the Portland City Council and Mayor Mark Dion. "It has become clear that a guiding vision of the future use of critical state corridors is necessary, for everything from passenger transportation to freight to active transportation connections," Dion said. "The actions included by this legislation would provide the high-level analysis needed to move the state of Maine on a path toward sustainable community development and away from auto-centric planning." The transportation committee also heard support from residents of Portland, Lewiston, Waterville and Sherry Foster of Bangor, who said passenger service to her city would create jobs, promote economic development and allow "more eco-friendly travel," especially for people who don't drive or can't afford cars. The Maine Rail Group plans to support passenger rail on the CSX line, as it did before, said Doug Rooks, spokesman for the nonprofit that promotes rail service in Maine and New England. "That is the best railroad track in Maine and it's the most direct connection to all major population centers in the state," Rooks said. "We believe people would pay for the service, and that's what we want to test." Other bills submitted this session would allow the MDOT to remove tracks and build recreation trails on 33.5 miles of a state-owned rail line between Brunswick and Augusta (LD 29) and on nearly 10 miles between Portland and Yarmouth (LD 30 and 511). A bill submitted by Sen. Rotundo, D-Lewiston, and cosponsored by Baldacci, LD 472 would direct the Maine-Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission and the New England and Eastern Canada Legislative Commission to examine restoring passenger rail from Boston to Montreal. Copy the Story Link
