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Restaurant Reviews

Review: China Taste

The family-run place you're hoping for
It's often claimed that there is no good Chinese food in Portland. But when four Maine Chinese buffet restaurants were raided by federal agents for deplorable working conditions, money laundering, and other alleged crimes a few months back, it put things in perspective.

By: BRIAN DUFF | January 25, 2012

Review: Little Seoul

Korean cooking mixes three powerhouse tastes
You hear a lot about the rise of China, but in truth it is Korea that is headed toward world domination.

By: BRIAN DUFF | January 18, 2012

Fez delivers a traveler’s smorgasbord

Tastes of Africa
On one wall of Fez restaurant is a portrait of the African continent.

By: BRIAN DUFF | November 30, 2011

Review: Zapoteca

Sending Mexican upscale — with a brick oven
Thanksgiving invites us to reflect on the Anglo-American model of indigenous relations: play nice for a bit, even share a feast, then murder everyone.

By: BRIAN DUFF | November 23, 2011

Review: Schulte & Herr

Want comfort? Go German
The most famous quality of Germans is their knack for accomplishing even difficult tasks with a clean efficiency.

By: BRIAN DUFF | November 02, 2011

Review: Gingko Blue

Getting the tone of a cocktail bar just right
As the recent Ken Burns documentary Prohibition revealed, the woman-led movement to eliminate alcoholic drinks was fueled by a desire to eliminate a certain kind of masculine behavior — loud, abusive, irresponsible loutishness.

By: BRIAN DUFF | October 26, 2011

Review: Museum Café

Sampling the artistic institution's take on food
In the long transition by which medieval mysticism gave way to modern rationality and bureaucratic efficiency, the placement of clocks on church steeples was a profound milestone.

By: BRIAN DUFF | October 05, 2011

Review: District

District is hard to classify, but hard to go wrong
With the fall television season beginning, it is worth remembering the best TV show of the last decade: NBC's Las Vegas . Man, that show was good.

By: BRIAN DUFF | September 28, 2011

Review: Pho Hanoi

Sauce your heart out
Vietnamese cuisine very friendly to saucy experimentation.

By: BRIAN DUFF | September 07, 2011

Review: Taco Trio

In search of Mexillence
The surest formula for greatness is to turn your weakness into a strength.

By: BRIAN DUFF | August 31, 2011

Review: The Well

The Well dispenses with snobbery, focuses on food
Foodie snobbery and "locavore" sanctimony have become so egregious that the New York Times Magazine recently made a cover story of one writer's description of participating in a two-day backyard feast in the Napa Valley.

By: BRIAN DUFF | August 10, 2011

Review: Petite Jacqueline

French treasures
On a crowded night at Petite Jacqueline it is hard to hear your companion over the din.

By: BRIAN DUFF | July 13, 2011

Review: Gogi

Korean tacos arrive in Portland at last
If you are looking for a prototypical American restaurant in this week that started with Independence Day, you could do worse than Gogi.

By: BRIAN DUFF | July 06, 2011

Review: Francine's

Coastal magnificence
Some days Maine is so nice it seems like a theme park version of a state. Last week offered such a day, especially if you drove to Camden to hike the big hill, see the famous view, and stop afterwards for dinner at the remarkable bistro Francine.

By: BRIAN DUFF | June 10, 2011