{"id":7204,"date":"2009-09-21T13:55:49","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T17:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=7204"},"modified":"2021-08-24T14:36:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T18:36:38","slug":"portland-maine-shopping-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/7204\/portland-maine-shopping-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Things: Pounding the Streets and Shores of Portland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland, ME<\/strong> is a smallish city with an even smaller town feel, but within its compact size it packs a lot of punch. Whether you\u2019re a sailor or a landlubber, an obsessive foodie or a strategic hunter of antiques and handmade treasures, Portland will keep you busy (and maybe even a little overwhelmed) however long you choose to visit.<\/p>\n

Despite all you may want to cram into a weekend, the best way to enjoy Portland is to take it slow: savoring the food, lingering over the beautiful wares, and sauntering rather than racing; this isn\u2019t Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Energizing<\/strong>
\nIt starts with the morning coffee. In Portland, there is no quick toss-it-down-before-work coffee cart variety, only myriad meant to savor brews, which are all carefully roasted\u2014a different blend for each caf\u00e9 and hotel in town\u2014by Coffee by Design<\/a>. The micro-roastery is a community in every sense of the word, from its personal relationships with every bean supplier to its support of local artists.<\/p>\n

Shopping<\/strong>
\nThe logical next step after proper caffeination is the marathon perusing (and purchasing) of unique goods that is one of the main to-dos on a Portland trip. The narrow streets of Old Port contain carefully curated antique stores like the airy Judy Pascal Antiques and Interiors (6 Free St., 207.347.5633) and less organized but equally fascinating spots like Emerson Books, Antique Maps and Prints (18 Exchange St., 207.874.2665), a treasure trove for bibliophiles and collectors of papers of the yellowed variety.<\/p>\n

\"2note

Also not to miss is Rabelais<\/a> (86 Middle St., 207.774.1044), home to all food-related books, from the latest tomes on food politics to the first edition of Julia Childs. Whether it\u2019s a hard to find out-of-print or a glossy hardback jumping off the shelves, if it has to do with food, you\u2019re likely to find it here. But the highlight, again, is the people: owners Don and Samantha Lindgren love to share their deep knowledge of the local food movements taking over Maine.<\/p>\n

Eating<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s no surprise that Portland has a bookstore devoted entirely to food; the streets are teeming with a host of delicious smells and flavors.<\/p>\n

Fuel up for more shopping at Walter\u2019s\u00a0(15 Exchange St., 207.871.9258), a cozy brick-walled establishment known for their daily changing blackboard specials. Jeff Buerhaus makes magic in the kitchen fusing Asian, Caribbean, and Mediterranean influences with the freshest of seafood and locally sourced ingredients. The space is bright and friendly for the lunch crowd, with the fireplace and cozy upper level lending a swankier vibe for intimate dinners.<\/p>\n

\"Gritty

With the wealth of gorgeous restaurants in town, dinner is a sacred event. Cinque Terre (36 Wharf St., 207.347.6154) is an upscale hideaway decorated with a sleek minimalist style. The daily changing menu maintains a few staple signature items, like a rigatoni Bolognese that will spoil you for Bolognese ever after. A large portion of the menu is in italics to mark those ingredients that come from local Maine purveyors\u2014and the freshness is evident in every dish. The buttery brown roasted almond cake justly touted the talents of award-winning pastry chef Emily Delois and is a perfect way to the end the meal.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Doing<\/strong>
\nThere is much more to Portland than eating and shopping, and fortunately, much of it helps to burn off all that eating. A walk along the Eastern Promenade flanked by ocean on one side and a line of stunning historic mansions on the other, is a great way to watch the sunset. Winding back the clock, make an afternoon stop at the Portland Observatory<\/a> (138 Congress St., 207.774.5561, last tour at 4:30pm), a 202 year old lookout point that has survived 200 hurricanes and affords panoramic views of Portland and Casco Bay. Then continue heading toward the water for the Eastern Prom, stopping at the charming shops scattered along the way.<\/p>\n

\"Biking

Sleeping<\/strong>
\nThe Eastland Park Hotel<\/a> (157 High St., 207.775.5411) is an expansive, historic property with a feeling of old world opulence. Located in the arts district, it\u2019s just steps from some of Portland\u2019s best art galleries, as well as the Portland Museum of Art. The spacious rooms are decorated in watercolors, and the Top of the East is a great place for an evening tipple with fantastic views.<\/p>\n

\"Residence

How to get there:<\/strong> The Amtrak<\/a> Downeaster runs from Boston\u2019s South Station to Portland (2 hours, $24 each way). To get from New York to Boston take Amtrak from Penn Station (approximately 4 hours, around $80 each way or $145 each way for the high speed Acela train). Bolt Bus<\/a> (34th St at 8th Ave., $20 each way) goes directly to South Station. From the train station in Portland, a cab into town takes approximately 15-20 minutes and costs around $20.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos: jeffgunn<\/a><\/em>, Residence Inn, all others by author <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portland, ME is a smallish city with an even smaller town feel, but within its compact size it packs a lot of punch. Whether you\u2019re a sailor or a landlubber, an obsessive foodie or a strategic hunter of antiques and handmade treasures, Portland will keep you busy (and maybe even a little overwhelmed) however long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":33227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784,1508,759,785,761,817,749,833,756,829,314,770,790,364,874,774,780,849,748,316],"tags":[108,27,122,77,102,125,11257,282,84,204],"class_list":{"0":"post-7204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adventure-activity-2","8":"category-amtrak-getaways","9":"category-bar-activity-2","10":"category-beaches-adventure-activity-2","11":"category-beer-activity-2","12":"category-biking-adventure-activity-2","13":"category-boat-2","14":"category-books-culture-2","15":"category-cafe-2","16":"category-culture-2","17":"category-dining-nightlife","18":"category-food-drink","19":"category-hiking-adventure-activity-2","20":"category-maine","21":"category-portland-maine-2","22":"category-restaurants-food-drink","23":"category-seafood-food-drink","24":"category-shopping-2","25":"category-train-2","26":"category-weekend-getaways","27":"tag-beer","28":"tag-boat","29":"tag-bookstore","30":"tag-chinatown-bus","31":"tag-family","32":"tag-food","33":"tag-maine-guide","34":"tag-romantic","35":"tag-shopping","36":"tag-train"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":33227,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/8110898236_9ac13f5d49_z-e1503517651555-350x197.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}