EXPLORING PORTLAND ON FOOT
Every summer on our way to mid-coast Maine, we stay in Portland for a night or two. Last year, airline schedules shortened our time, leaving little opportunity to wander the streets or to soak up the vibe. This year, airlines and weather aligned, and we enjoyed three nights and two full days in the city. With a population of just over 68,000, Portland is Maine’s largest city, but not its capital. That is Augusta, whose population is 19,000.
While Maine is far from being the country’s poorest state, there are pockets of poverty. Even in Portland, some 11,000 individuals live below the poverty line. As you get farther from the downtown business district and the tourist areas, this becomes more apparent.
With a mix of historic 19th and 20th century red brick architecture and the bustling Old Port with enticing shops and many eateries, Portland is fun to explore on foot. Visit the shops and galleries in the Port; browse for pottery, unique rugs, cozy flannel shirts, canvas sea bags, kitchen wear, jams and jellies and of course, books at Sherman’s. Then tempt your palate with wine and cheese and fancy crackers at Browne Trading Market on Commercial Street. And always, you’ll hear the distinctive sound of the seagulls, a raucous squawk.
You may be several blocks from the water, but these noisy birds circle around above or fly down to the street to check out possible pickings. Up close, they are attractive with very white breasts, an upright stance, and mostly grey feathers.
When you’ve seen and heard enough or had a lobster roll somewhere along the water, walk back up to Monument Square for a stop at Longfellow Books, one of my favorite independent bookstores. If you get caught up in browsing, it may be longer stop, not a brief one.
Continue on downtown a few more blocks, and you will reach the Portland Museum of Art. On display are works from their permanent collection plus always a special exhibition, currently art made possible partly by artist Alex Katz’s foundation. The museum also has a big campaign underway for an addition which will dramatically increase both their gallery space and their studios and community rooms.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can head back from whence you came and walk up Monjoy Hill in the East End and enjoy the Eastern Promenade and historic Eastern Cemetery also nearby. To ensure you don’t get lost, pick up one of the colorful, handy folded Discovery maps of Downtown and the Old Port. They are free at many local shops.
DINING
Traditionally, we begin and or end our stay in Portland with dinner at David’s Restaurant in Monument Square. This year dinner was on our arrival day, and we appropriately started with an order of fried calamari (a bit different with black olives and feta) followed by lobster rolls, our first of the season.
In addition to lunch at the Armory Lounge with my Scarborough cousins, we sampled two restaurants new to us, one recommended by friends, the other one I found.
Leeward on Free Street
Open for dinner only, Leeward serves Italian cuisine with a contemporary twist. The restaurant is spacious with wooden tables nicely positioned and two bar areas. We began with green olives dressed with herbs and followed that teaser with a simple salad. This green salad was a combination of many different lettuces tossed with bits of walnut, and paper thin Piave cheese, all in a caraway inflected dressing.
Following, the Chief Penguin had tagliatelle with fava beans and crisp prosciutto, while I ordered the robust pasta shells in a spice pork ragu with some chilies. Both pastas are made in-house. With wines by the glass and service from a wonderful waitress, we thoroughly enjoyed this tasty dining experience.
Isa Bistro on Portland Street
A cozy space with a bar, some great windows, and a small number of tables scattered around, Isa serves meals from 4:00 pm on and lunch on Fridays. We began with marinated warm olives, both green and black, which were simply lovely. Wanting to sample a variety of dishes, we mainly stuck to starters and had plenty to eat.
The C.P., a fan of Mexican street corn, ordered esquites, like that, but off the cob and much easier to eat. He followed this with grilled octopus and chickpeas in chimichurri.
I opted for the crispy taquitos, rolled tortillas filled with potatoes and cheese on a bed of piquillo pepper sauce, and then the crab cake with citrus segments surrounded by a pool of dill sauce.
Not to be underfed, we shared an order of the house cut fries. Everything was excellent!
RECENT READING: WWI MYSTERY
The Stolen Child by Ann Hood
Ann Hood is a novelist whose earlier books I have enjoyed. This new one, The Stolen Child, combines three different time periods, two of which are related, the third one seemingly an outlier, unconnected to the rest of the novel’s events.
Nick Barnes was a soldier in the trenches in France during World War I. A farm woman thrusts her baby and some of her artwork at him and asks him to keep them safe. Leaving the baby behind in a town, he remains haunted years later by his actions and wonders what became of that child. In 1974, he hires waitress and college dropout Jenny to join him in a trip to find that long ago infant.
The novel weaves back and forth between Nick’s 1917 experiences at the front, Jenny’s past and their journey together, and two brothers in Italy, one of whom creates the Museum of Tears. Jenny and Nick are well-drawn sympathetic characters, and as a reader, you route for them to be successful. The story of Enzo in Naples, one of the brothers, seems a bit farfetched and the addition of Geraldine, a secondary character who visits Italy and meets Enzo, a possibly unnecessary distraction. Nonetheless, Hood’s depictions of life in Italy and the pop culture of the 1970’s ring true and add richness to the work. Not a perfect novel, but an enjoyable read! (~JWFarrington)
Note: Photos ©JWFarrington except for photo of Ann Hood. Header photo is exterior of historic Portland Regency building. (Some rights reserved.)
