Portland207

An evening with Ryanhood at the North Star Café (225 Congress Street in the East End).  Friday the 29th at 8:00PM.  This duo currently hails from AZ, but cut their musical teeth in the Boston underground.  Former subway buskers on their way to indie greatness.  Since forming in 2003, Ryan Green and Cameron Hood have been staples of the college touring circuit but their fan base is much broader.  Their quick fingered acoustic sound and witty crowd banter lends itself nicely to the musical tastes of New Englanders.  Their songs are nimble, harmonic and buoyant.  You can’t help by smile after crowd favorites like Back Into Blue and Welcome You Into My Head.  The intimate North Star Café is a perfect venue for Ryan and Hood, who relish interaction with their audiences.  Part coffee shop, part restaurant, part bar, part venue; it is one of the best places for live music in Portland.  Enjoy.

Good music makes a guest appearance in Portland.  Black Mountain is playing tonight at Space.  These long-haired hippies from the country to our North are out promoting their latest album In the Future.  They are one of the better groups to come through Portland in a while and are playing one of the best venues in town.  The always over-zealous folks at Rolling Stone gave their latest offering 3.5 stars out of 5.  For a more rounded review, go to Pitchfork Media.  Their sound can best be described as what would happen if you dropped 3 Zeppelin albums, a Sabbath tape and a few spoonfuls of MMJ into a blender and hit puree for 30 seconds.  What the critics have dubbed, “psychedelic stoner rock.”  Right.  Go to their website to watch a video of their appearance on Conan O’Brien last week to draw your own conclusions.  More info on start time etc. in the To Do section.

V-day at the Empire proved to be a prime choice.  MENSK, an enigmatic non-profit with a stated mission to “inspire and support personal, local, and regional action for the development of creative and sustainable communities” hosted their Something Like Love fundraiser last eve.  A mini music festival with a line-up of local performers, local art and a raffle/auction of local products (I ended up with a tea set.  Seriously).  Craving the full Empire experience, our group chose to dine on site prior to attending the Valentines Day music love-fest.  As you might decipher from the name, The Empire Dine and Dance is one part restaurant (downstairs) and one part venue (upstairs).  The two halves are separated only by well worn floor boards from an era past.  The exposed beams and floor above adds to the dining ambiance, but proved to be a sieve for loud music.  While waiting for cocktails at our table, we were treated to a few muffled Weezer covers and some unrecognizable original ballads.  Being diners with ulterior motives, the music from above only helped to add to the atmosphere.  Speaking of which, that is something that the restaurant could use a bit more of.  With the exception of the nooks for couches and over-stuffed leather chairs, the space is rather lacking.  Bad art adorned the walls, leaving us to turn to our table top for visual stimulus.  It turns out the tables are pretty sweet.  Perhaps as this relatively young restaurant/venue grows into itself the décor will improve.  The food needs few improvements.  The brie and mango quesadilla was simple, but tasty.  The slider-style mini-burger received rave reviews and the veggie lasagna was over-sized but damn delicious.  The wine list is weak, especially when they are out of 2 of your top choices.  The bar manager was quick to swing by the table and apologize, offering us an upgrade for the same price as our original selection.  Before moving thing upstairs, I must interject a rant about the WC.  Portland, in general, is lacking in good bathroom facilities at bars and restaurants.  My favorite so far is the metal-plated restroom at Gritty’s.  The Empire was seriously lacking, especially for a place that has only been open for a few months.  The shattered urinal looks like someone’s head was put through it.  The hands-free paper towel dispenser is broken and the overly secure fire door is so heavy that it slams closed with alarming force every time someone enters or leaves.  Brief frustration gave way to blissful happiness upon heading upstairs.  The venue is perfect for such an event.  Just the right size to seem comfortably crowded.  A short wait at the bar left us with enormous cocktails in hand to help facilitate the music appreciation process.  Portland has an obsession with pint-sized cocktails.  There must be an area-wide shortage of rocks glasses.  All the bands were great, and I say that will all honesty.  One had a Carrot Top look-alike for their front man, which proved to be slightly distracting from the music.  As Fast As proved to be one of the crowd favorites with 2 sets.  A melodramatic twosome with a guitar and standup bass proved their musical prowess, but had the wrong level of energy for the crowd.  A diminished Rustic Overtones followed suit.  The best of the night came from a group that was not originally listed on the billing of performers.  Soul Movement.  Two female lead singers worked seamlessly together as they were true to their name and provided several soulful songs.  Both the dining experience and the event were a smashing success.  Nice work Frank. 

As we close the curtain on the Maine political scene for a bit (nice win by Obama) I choose not to dwell on the recent democratic match-up and instead delve into another hotly contested race.  The battle between 2 hip Congress Street eateries.  In full disclosure, this was not the initial intent of the yesterday’s dining excursions and both meals were at different times of the day.  Furthermore, I am not really sure if these two locations even draw same patrons.  That said, in a day of stumping and choosing sides, it seems fitting to pit them head to head.  First up: Local 188.  The meal was brunch; something that not many realize they serve.  At the prime brunch hour (11AM), there was no line at all, but the place was sill comfortably full.  2 of our party of 4 arrived 20 minutes early, but the waitress was still quick to seat us at a table fit for 6.  Good for us, bad for the family of 6 that arrived shortly after.  Our waiter in the fine man-apron kept us filled with coffee and one of the finest mimosas on the peninsula.  The lexi-bun (a warm cinnamon bun served in a bowl) was as a fantastic starter.  A few orders of well adorned scrambled eggs (mushrooms, onions, cheddar, etc.) were received with applause, but not a standing o.  Ditto for the huevos rancheros.  Net net; a solid brunch choice, but not somewhere you would want to go week after week.  Skipping over the middle meal and heading right into dinner at Downtown Lounge.  The atmosphere is quite different from the previous candidate.  Cramped and dingy.  Still, this is part of the allure.  The dining group was cut in half, as was the range of ordering.  The spinach, onion and goat cheese turnover with mushrooms and garlic cream sauce turned out to be the only thing necessary for a prompt judgment.  Downtown Lounge takes the food vote, even with their small and understaffed kitchen.  Wise Sunday diners were seated comfortably in one of the 5 or 6 booths.  Those of us left to spots at the bar were lucky enough to enjoy the company of sullen regulars sipping one too many cocktails for a Sunday night. Local 188 redux takes the atmosphere card hands down.  That leaves a tie.  Can you call a draw in a caucus?

I went in wanting to vote for Obama and I left wanting to vote for Bill Clinton.  A fine speech by Bill last night.  A bit heavy on policy and his past accomplishments, but he did wrap it up nicely with a minute or two of self deprecating humor and even a reference to the Harrison Ford movie Air Force 1.  Standing tall in his newly purchased Bean Boots, the former Pres. was a parody of himself.  The 1,500 or so audience members were treated to all the classic Clintonian mannerisms.  Some thumb pointing, a bit of lip biting and the double hand, fingers spread, palm down reach out to the crowd move.  It made everyone in attendance long for those glory days that were the 90’s.  Mr. Clinton was introduced by the ever so charismatic senate majority leader Libby Mitchell our Kucinich looking governor, who had a few prepubescent voice cracks along the way and at one point, in referring to the Italian naptime, used the word “siester.”  Topped off with a trip to Binga’s Wingas, it was the perfect primary season Thursday evening.

Portland’s politicos tell me that Willy is on his way.  He will be in town tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:30pm over at the Portland Expo.  No word on whether Hill might be accompanying the former President.  There is however word that Obama is bypassing Portland’s unofficial capital for a trip up to Bangah. 

Gyro and kabob lovers delight, this former food cart has wheeled itself into the Public Market House in Monument Square.  The latest edition to the ever expanding Public Market.  No word on whether the old food cart operation will remain parked down the street by 1 City Center.  Amidst the confusion of the ongoing renovation and second floor expansion, the Spartan Grill opened quite unceremoniously earlier this week.  Located between Big Sky Bread (recently promoted to the front of the store) and Maine Beer and Beverage (recently doubling in size at the back of the building), it should provide some relief for the brutal lunchtime lines at Big Sky.  The new location has allowed for a massive expansion of offerings.  The much beloved and hastily prepared gyros still grace the menu, but there are now souvlaki and salad options as well.  Bring cash, as the credit card machine is not yet up and running.  Just pretend you are back at the food cart.

The Portland Harbor Hotel opens up their annual Ice Bar this weekend.  What used to be a month-long installation in the courtyard of this downtown hotel has been condensed into one cold January weekend.  A rare chance to drink like the Swedes.  I can’t claim to have ever bundled up in deerskin gloves and ski gear to attend this rite of Winter, but I have heard from reliable sources that after the first few nights, the Ice Bar was scarcely attended in the past.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is poorly advertised and dragged out for a month.  I have the feeling that attaching your face to the vodka ice luge and pounding Shipyards to fight the cold looses its icy luster after a night or two.  It seems the operators of the Harbor Hotel have gotten wise to that fact and given the Ice Bar a life span of 48 hours.  The doors to the courtyard open at 4pm on Friday (1/25).  Free food (from Browne Trading and others), a bit of country music and a few fire pits, which serve at the yang to the Ice Bars yin, will add to the atmosphere.  An Ice carving competition is being held from 9am to noon on Saturday and then the bar opens back up at 4pm.  More info in the To Do section. 

In a town that claims the most ultimate frisbee leagues per capita of any place in the US (at least according to Outside Magazine), it seems that bowling has taken over as the sport of choice.  Perhaps it's the weather.  I spent a couple of hours at Yankee Lanes last night and can attest to this fact.  The place was packed.  The lanes were filled with awkward high school kids and old league night guys alike.  My group was squarely in the middle of it all.  The best thing about this place is that they slap a florescent wristband on you once it has been deemed that you are old enough to drink.  It lends a night-club aspect to the whole affair.  The waitress informed us that on Friday and Saturday nights, the black lights fire up and the strobe lights start spinning for disco bowling.  Dear God, let that be true.