Fore Street
So here's a question for you. How did a relatively small city like Portland, Maine become one of the top foodie destinations in the country? I think we can trace the answer back to the opening of this restaurant. We are in the Old Port neighborhood of Portland, about a block away from the water, and this is a trail blazing, trend setting restaurant that has been one of the toughest tables to get for the past 30 years. Welcome to Fore Street.
The kitchen is run by award winning chef, Tony Pastor. And this guy has a serious passion for freshness and all American cooking.
“Fore Street is basically rooted in New England tradition and American cooking.”
“We're really driven by our farmers here, the menu is printed daily that highlights everything that's coming in, fresh local produce that's going to be very flavorful.”
“The dinner service at Fore Street is certainly a theatrical event… “
As guests walk in, they can see the live fire. They can see the chefs working on the line and the wood fire grill. The fire is dancing up. The wood oven is blasting out some serious heat… it's an amazing place to cook in, as well as eat and experience just the atmosphere of the whole restaurant.”
The number one dish I would recommend here are the wood roasted mussels….
Big plump, naturally clean and naturally sweet
The broth consists of house made almond butter and a little dry vermouth.
There are little pieces of crushed almonds in there. You cannot stop eating it.
“The wood oven roasted mussels really come down to the source, and that's our Bangs Island mussels. They are grown right in Casco Bay, and they're some of the best mussels period.
“Cooking in the live fire oven is going to develop a real great flavor. With these mussels, they will just open up delicately in that wood oven. The cooks will continuously toss them in that garlic almond butter.
The only thing you might need is a little extra bread to sop up all of that sauce.
The aroma of this restaurant when you walk in is like nothing else… because everywhere you are, you can smell the smoke from that amazing live fire. … You have a grill, a brick oven, and … an old fashioned turn spit like a rotisserie on steroids.
Watching this rotisserie is just mesmerizing. You have the beef in there. You have the chicken in there. You can see the juices slowly dripping as it's cooking.
This turn spit rotisserie, slow roasts the meat so it's cooked so perfectly you get a crust on the outside, you keep the juice on the inside…
Today they're serving a turn roasted ribeye steak. It's almost like a prime rib.
It's completely mouth watering.
There's beef tartare, a classical preparation with the quail eggs.
And they even make their own sesame crackers to dip it in.
Everything here is made in house. They make their own sausages. This one is made with elk that comes out of Canada.
They have a big passion for produce here. So if you get a salad, it's not just any salad. You get an heirloom salad with the most vibrant, naturally sweet tomatoes you’ve ever seen in your life.
When you look around the dining room the most popular dish you will see at almost every table is the pork chop. And there's a good reason for that.
They bring in whole pigs, and they cook the whole animal. And this pork chop is the best of the best.
“We can see that real nice, dark caramelized bark on the outside of the loin, and it's just beginning to drip down some of the fat rendering over that turn spit… “
“The bone in pork loin is going to retain a lot of its moisture being low and slow cooked, and then we let it rest completely before it gets chopped, and then wood grilled… to the order.”
Even the desserts come from local ingredients. If you're a chocolate lover, here's the one for you, the malted chocolate honey caramel tart.
Imagine the best chocolate cake you've ever had, the best chocolate mousse you've ever had… and the best chocolate cream pie you've ever had, and put it all together, and you have this dessert.
“The malted chocolate tart. It's a really special offering that our pastry chef has come up with.
“You’re going to develop a lot of deep caramelized flavors from the malt. And then there's going to be a nice floral aspect of the wildflower honey, all brought together with a silken whipped cream, garnished with some local popcorn made into a very refined tuile over the top.”
“You know, Fore Street is a place rooted in its heritage. It uses ingredients that are local. It uses ingredients that are grown close by, and a place that will highlight the best of what Maine has to offer.”
This is a groundbreaking restaurant that is often imitated but never duplicated.
If you're a real food lover and you find yourself in Portland, Maine, this is the first call you got to make.
Awesome food, fresh ingredients and no pretense, just deliciousness.
You got to come to Fore Street in Portland, Maine.
