D. Taylor's Food & Travel

Pleasantly Surprised and Very Disappointed Last fall I saw an article in DownEast magazine that touched my spirit. “ Maine’s 30 Greatest Burgers .” I love a good burger. Many places have frozen, preformed, 1.800-ounce burgers or they serve a 3.5-ounce “hockey puck” where all the flavor has been smashed out of it. So, trying the 30 greatest burgers in Maine sounded like my kind of challenge. Sadly, many of the 30 best were in faraway places like Lubec, Caribou, and Bar Harbor. A bit far to drive for a burger. But many places were in the Greater Portland Area. Two of them I noticed right away as being near places I often go. One is a chain that I often see, sometimes on my way to or from my dentist or when I’m shopping at Stapes or Burlington on Western Avenue. The other I drive by often when I pass through Saco on my way to or from Biddeford.  D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches With shops in South Portland, Biddeford, Portland, Lewiston, and Auburn, it is easy to stop...

Background Sign: Q Street Diner, South Portland I have long heard of the “Q Street Diner” in the center of “Knightville” in South Portland, I’ve heard they have a great breakfast and an excellent burger. Recently, I was going from an appointment in Falmouth to the South Portland Library Genealogy Group meeting and thought I’d swing by the Q-Street Diner and give them a try.  Seating I arrived about noon and was by myself so I just waked up to the small counter near the kitchen pass shelf and seated myself. Ordering It was a little late for breakfast, so I decided to order a burger for lunch. I’m still in search of the world’s greatest onion rings, so I substituted onion rings for fries. I was a little surprised when I saw, what appeared to be my order on the pass shelf.  After it being there for several minutes and seeing the waitress pass by several times, I pointed towards, with a quizzical look on my face. She indicated the order was just waiting f...

Restaurant Review I had heard that B-Good had healthy food, was reasonably priced and was really good. So, I've wanted to stop by for myself and see what they are like. "Cousin Oliver" burger B Good - S. Portland It is a walk-up order counter.  We let the person behind us go first as we needed time with the order. Kale and quinoa were touted in several different varieties.  Not being either a kale nor a quinoa fan my eyes immediately moved to the Burgers and sandwiches. Burger, Veggie Burger, Turkey Burger, or Chicken Sandwich. I ordered an “El Guapo” all-natural (whatever that means) beef burger with bacon, homemade jalapeno slaw, and jalapeno ranch. My wife ordered a “Cousin Oliver” Burger with Boston lettuce, tomato, onions, and Chef Tony’s homemade pickles.  We also ordered sweet potato fries to share. We wondered to the drink station and got our drinks, napkins, and condiments.  They have Sir Kensington's catsup, which I found to taste very...

By Don Taylor I have liked The Tilted Kilt ever since I visited my first "TKs" I was hooked. Great atmosphere, great food, and an excellent bar.  What more could you ask for?  When I lived in Georgia, I and my co-workers, particularly our out-of-town visitors would enjoy a trip to TKs.  Yes, I know what you are thinking, it was for the scantily clad young women. But no,  it was for the food. When I moved to Maine two years ago, I was disappointed that there were no TKs in Maine.  Luckily, last fall one opened up in South Portland.  It was definitely on my list to check them out. Tilted Kilt Bar & Eatery, South Portland Photo by Don Taylor It had taken several months before I had a chance to get there.  When I arrived, I felt like I was back home.  Because I was alone, I decided to sit at the bar. It was a warm day, so I ordered a Leinenkugels Summer Shandy from their excellent beer menu. I took a look at the food menu. I've ...

Restaurant Review Beautiful interior of Guerrero Maya iPhone photo by Don T. We had driven past Guerrero Maya several times since they opened last fall. But, finally it was time to eat Mexican and I thought Guerrero Maya Mexican Restaurant was worth a try. Wow! It was beautiful inside and the service was fantastic. We arrived for lunch and were immediately greeted and escorted to a booth. The chips and salsa came quickly. We ordered two glasses of water with lemon and took a look at the menu. It showed a full Mexican style fare. We were there for lunch, so my wife ordered the lunch chimichanga with shredded beef and I ordered Fajita Nacho with chicken. Luncheon Chimichanga iPhone photo by Don T. There were only a few other customers, so, as I expected, the food arrived quite quickly. My nachos looked magnificent and my wife’s chimi’ looked great. The quantity of food was what I’ve grown to expect from a Mexican restaurant. The service was excellent. Someone came by ...

We had a Buffalo Wild Wings (B-Dubs) near where we lived in Smyrna, GA. We were saddened when it closed. When I'd travel I'd often stop by a Buffalo Wild Wings in whatever town I saw them.  I always enjoyed their food. We had noticed one on Western Ave. in South Portland as we drove by and often said to my wife that we needed to stop by sometime. Well, we finally did and am I glad. We ordered our typical "waters with lemon" and then decided upon Leinenkugel's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter and an Angry Orchard both on tap.  It was my first time with the Vanilla Porter and I found it extremely good. For a dark beer, it tasted very light and had a smoothness unsurpassed by most other dark porters. My wife tasted it and liked it as well. She, who isn't a beer drinker, said that the Leinenkugel's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter could make her a beer drinker. She liked it that much.  My wife ordered a small order of (10) wings (all flats). One nice feature at B-Dub...

I love breakfast. I grew up knowing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I also love finding new places to have breakfast. I had seen Simple Simon's on as I drove by several times and figured I’d try them. This is a local, mom & pop type of restaurant. It was open seating with the grill and the counter in sight of all the tables. There was mostly a senior crowd late on the Friday morning we visited. We arrived and were told to seat ourselves .  Simple Simon's 2 eggs (over hard), toast, ham, home fries, with an extra side of bacon. After a few minutes the waitress came, we ordered coffee and began looking at the menu. Pretty simple fare; eggs, pancakes, omelets, breakfast meats, and home fries. The omelettes looked interesting, plain eggs with toast and you add whatever you want for fillings at sixty cents per ingredient. My wife and I both decided on a number two: 2 eggs any style, home fries, toast, and breakfast meat. She ordered the bacon ...

Weathervane Seafood Restaurant , South Portland, Maine (Near the Maine Mall) It is a rare day that my wife suggests we go out to eat at a seafood restaurant.  She said she had a “hankering for some scallops.”  She suggested Ken’s, which is just down the road from our home.  We headed down and found Ken’s closed for the season.  For some reason we were thinking they remained open – apparently not.  Anyway, knowing Bailey’s, The Clambake, and The Pine Point Grill were closed for sure, I had to think…. How about the Weathervane by the Maine Mall, I suggested.  She said “sure, why not” and away we went. We were immediately met and seated by a friendly hostess.  Our waitress stopped by, we ordered some water with lemon and continued to review the menu.  The waters arrived with lemon and all was well. Sea Scallops (Seafarer portion), Onion Rings, & Coleslaw Weathervane Seafood Restaurant, We decided on sea scallops, for my wife, a...

Getting older is usually a pain, however, ever since I learned about Uno’s “double nickel” program, it definitely has its advantages.   The double nickel club give an awesome 30% discount to people over 55 on Wednesdays.   As such, Uno has become our Wednesday place to eat when we are out and about. As we were out shopping last Wednesday, I suggested we eat at the Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 280 Maine Mall Road in South Portland, Maine.   We have eaten there several times before and have liked the food there in the past and at 30% off on Wednesday, I’m all about that. We arrived for a late lunch, a bit before 2PM, and were greeted promptly by a hostess that took us to a table and gave us our menus.   A couple minutes later our server, Kayla, stopped by.   She wrote her name and a little happy face on a napkin and took our drink order—waters with lemon. The waters arrived and we still weren’t ready to order food. Kayla told us to take our time to con...

It is always sad when one of your favorite restaurants falls from grace. Ruby Tuesday in Smyrna, GA , was one of our favorite places to eat. Service was always very good, the biscuits tasty, but, most of all the ribs were awesome. My wife always ordered the "Ruby Ribs," The Memphis Dry Rub was her favorite.  Since we moved to Maine we've tried a couple of the Ruby Tuesdays in the area.  First we went to the Ruby Tuesday in South Portland.  Service was mediocre at best; the salad bar seemed to have fewer things than it did in Smyrna. With so many restaurants in the Maine Mall area we figured we'd go elsewhere in the future.  Not a big deal. The Ruby Tuesday Memphis Dry Rub Ribs we liked at Ruby Tuesday, Smyrna, GA Some weeks later we happened to be in Westbrook and thought why not give the Westbrook Ruby Tuesday a try.  What a mistake. The dry rub ribs were no longer on the menu and not available. Our server tried to tell us that the ribs were the same an...

Review – Jimmy the Greek’s Review by Don Taylor I had the opportunity to go to Jimmy the Greek’s for a birthday celebration. It was a very dear friend of ours mother’s 83 birthday and a medium sized group of us met to celebrate with a Lunch at Jimmy the Greek’s. Logo of Jimmy the Greek's (From Facebook ) The entire party would number 15 individuals and we arrived as probably eighth and ninth in the group. We mentioned which group we were a part of and were directed to a large room with seating for about 24 or so. There were water pitchers on the table and glasses for everyone. There were also small plates and silverware wrapped in napkins on the table. We helped ourselves to water and began chatting with the other guests. My wife knew all of them but hadn’t seen several of them in many years. Our waitress person did wander through and refill the water pitchers and asked if anyone wanted anything from the bar. I was very pleased to learn that we could or...

After my bad experience at El Rayo (that's another story), I thought I’d give another Mexican restaurant a try. On the Border -  Mexican Grill and Cantina was a favorite of mine in the past (both in Atlanta (Buckhead) and in Kennesaw, GA), so I figured it would be a great place here (South Portland, Maine) as well. Sorry to say, it was not. My wife and I started off with a beer (Corona) and a hard cider (Angry Orchard) and a couple "waters with lemon."  The beer and cider arrived in their respective bottles, no glasses and no glasses were offered. We had to ask a second time for the waters. We also ordered a Queso & Guacamole Duo . The queso was particularly runny, but okay. However, the guacamole was a cold mess. The problem was that it wasn’t mixed thoroughly. One part of the guac was very salty; another part of the guac lump was really limey. We were not pleased. We were there for a late lunch/early dinner about 3:30 in the afternoon. The restaurant...