QUICK BITE: Salt and Vinegar Chicken Wings

Chicken Wings are perhaps my favorite bar food although a good slider can always win me over. In all my travels and visita to pubs, I have seen lots of sauces and rubs.  Most places stick to tradition with plain (or naked), BBQ or buffalo.  Some places spice it up with Thai Chili or peppers with more heat.  I have always been a fan of dry rubs. Mainly because I don't like my wings too saucy. If I want some sauce, I like to decide how much.  I also think a dry rub provides so much more flavor on a wing and also helps dry out the skin for a crispier wing. 

I have seen all kinds of rubs before but never had I seen a salt and vinegar style. These were from Gritty McDuff's on Fire Street in Portland Maine

  I love salt and vinegar potato chips so I just had to try it. While I do think some of the wings had a mighty heavy dose of salt, these were a huge success!! 

If there was a bit too much salt, you could easily rub it off or tap on your plate. The vinegar went so well with the chicken.  And these were fresh out of the fryer and so crispy.  I did ask for a side of Thai chili sauce to see whether that complemented the wings. But the ranch was actually the best sauce for these wings. I may try to duplicate this dry rub at home. 

QUICK BITE: The "Best" Lobster Roll

When you visit any area as a tourist, your instincts are inclined to find the "best" signature food item from that place.  If you are in Chicago you would want to know who has the best deep dish pie or Chicago dog.  When in Philly, you might want to know who has the best cheese steak.  I have to imagine that the staff at bars and restaurants get inundated with these requests.  We saw the bartender at our hotel here in Portland Maine about who has the best lobster roll. And she just kind of shrugged and said they are all good.  And she is right. Each lobster roll you can buy is likely "the best" for at least one person. Everyone's taste is not the same.  That is why it is often challenging to recommend food for someone else. "Will I like the food at this restaurant?", someome might ask.   Impossible to tell you unless I know what other food you like. Do you think Riblets at Applebee's are the greatest gastronomical invention ever?  Or is a Thomas Keller 12 course meal at French Laundry more your style?

It is no different for lobster rolls.  Just look at Yelp reviews or the intewebs in general and you'll see everyone telling you who has the best in town. 

Lobster isn't even a food that is at the top ten of my favorite foods.  I think it is okay but would would put Alaskan King Crab way ahead.  Or a dozen freshly shucked east coast oysters. Or a great piece of fried chicken. Do I like lobster?  Yes.  And I like a lobster roll prepared a certain way. And I found that "best" way at High Roller Lobster in Portland.  This is not to say that other places can make it just as well. But to me, this was the best. 

A lobster roll to me should be just that. Lobster on a roll. No muddled mayo.  No extra seasoning to overtake the flavor. No celery or other chopped veggies.  A nicely toasted roll for some crunch.  And a drizzle of melted butter.  They up the game here with lobster ghee which is lobster infused butter. They take lobster shells.and probably some leg meat and steep it in some butter. So good good for extra lobster flavor.  There is some lettuce at the bottom of the roll to keep it from getting  too soggy. That's it. Very simple and delicious.  

Now if this doesn't sound like your best lobster roll, Highroller does allow you to make your best one.  The menu has many different options. 

So the best time you ask someone for the best version of a particular food item, keep in mind that their tastes may not align with yours.  

Getting a Seafood Fix at the Inn at Peaks Island

We has taken the 10:15 ferry from Old.Port for the quick 15 minutes ride to Peak's Island.    Our plan was to get some lunch, go to a museum and take a leisurely stroll around the island.  The island is only about 700 total acres and one and a half miles at it's widest point. There are golf carts.and bikes you can rent and it is also easily walkable since it is mostly flat. 

Lunch was at the Inn on Peak's Island. 

There are only two restaurants I found that are open for lunch.  This one and Island Lobster Company.  The Inn had a direct view of the ferry so would be good for some people watching when the next ferry came. 

They had a varied menu, of course focusing on seafood but also lots of vegetarian dishes. 

We both started out with the seafood chowder. 

This was a delicious one.  If you have travelled to New England, there are two general styles of chowder you will find. Some are thickened with a roux.  Those can often get muddled by the agent used to thicken it - flour if it is a roux and sometimes corn starch.  The other style is more of a thin broth that is slightly thickened only by the addition of diced potatoes.  This chowder was of that variety which is my favorite.  

The broth tastes like the sea. Fresh, creamy and a bit briny. Lots of flavors came through including celery and onion.  But the star was really the seafood.  Large chunks of lobster along with pieces of fish, clams, shrimp and scallops. Simply seasoned and served with the classic New England oyster crackers.  

My wife got the mussel appetizer. 

 There were well cooked in a creamy broth accented by chorizoamd a bit of lemon.  Delicious morsels!!   And of course, some toasted bread to soak up that broth.  While the mussels are good, it is really the broth that you will crave.  I would have liked the bread to be a bit more toasted for some crunch but that is a minor issue. 

I had the fish and chips.  Sometimes you will see a ched overthink what should be a simple dish.  Or try to put a twist on it.  Fish and chips should just respect the fish.  And this one did just that. 

Two beautiful haddock filets, simply breaded with some flour and deep fried.  Cooked perfectly and seasoned with a little salt right out of the fryer.  The fries were thin and crispy and appeared to be fresh cut. I never even tried the tartar sauce since the fish was so good by itself.  The Cole slaw was crunchy and a bit sweet with just enough vinegar to contrast with the fish.  

Brunch? Lunch? Delicious Bites at Central Provisions in Portland Maine

We had had an early start to this rainy Sunday and as it was approaching 10:30, we started to talk about lunch plans.  There are so many places you can go to here in the Old Port area.  One place on our list was Central Provisions. They opened at 11AM so it would be more like brunch for most people although we do tend to have early lunches when we are at home and not travelling. 

We showed up a few minutes after 11 and the place was packed always a good sign.  We were luckily able to grab the last two seats that  they had at the bar. Well really it is the open air kitchen where you get to see all the dishes be prepared. 

The menu was tapas style which is found at many of the restaurants here.  First the cocktails.

I started with a white Negroni. This was made with silver tequila.  It was so refreshing. A very good palate cleanser.  

And now the food. 

So.many good things. They also had a Pork and Pea salad as one of the specials. This was definitely the star attraction. 

Thin sliced serrano ham atop freshly shelled snap peas, local radishes, braised peaches and thin sliced red onion.  The dressing was a vinegrette made with apricot and bourbon.   All.kinds of flavors and textures happening here.  Salty, crunchy, sweet and a little burn from the bourbon.  So good we had to order a second salad.  

We also tried the smoked halibut dip served with crunchy artisan bread. 

The fish was lightly smoked so you could still taste it.  Sometime a smoked fish dip focuses on the smoke and not the star.  There was also a bit of lemon to contrast the richness. 

We also tried the cheddar cheese curds. 

I have had lots of cheese curds before - but usually deep fried.  These had been tossed with orange peel, garlic and thyme.  And much like the fish dip and it's subtle smokeiness, the flavors here didn't overwhelm the cheese.  The accentuated it.  Such a clever way to use cheese curds. We will try this at home. 

We also tried the Carmelized Bocodillo sandwich.  I had never heard of type of sandwich before. Was it just a fancy grilled cheese?   It was so much more.  

We added the serrano ham which I highly recommend. The saltiness really broughtbthe sandwich together and contrasted with the membrillo.  I was not familiar with this   I found out it is a quince paste and slightly sweet. On the bottom of the plate was saba.  I had not heard of this either.  This is very much like a grape jelly but more like a sauce.  That was great for dipping the edges of the crunchy bread.  So well grilled and not greasy. 

First Night In Portland Maine

The days journey began with a flight up to Boston and then we took the Amtrak Downeaster up to Portland Maine.  Great way to avoid traffic.  It is a two and a half hour train ride.  They have a cafe car that has many local beers from Maine breweries.  So you get a Maine experience before you enter the state. 

We got to our hotel about 6PM. We stayed in the Old Port section of the city.  Our room looked righ onto the hardor.   It was such a nice evening and we wanted to get some dinner. You can literally walk in any direction here and come across so many different bars and restaurants. We had a recommend for a place called Novare Res Biwr Hall.  This was only about ten minutes from our hotel. And much like the name sounds, it had the appearance of an old European beer hall. It had large covered areas with picnic tables.  

They have about forty beers on tap here plus more in bottles.  Definitely something for everyone's taste.   

The food menu is sort of tapas style.  Some smaller bites and charcuterie to share. 

We started with the crab Rangoon grilled cheese which has been recommended. 

While this was a great concept, it was something that overpronissd and underdelivered.  Had this been called a crab grilled cheese, I actually might have enjoyed it more. There was a decent amount of crab and a creamy cheese. But it really lacked that punch that most good crab Rangoon has.  And the dipping sauce was not to my taste. It was close.to an applesauce taste and consistency which I didn't think went well with the sandwich.  It was well grilled.  Super crispy without being greasy.  

The star attraction was a charcuterie platter.  We ordeed the chefs recommended cheese and meat.   We also ordered a tin if snow salmon. This is what appeared.  

Such a well composed charcuterie plate. The cheese was a milder blue cheese.  And the meat was thinly sliced and smoked beef. Cleverly complemented by three kinds of peppers, fresh bread,  marcona almonds, raisins and spicy mustard.  You could make so many different tasty bites.   My favorite was taking the small cherry peppers and stuffing with a little bit of the cheese.  Kid of like a fresh  jalapeno popper.

The tin of smoked salmon had a fun presentation.  

it was just like the tuna can from Chicken of the Sea or Bumblebee.  Deliciously smoked and still moist. This was really good with the spicy mustard.  

We walked around a bit more exploring the area and decided we wanted a couple of more snacks. We headed to Liquid Riot Bottling Company.   We had great seats right at the water.  The menu here was also smaller bites for sharing.   We started with the smoked jackfruit bao buns.  

Jackfruit is grown in tropical climates.  You will see it very often in the Caribbean.  It is originally from southern India. It is subtly sweet, sort of a combination of mango and apple.  It has a very firm texture and is often used a a meat substitute as it was here.  The texture hold.up well to cooking and you will sometimes seemit shredded to make pulled "pork".  This has been BBQ'd and had a slightly smoky flavor.  The veggies added.a nice crunch. And the siracha sauce.on the side was great for dipping.  

We also tried a cucumber dish.  This was a spin on the traditional vinegrette you often see as a marinade.for.cucumbers. instead, this marinade tasted like the peanut sauce served with chicken satay. So good with the crispy chunks of cucumber and red cabbage.  

We also had an order of fresh cut fries.  

A lot of times these types of fries are cut too thickly so that by the time the inside is cookedz the outside is burned.  Here, they were thinly cut.  And I am guessing they did the double fry.  That is where you deep fry potatoes at a lower temperature (about 350°) to cook the inside. Then you remove them and drain any excess oil. Then you boost the heat up to 375° for the final dry which crisps up the outside.  These were cooked perfectly. Crispy outside and still pillowly inside.  They came with your dipping sauces. The best was a velvety beer cheese followed by a Korean aioli which had slight notes of siracha.  There was also traditional ketchup and a spicy mustard which I didn't think went with the fries.  

We are here for four more nights and there are.many places still to try. We will just pick a new direction to walk.  

QUICK BITE: Speckled Ax Portland Maine

Such a great bacon, egg and cheese sandwich from here this morning!!  Fluffy omelette, crispy bacon  with just enough cheese .  Definitely get the seasonal veggies on it .  The pickled onions really put this sandwich over the top  And the English muffins seem like there are homemade.  

Terrific selection of coffee drinks also.  The maple latte was so good!

Skipper's Smokehouse - Soft Opening Dinner

All I can say is wow!! What a meal tonight.at Skipper's Smokehouse!!

Skipper's had been an institution in Tampa since the mid 1980's.   More known for being one of the best blues and live music clubs in the United States,.it also became famous for their slogan "We Smoke Anything".   During the pandemic, like many restaurants and bars, they tried a modified concept to try to stay open but ultimately decided to close in the middle of last year.  It was a sad day for Tampa since there weren't many live music venues as it was and Skipper's was one of the best.  And they had very good good as well. So the owners tried to sell the place and weren't able to come to an agreement with anyone. So within the the last few weeks of this post, the owners decided to have a renaissance of Skipper's called Skipper's Two Point Oh.  They don't have an opening date said yet. They recently announced they would have a soft opening for the dining room so I was able to grab one of the few they had.   And I am glad I got to experience this renaissance.  

I'll start with the friendly staff. That is where Skipper's always shined. From the greeter near the entrance to the Skipperdome, to the staff at the restaurant podium inside, everyone was smiling and welcoming. And we had the fabulous (and magical) Katlyn as our server. She was fantastic in quickly getting our drink orders. I was so happy to see they had more offerings of draft beer and a craft brewery of the month. We ordered a Palm Bender IPA and Bromosa, both from Big Storm.  

Katlyn gave us a great review of the menu and what was different, new or the same as before. She had some great recommendations with the Fried Green Tomato BLT and the smoked (magical) cheese grits. For ordering we went with a "Something Old and Something New" approach.

If you go to Skipper's, you have to order oysters. Those have alwaya been a staple. And we did. Twelve freshly shucked beauties. Sweet and tasty on their own. The great cocktail sauce was like I remembered. There was also a new sauce which was a mignonette of watermelon, shallots and what I think was red wine vinegar. That went perfectly with the oysters. 

Ever since I had made the soft opening reservations, I had hoped that the onion rings were on the menu. And they were. And they delivered. The batter is similar to tempura. So light and crisp. The best onions rings I have ever had. And served with a perfect, slightly sweet and garlicky aioli. A great match of the crispy rings.

Katlyn had recommend the smoked fish chowder and it also delivered on flavor. There was a big spoonful of smoked fish on top along with a drizzle of hot sauce to offset the creaminess. Well done by the chef.

My wife got a grouper Reuben. This is the sandwich that was on the Travel Channel program "Best Sandwiches in America" with Adam Richland a few years ago. 

We had always loved this sandwich. And it also delivered. Crisp, toasted marbled rye. Well cooked grouper. And sauerkraut. Nothing to detract from the star attraction. Skipper's has added to their sides and she got the fried okra. These were well fried and crispy but not greasy and well seasoned out of the fryer. They went well with the dipping sauce we had leftover from the onion rings. 

I went with the Fried Green Tomato BLT. 

 This again featured crispy toast around fried tomatoes, bacon and pimento cheese spread. The tomatoes were definitely the star here - as they should be. They had a light batter and were crisp. I appreciated that they were not overcooked. The tomatoes still had a bit of an "al dente" texture so the sandwich didn't become wet and muddled. So smart. The pimento cheese gave a bit of a bite. I would have liked a little more of that on the bread. The bacon added just enough saltiness. A well composed sandwich. Maybe this could be a contender for Best Sandwich in America.

My side was the smoked cheese grits.

 I have had some pretty good grits over the years. None surpassed these. Creamy, without being gluey. Smokey without overpowering the corn flavor. Cheesy without being stringy. I imagined how good they would be with a couple of runny fried eggs. But that would be a different menu for a different meal. 

I finished the meal with another recommendation from Katlyn. This was the Smoked Peach Cobbler.

 I enjoyed the flavor and the texture of the cobbler cake. I would have liked a few more peaches to make it more well balanced between cake and fruit. A small issue to an otherwise delicious dessert.  

I know Skipper's is not yet open.  But if tonight's meal is an indication of the effort that the staff has put in for other parts of the restaurant, Tampa is going to enjoy this renaissance of Skipper's 2.0.

#skipperssmokehouse #skipperstwopointoh

Dinner at Rosewater (Take Two) at Secrets Riviera Cancun

Since our first attempt to have dinner at Rosewater was derailed by weather, we needed a "Take Two".  Wednesday was the night.  We arrived about 6:30 and were the only people there. We had a great waiter Eduardo who was kind enough to get us orange slices for our Tanqueray and Tonics!!  While enjoying our cocktails, we spotted something out in the water!!

It was something that used to be very familiar to see from these resorts in early evening.  It was a cruise ship!!  Specifically the Celebrity Edge that has been docked in Costa Maya that day.  This siting had special meaning since we were on the last sailing of the Edge in March 2020 before the shutdown.  

We ordered our meals and food started arriving.  This was the scallop aquachile appetizer. 

My wife and I started discussing what the difference is between an aquachile and a ceviche since they can look the same on a plate.  A ceviche is where raw fish (usually a flaky white fish) is combined with aromatics and an acid, traditionally orange juice but can also be lemon, lime or other acidic fruits.  The acid then "cooks" the fish.  Left for too long the fish can become tough, rubbery and just unpleasant. 

An aquachile is when already cooked seafood, usually a shellfish such as shrimp or scallops are dressed a la minute with an acidic dressing.  In this case, it was a pepper infused grapefruit juice.   The scallops were just tender and not rubbery. The acidic sauce had a good amount of heat. 

Next was the beef carpaccio. 

These were delicious thin sliced pieces of raw beef with dollops of a light garlicky aioli.   There was also shaved parmesan cheese, hints of ginger and roasted red pepper.  A very good presentation of this dish.

Next was something I had never heard of called Meloso rice. 

it looked an awful like risotto.   I did a little research to find out more about this dish. From what I found, this is actually closer to a rice soup that is cooked down to reduce the broth and make the rice creamy. A bit different than risotto where broth is added a little bit at a time to cook the rice and get the desired consistency. 

Whatever the method, this was such a flavorful dish and my favorite bite of the night. There were flavors of red pepper and chorizo along with such a rich creaminess. And a runny egg!!  

An egg always can help bring a dish together.  There is just some kind of magic with a runny egg yolk!!  And thus was served with such a well toasted crustini. Crisp, yet pillowy.  I found myself spreading the rice and egg onto the bread for a delicious creamy, crunchy and salt bite!!   So good and better than many risottos I have had. 

Next was the lobster pizza.  

This had a crisp thin crust topped with lots of cheese, a bit of tomato sauce, black olives, mushrooms and the Star attraction Carribbean lobster.  This had some good flavors going on.  If I ordered again, I think I would ask just for lobster and cheese.   I think the mushrooms, tomato and black olives took away from the lobster.  

 Next up was Frutti de mer - or Fruits of the Sea.  

This was thin fettuccine noodles in a light, buttery sauce served with shrimp, scallops and mussels.  The shrimp was certainly the star. They were well cooked and plump.  The scallops were okay but a bit overcooked. If I ordered again, I would just get all shrimp.  

The last dish was the Catch of the Day.  This was some really good fish.  

There were two large filets of fish. Eduardo said it was grouper but it tasted and looked more like red snapper.  In either case, it was simply prepared and delicious.  Too often a chef tries to do too much to seafood.  Here that was not the case.  The fish was simply seasoned with some salt and pepper and grilled. It was perfectly cooked for me.  Flaky but still moist.  And the chef did something really clever.  The fish skin had been removed and then crisped separately.  It was then sprinkled as a garnish on top.   So for each bite of fish, you could add just a bit of the crispy skin for some additional flavor and crunch. A well designed dish.  The fish was served with some pearled potatoes.  These mystified me since I had never seen potatoes in such a perfect round shape before.  I was thinking that maybe they took a melon baller to a regular potato.  They were delicious with the melted butter and dill. 

There are a few other items we want to try so we plan to eat one more dinner here before we check out.