Daryl and I managed to find a little bit of time to get away this past weekend.  Daryl had gotten me a nights stay up in York, ME as my Christmas present, and we welcomed the time away.  So for anyone who knows me well you know I’m a planner.  I can’t go on a vacation without having a trusty list of things to do and see.  Partly because I’m in the middle of planning a wedding but mostly because I thought a little unstructured time might be good, I did not spend a second looking into doing anything on this weekend trip.  it wasn’t until the morning we left that I expressed some concern to Daryl- “Do you think we’ll get bored?  I’m afraid I might get bored.”

We checked into our room and I proceeded to fall asleep.  Around 6:30pm I reluctantly woke up.  While the Inn had a very nice looking restaurant I was in the mood to explore and since I had never been to Portland, ME and I thought- why not?  A short hour later we arrived in Portland.  I had started to scramble looking up reviews on yelp and managed to find a street which appeared to have some good restaurants on it.  We found parking on Exchange Street in the Old Port neighborhood and walked up and down looking at our options.

We picked The Grill Room for dinner that night, and lucky us, it was Portland’s Restaurant Week.  Daryl had the three course menu including salmon over a beet risotto.  I had scallops grilled on a rosemary sprig (I have to use this idea!) and a side of bacon-y brussel sprouts.  As dinner was winding down I asked the waiter if he had any suggestions for where to go for some live music and a drink.  I was sensing there was too much going on around me to just go back to the Hotel.

Local 188

He directed us to Local 188.  This place reminded me of Minneapolis 100%.  High tin ceilings, hipsters sitting around on couches- yes, the waiter had read my mind.  Daryl and I split a lovely porter and a cheese plate- their food looked amazing and I would highly recommend checking it out sometime.  I might use it as good excuse to go back!

The next day I slowly dragged myself out of bed…. IT WAS SO WARM… and by 11am we were on our way back up to Portland to see what it had to offer during the day. We arrived just in time to get some lunch and then started to explore.  Almost immediately we happened upon a gem.  Well maybe other people know it, but for us it was an unassuming storefront with just a chalkboard out front.  We walked into Vervacious and were in love.  There was a table for tasting their different balsamic vinegars and drizzling sauces.

Stacking Spice Jars

Now I like cooking, but I also LOVE a well designed product.  These spice jars lock into place so you can stack them and they form an M.C. Escher tessellation.  AH-HA!  A spice “rack” which is also a nerdy design element!  We got talking to the owner about food and cooking so I just threw out the question of whether he had any suggestions for dinner that night.  He recommended Boda and Miyake but described Boda as Thai street food styled tapas -we were sold.

We still had a lot of time left before dinner and walked all around.  Up and down Commercial Street, through Old Port again, up to Congress.  Being Sunday not a lot was open but the few places that were were absolutely great.  Lots of vintage clothing, and housewares stores.  One of our favorites was Pinecone + Chickadee.  I liked it for the organic cotton screen printed tees, Daryl liked it because they had a Texas Instrument TI-99/4A computer and old programming manuals that he remembers using in his childhood.  (And yes- I had to ask him to remind me what the make and model was for this post)

5pm came and we headed over to Boda and ordered two tapas, a salad and one entree.  Thank god for those people who take pictures of their food and post to facebook because I was able to steal their pictures to post them.

Ma Hor appetizer

Ma-Hor: bite sized fresh pineapple topped with ground pork, shrimp, onion and peanut

Pork belly skewers: marinated with salt, sprinkled with chopped scallion

Apple salad: local apples, shrimp, roasted coconut and peanuts in a sweet sour dressing

Beef Panaeng: Braised organic beef in a flavorful panaeng curry with coconut cream, served with jasmine rice
Sitting in the window I looked outside and realized the other restaurant that we had been recommended was across the street.  Pai Mei Miyakehad been recommended for their ramen- but my ears had perked up when I also heard they had sushi.  So Daryl and I opened up our reserve stomach space for some sushi.  We sat at the bar and ordered two of their sushi rolls, a tuna roll and a ceviche roll.  The ceviche roll blew me out of the water!  It was such a great combination of flavors, light and refreshing.  I would go back there anytime for that alone!  Being the designer I am I also loved the decor- especially the ceiling and lighting!

Miyake Interior

So that’s it folks! Hopefully that spoke to your taste buds enough to make the trip!  Oh and when you go, let me know so I can tag along!