During our March trip to Montreal, prior to our outing to the 2026 Pied de Cochon Cabane à Sucre, several of us arrived two evenings before the event, and decided to go out for a light dinner. Since our hotel (our long standby Hôtel Château de l’Argoat) is in Montreal’s Le Village area, we decided to explore more of Rue Ontario Est’s restaurants. After looking in the window and seeing a rather impressive set of grilled chickens, we decided that Sardine Rose, a small Portuguese restaurant, was just the ticket.

Sardine Rose Interior

Walking into Sardine Rose, the immediate ambiance directly matched a rather large fraction of the smaller cafés and dinner restaurants from our trips to Portugal: think casual, cozy, and a little old-school. It’s a bit on the “mood lighting” end of the spectrum (so sorry about the occasional poor photo), but inviting, with the smell of grilling meat throughout: the grill and most of the kitchen is right on your left when you enter.

Tomato and Onion Salad

While the place is even named “Sardine”, our party had two non-seafood folks present (myself nominally included), and we were all going to the Cabane in a few days, so everyone gravitated towards the grilled specials: either the house-special poulet Portugais chicken, or the côtes-levées (pork spare ribs), served up as a grill special with a salad and Portuguese-style fried potatoes. After enjoying an appetizer of some excellent grilled Portuguese chouriço, we all placed orders for either a half-chicken grilled, or a combination of a chicken breast and a small rib rack. Myself, I for some reason was craving tomatoes, which led to my ordering an upgrade to a tomato and onion as well, and this was a surprisingly good salad: nicely ripe tomatoes and onions, lightly marinated, and the perfect light start to the meal.

Poulet Portugais

A nicely grilled half chicken and frites. The chicken was excellent: a nicely grilled and moist half chicken, nicely smokey from the grilled, topped off with a peri-peri-style peppery marinade applied while the meat is still grilling so it crisped a fair bit. The frites were done up Portuguese-style, basically thick-sliced potato chips, about halfway between fries and potato chips in texture, which is such a nice combination that I’m surprised I basically have only encountered this style at Portuguese restaurants. I’ll have to take a swing at these at home at some point. In any case, a great meal at a reasonable price (around $16 USD including the salad).

Mix cuisse et Côtes-levées

Several folks instead went for the mix cuisse et côtes-levées, which was basically the same meal I had, subbing a small spare rib rack for the dark chicken quarter, and everyone enjoyed this as well: a nicely-seasoned and grilled pork spare rib rack.

Chocolate Cake

Despite “moderation” being one of our guidelines before the Cabane’s excess, when the owner offered up some dessert options, most everyone at the table couldn’t resist. Carol ordered the chocolate cake, which was a very nicely done dark chocolate cake: slightly bitter, aromatic, and balanced so that the richness never turns cloying, with lots of rich cocoa notes, and just the right neither-dense-nor-spongy texture. I had a few bites of this, and enjoyed it.

Caramel Cake

Two other folks at the table enjoyed another cake with layers of caramel, but nobody at the meal remembered the exact description. It did look quite enjoyable, however.

Pasteis de Nata

But for me, the star of the dessert course was a Portuguese classic: Pasteis de Nata. Small Portuguese custard tarts made with flaky, buttery pastry shells filled with a rich egg custard, they’re baked at high heat so the tops blister and caramelize, creating dark spots that add a slight bitterness to balance the sweetness. These were every bit as good as most of the pasteis I had during our various Portugal trips, and a nice, lighter way to round out the meal.

For a nice gathering with friends in a quieter part of town, we really like Sardine Rose. The grilled food was top notch, everyone loving the nice Portuguese frites, and the desserts were nice without being too excessive. Add in a very friendly and chatty proprietor, and this was a nice dinner choice. I may have to go back at some point for some fish or a grilled steak.

For my third morning in Portland, instead of having another hotel breakfast, or doing a repeat trip to the excellent Becky’s Diner, I decided I needed to try something a little more, well, Offbeat. And due to my schedule, a place that opened fairly early (7am). This led me to a little spot in Portland’s west end, in a little building that used to be one of those small neighborhood grocery stores: Ugly Duckling.

Ugly Ducking

Opening in late 2022, Ugly Duckling is one of those breakfast spots that doesn’t have a direct classification; at lunch, calling it a “luncheonette” would be a good description. At breakfast, it’s a bit of a coffeehouse. It’s also a bakery, having a nice selection of daily pastries, like canelés, eclairs, and trocaderos, and does a pretty brisk takeout business (while quiet and sleepy at their 7am open, by my 7:30am departure they had a regular stream of folks picking up pastries.

Ugly Ducking Interior

For those eating, or drinking, on-site, they’ve got a nice U-shaped lunch counter taking up most of the dining area, and some of the more interesting (and, as a photographer) challenging lighting: the theme here is “pink”, and they lean into it. Pink paint. Pink lighting. But it’s certainly fun and quirky.

Pastrami on Rye

But for me, while the pastries looked awesome (and I’ll have to swing back at some point to get some), the reason I came was a bakery item I don’t normally see made in-house, and that’s English Muffins. I adore a proper, fresh-made-on-the-griddle English muffin, and these are a specialty at Ugly Duckling, either just as muffins, or as the foundation of their many breakfast sandwiches. I opted for their Pastrami on Rye. While the resulting sandwich looked like it was bacon-laden, that wasn’t bacon. It was Ugly Duckling’s version of a Pastrami on rye, with house-made local beef pastrami (a drier-variety, and very concentrated in flavor), fried egg (still perfectly running yolk), aged sharp provolone, horseradish-red rye espresso aioli, and a rye-caraway English muffin. The rye muffin was a new-to-me concept, and worked really well: just the right amount of rye, the right amount of muffin fluffiness, and just the right amount of crispy crust. This was a perfect breakfast sandwich.

And the muffin was good enough I had to buy a 4-pack of their buttermilk English muffins to take home with me.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed Ugly Duckling. Good coffee. Great breakfast sandwiches, and outstanding house-made English muffins. I’ll have to make sure and return sometime to explore more of their menu.

At the edge of Portland’s Eastside is an old dive bar, Tomaso’s Canteen. For decades, this was a legendary dive bar, Sangillo’s Tavern, known for its 8am opening, cheap beer, and rough crowds, and it was a well-known hangout for those coming off a night shift. Unfortunately, various events at Sangillo’s drew the notice of first the police, and then the liquor board, and Sangillo’s lost its liquor license, permanently closing on February 14, 2015. A few months later it opened as Tomaso’s Canteen. Shorter hours (11am opening now), bar food, and a better tap list, it’s still a dive bar, but on the less-divey end.

Tomaso’s Canteen

We discovered Tomaso’s almost a decade ago, when we were waiting for a seat at nearby The Honey Paw, and wandered in to get a beer while waiting for our table to get ready. Enjoying a good local beer, we saw a lot of good sandwiches, hot dogs, and wings come out, and I decided to come back at some point. Which apparently wasn’t until 2026, when I stopped by here after a day of Robotics judging in nearby Falmouth, Maine.

Tomaso’s Canteen Interior

Walking inside, you can tell that Tomaso’s is staying true to it’s “dive bar” roots. It’s definitely had a few cleanings and renovations since its days as Sangillo’s, but the immediate vibe is that this isn’t a fancy bar, but gritty in a deliberate way, and very much a locals’ hangout. Think beer-sticker-adorned walls and ceiling, wooden bars, small tables, and the distinct color cast from the various neon lights in the windows. And the place is pretty much always busy, with a moderate amount of noise, and a healthy collection of locals, most wearing jeans and hoodies, and more than a few of them nursing beer bottles as they vent about the shift they just finished.

IPA

Sangillo’s turned into Tomaso’s right as the craft beer movement was really starting to kick into overdrive, and with that, Tomaso’s leaned into the local craft beer scene. While you can certainly get classic dive bar beers here, they maintain a solid list of draft lines and cans with a well-curated selection of local beers. I opted for a Super Prime IPA from local brewery Goodfire Brewing Co, enjoying my beer as various locals talked about their Saturday evenings.

Red Snappers

But the real reason I came here was to get a light dinner, and I knew from my previous trip that Tomaso’s had exactly what I was hoping for: some Red Snappers. No, in Maine “Red Snapper” doesn’t generally refer to the fish (although it still makes think of this clip), but the specific-to-Maine hot dog variety. Like most New England heritage hot dogs, these are actually a beef-pork mixture, spiced a little more heavily than a New York hot dog (but a bit less than most Connecticut-style dogs like Hummels), but the two key factors are natural casings (only, they have to have that “snap”) and the bright neon-red, artificial dye color. This is distinctive to the handful of Maine meatpackers (W. A. Bean is the largest, but several others including Maine Family Farms still crank them out as well), and the exact reason for the coloring is now lost to history, but it’s definitely part of the local tradition. Tomaso’s serves them simply, grilled in hot oil (giving them a slight crisping, akin to the more extreme crisping of a “Ripper” at Rutt’s Hut), on the obligatory New-England-Style top-split bun, also grilled in lots of butter. Along with some nicely-crisped fries, this was the exact sort of light dinner I was looking for.

Overall, while a lot of Portland has gentrified from a fishing-industry town into a fairly upscale tourist town (there are several places walking distance from Tomaso’s where I can easily drop a C-note on dinner for two), it’s good to see that they are keeping much of the “dive bar” concept alive and well, and having some good food to go with it. The awning outside says “Cold Beer – Hot Sausage”, and it does what it says on the tin. It’s definitely worth a stop.

My robotics judging in Falmouth required me to get up fairly early in the morning, before most every decent breakfast joint in Portland is open. But since Portland remains, to this day, an active fishing port, there are a handful of places that are open early in the morning, and right down the street from my waterfront hotel was one old school stalwart, Becky’s Diner, which opens at 5am.

Becky’s Diner

While not the classic “diner car”, everything else about Becky’s is classic old school “New England Diner”. Note that while it looks old school, Becky’s Diner itself only dates to 1991, when owner Becky Rand decided to open a restaurant that opened early that catered to Portland’s active fisherman community. From 1991 to 2007 Becky’s was a fairly low-key cinder-block building right on Hobson’s Wharf, but then they spent several months remodeling into the current two-story clapboard restaurant at the same site (the clapboard building essentially encompassed the existing diner, adding a second “back” side dining room and and upstairs outdoor deck as well).

Becky’s Diner Interior

Walking into Becky’s, it still has the same classic diner interior: the main diner area is dominated by the long service counter, with a row of booths opposite. At my 5:15am arrival, the place was quiet, with just a few regulars and early folks trying to get breakfast in before work, but by the time I left at 6, the place was already pretty busy, but I expect the place to be able to turn quite a few tables, between the “back” dining room on the other side of the counter area. So don’t let a modest line discourage you.

Coffee

While enjoying a frequently-refreshed cup of black coffee (the best way to kickstart an early morning), I looked over the breakfast menu (they also serve a lunch menu of diner fare, and a more seafood-laden dinner menu). For breakfast fare (from open to 4pm), the offerings are mostly classic diner fare, with various egg plates, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and omelettes, although you can tell this places is on the waterfront: both lobster omelettes and lobster Benedicts were featured on the menu.

Irish Benedict

But anyone that’s been to breakfast with me at a diner in recent years know that, especially for a new place, I’m usually drawn to one particular menu item if they’ve got it: an Irish Benedict. I can’t resist a good, crispy hash on English muffins with properly-poached eggs and Hollandaise, and the version at Becky’s Diner is top-notch: grilled muffins, a good crisp on a hearty hash, perfectly-poached eggs, and a nice tangy-yet-creamy Hollandaise sauce. Add in some nicely done homefries, and this was a great breakfast.

It’s the sort of place were you can find a good cross-section of Portland life, everyone from fresh-off-the-boat fishermen and lobstermen, local college students, and tourists all settling in for a good meal. It’s a great early morning breakfast spot, and I’ll definitely have to come back sometime and give the lunch and dinner menus a try.

My recent travels to Portland, Maine, during one of the less-popular times of the reason (New England’s “Mud Season” between Winter and Spring), turned out to be rather fortuitous in that, despite my visit falling during Maine Restaurant Week, many of the places that are usually teeming with both locals and tourists were actually relatively calm, which gave me a good opportunity to visit one of my favorite spots that’s usually got a waiting list: Eventide Oyster Co.

Eventide Oyster Co. Interior

Eventide’s Portland location (their original, they’ve now got a second location in Portland) sits on Middle Street just east of Downtown, next to their sister restaurant The Honey Paw (which is another of my Portland-area favorites). It’s a cozy location, with most of the main storefront occupied by a large raw bar featuring the daily-changing oyster selection, and a small dining room next door. And Eventide almost always has a high demand; while they offer reservations, most of their seating is reserved for walk-ins, so it’s pretty common that you’ll have to get on a waiting list (indeed, the long waiting list is how I originally discovered The Honey Paw next door, which had half the wait that particular evening). It actually works out, however, since they’ve usually got one person doing the to-order shucking, and the rest of the operation is scaled accordingly. For my visit in early March? Despite it being Friday, I managed to walk right in and sit at the bar, watching oysters getting shucked.

Oysters

The entire reason one rally comes to Eventide is the oysters, and that’s how I started out. On any given visit to Eventide, they’ve got fresh-caught oysters from a variety of ports, ranging from Massachusetts all they way up the coast of Maine, and the servers can give you recommendations, they aren’t just serving oysters, but curating them. In my case, I ended up with a half dozen oysters, three from Mere Point (Brunswick, from a cultured oyster farm) and three Wolfe Neck (another aquaculture farm in Yarmouth). Both were enjoyable, the Mere Point a bit more concentrated in flavor, and the Mere Point a bit larger. Both really hit all the notes I look for in good cold-water oysters: extra briney, a bit of sweetess, a strong mineral note, and a creamy texture. And one of the star attractions aside from the oysters was the high-quality accompaniments: this was a really top-notch, tangy, and horseradish-forward cocktail sauce, and the mingonette was nice and shalloty, one of the best I’ve had. Long and short, it’s really difficult to find better curated, prepared, and presented oysters than Eventide.

Mai Tai

In addition to having a great oyster bar, Eventide has a good cocktail program going on, with a well-crafted collection of house cocktail recipes, including a good selection of tropical drinks. While I considered my additional courses, I enjoyed their Mai Tai, which was classically mixed from multiple rums, lime, and orgeat, with some bitters added. Refreshing, and well-above-average.

Tuna Tartare

My second course was the tuna tartare. Often “tuna tartare” is used to cover all sorts of raw-tuna presentations, but at Eventide the tuna tartare is actually a proper tartare like you’d have with beef, with minced shallots, capers, and a light hint of both mustard and hot pepper, making for a well-balance dish that really highlighted the tuna flavor. On this visit, the tartare was served up with “Fresno chips”, very light and airy dark russet potato chips that add a nice crispy texture and some earthy notes, rounding out the dish. This was every bit as good as the oysters.

Lobster Roll

Aside from the oysters, one of the other things that Eventide is known for is their lobster rolls. The version at Eventide is a brown-butter based version, with steamed and chopped fresh-cooked lobster mixed with brown butter and served on a little steamed bun with chive. As far as the lobster itself goes, this is a a near-perfect butter-style lobster roll: the lobster has the perfect flavor and texture, and been mixed with just enough butter and salt to give it a bit of a savory note. The bun is good, and house-made, and it works reasonably well, but I’ll be honest here, I think part of the delight of a good lobster roll is a properly toasted, crispy, and heavily-buttered bun, and while this steamed bun is good, I think a more traditional grilled bun would take this to a higher level.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Finally, I actually ordered dessert as well. One of the more interesting strong recommendations I got for Eventide was to make sure I got an ice cream sandwich. I did, and I can see why it was recommended: this was a basic vanilla ice cream on chocolate chip cookie, but the execution was flawless: good, perfectly round and crispy cookies, around a house-made core of quite flavorful vanilla ice cream, this was about as perfect an ice cream sandwich as you can get.

Overall, I loved my visit to Eventide. As always, the oysters were top-notch, well-selected, and perfectly prepared. The other seafood dishes were well-conceived and executed, and the recommended ice cream sandwich definitely a great way to close out the meal. I can see why this place usually has a healthy wait for a seat.

As our regular readers know, approximately every two years we do a group trip up to Montreal, rendezvous with friends, and head out to the surprisingly rural outskirts of the Montreal area (St. Benoît de Mirabel) for Au Pied de Cochon annual Cabane à Sucre maple celebration. You can read up on previous visits of ours in 2014, 2017, or 2024, or their similar fall harvest dinner in Fall 2019. The basic formula remains the same: a sumptuous feast featuring maple and seasonal dishes, served up in an unending serious of generously-portioned family-style courses. Over the years, the actual meal varies a bit, but it remains one of the Montreal-area’s more difficult reservations to get (usually setting an alarm for when ticket sales start in December for the winter Cabane). This year’s culinary Olympic feast was for myself and 9 colleagues was in mid-March, during a brief recurrence of winter during the spring thaw.

Cabane à Sucre Interior

One of the great things about doing the Cabane is that, while the basic concept is tied to the Canadian Cabane à Sucre tradition of gathering at a maple sugarhouse in the woods and gorging yourself on various maple-related items, Au Pied de Cochon’s version varies more than a little from year to year, and even over the season, so until the dishes start coming out of the kitchen, you never really know what you are going to get this particular season. Some years are more traditional, some more experimental (I’ve long suspected that chef Martin Picard uses the Cabane to try out new ideas for the restaurant), and some have been tightly themed, like 2017’s Japanese theme. The results vary a little bit as well; while I’ve never had anything bad at the Cabane, a few dishes (especially some of the seafood ones, like sturgeon quennelles in 2014) aren’t exactly my jam. But I’ve also had more than a few truly excellent dishes here, and at the end of the day, you’ve had a veritable mountain of food, most of it truly excellent, and usually between 8 and 16 individual dishes served at each meal, all for an implausibly low price (the 2026 Cabane was $95CDN per person, plus gratuities and drinks). Compared to what $95CDN would buy me in Montreal, or down in New England, this is still an incredible bargain. Pro tip: most of the seating is on long tables with benches, with 10 or 12 people optimal for filling out a table; smaller parties can sometimes get an abbreviated experience.

Sous-Bois

A few minutes after seating, our serving team came around and got our first round of beverages going. While there were a few folks that got beer, wine, or other cocktails, one of the more popular cocktails for the table was the Sous-Bois (“Undergrowth”), with Gin de Mononcle, Chartreuse, lime, cranberry confit, and wintergreen syrup. A nice, refreshing cocktail, and a great start to the meal.

Duck Fat Pancakes

A few minutes later, the first group of dishes started arriving from the kitchen. First up was several platters of duck fat pancakes: crispy, almost donut-like pancakes deep-fried in duck fat, including that really nice crispy ring around the edge. This was a welcome throwback, we’ve seen these at several previous Cabanes (indeed, this were a star of our first Cabane back in 2014), and these were everything I like about a good trip to the Cabane: good execution, nice use of maple, and more than a bit indulgent. (A note on this year’s menu is that most everything was delivered to the table sized for 4 people; with a party of 10, this often meant two full-sized platters and a half-sized platter, although occasionally this also mean either jumbo-sized portions, or the occasional dish that was just served up for 12 instead of 10. So 8 and 12 remain optimal party sizes even with the transition to bench seating).

Headcheese

There’s usually at least one course at the Cabane that’s delivered as a bit of show and flourish; one year it was roast pigs with apples in their mouths, another year a whole pigs head. The second dish to arrive was definitely the showiest of the evening, since this was headcheese, served up as a head. Well, a skull, actually, with a very nicely flavorful headcheese layered onto the skull. Served alongside was also some cretons (a traditional Québécois potted meat much like rillettes, but with a very clove-laden spicing), some perfectly light and fluffy pork cracklings, chicken liver mouse, some smoked meat sticks, and various condiments. Definitely a good dish, and we enjoyed the eye-raising service approach.

Spinach Souffle

Starting the second wave of food was our third dish: was a very light and fluffy Spinach Souffle, served over a bed of potatoes and leeks (with the far end of the table getting one of the half-sized ones which we called the “two-fle”). This really cemented that this was one of the years the Cabane was sticking with tradition; we had a very similar souffle in 2024’s visit, and this one was fully enjoyable as well: light, flavorful, and the potato-leek mixture really complemented the egg nicely.

Trout Gravlax

Served alongside the souffle was our fourth dish. Nominally called a “gravlax salad”, this was an interesting case where getting the full description showed us how elaborate a dish this was: instead of salmon, this was a gravlax-style trout brined in gin and maple syrup, served up as a salad. I only had a bit of this (since I’ve got more than a bit of a seafood allergy, but I can usually tolerate nibbles), and this was extremely good and flavorful, with a nice, slightly sweeter take on a gravlax flavor, with really strong trout notes.

Split Pea Soup with Fois Gras

Next up was the fifth dish, another Cabane classic: split pea soup, with the obligatory fois gras. A very, very rich soup with really good pea, pork and smoke notes, this was another great crowd pleaser. The soup has been simmered to the point so the texture is nice and velvety, and the acid level is just right so that the soup tastes tangy more than “greasy” (since this soup is particularly fatty). This was near-perfect, and the only thing this was really missing was something like a good grilled-cheese sandwich to dip into it…

Croque Monsieur

…which takes us to the sixth dish, delivered alongside the split pea soup. This was an interesting take on a Croque Monsieur (a French-style grilled cheese and ham): they took some nicely layered croissant dough, and formed it into a long trough of flaky pastry, filling the trough with sliced ham and grated cheeses. Slicing off a length of the trough for each diner was a little clutzy, but after that, this was the perfect sort of sandwich for dipping into the split pea soup. This was a definitely a unique take on the croque monsieur.

Beef rib Bourguignon

At least one course in every trip to the Cabane has a deliberately odd presentation. This year it was our seventh dish, which was a giant pile of braised beef ribs presented in a giant flower pot. Basically boeuf bourguignon made with large bone-in beef ribs, this was actually quite good, especially the sauce and marrow down in the pot itself. (The flower pot presentation we’ve seen before, like 2024’s “Cassoulard”, a giant lard-heavy cassoulet served in a similar flowerpot). The cheese- and parsley-laden whipped potatoes served alongside this were surprisingly popular. I really enjoyed more than a bit of the beef itself at the cabane, and much of the leftover bits and bourguignon served the basis for the next night of leftovers back home, served over noodles. All-in-all, this was a great dish.

Maple-glazed smoked ham knuckle

Our eighth dish was served alongside the bourguignon, a large, maple-glazed ham knuckle from the “family farm”. We’ve had a lot of good hams at the Cabane before (particularly well-remembered was a nice hay-smoked one at our 2014 visit), and this didn’t disappoint. This was an extremely flavorful (and not overly salty) ham, the glaze more caramelized than sweet, with plenty of meat for everyone. This was served up over a bed of root vegetables that absorbed a lot of the ham juices, and made for a very pleasant dish that, served on its own, would have held its own as a centerpiece.

Rolled duck breast

The ninth dish was a rolled duck breast, wrapped around fois, served on a red wine and brandy reduction sauce, and after serving topped with more sauce, a pork blood and maple sauce. On the side was some buckwheat pasta, which had a dumpling-like texture. This was flavorful, but this was also a dish where the fois didn’t really seem to add much to me, and this was one of the few dishes that actually tasted “fatty”. A good dish overall, but not one of the table favorites.

Apple Pie

Despite the fact that by this point everyone at the table was starting to run out of steam, the dessert course then started in earnest. First up, as our 10th dish, was a nice classic that I would have expected at one of their harvest dinners: an apple pie. But this wasn’t your usual apple pie, landing someplace in the world between pie and tart. The odd shape is because there is an entire, whole apple embedded in the pie. Then, there’s a layer of mincemeat inside the pie, and the overall pie was served on a slab of Brie (and interesting take on the classic “New England” apple pie and cheddar). With a particularly good crust (I suspect more than a little lard was involved), this was a great dessert course.

Pain Perdu

For the second dessert (our 11th dish overall), there was a large serving of Pain Perdu (“French Toast”) with caramelized bananas, topped with about six different maple products (including syrup, sugar, and cream). This was good (reminding me of the old “hobo pies” made in a hand-clamped iron over a campfire when camping in my childhood), but this was also a leading contender for “sweetest thing I’ve ever been served”. A little bit of this went a long way, but this was perfectly executed with a good caramelized interior, a perfect crispy flake on the toast, and a well-combined overall texture.

Rice Pudding

Also served up at the same time was the 12th dish: a maple rice pudding. I’m not usually much of a rice pudding fan, but this was a nicely-composed version, not too chalky, and not overly sweet. Since we were running out of steam, this was one that was heartily scooped up into various takeout containers.

Maple Ice Cream

Finally, for dish 13, each person was served up with their own little parfait of maple ice cream, served up with some maple taffy and maple sponge. This was, to me, a bit of an odd dish. I really enjoyed the very dark and well-rounded maple ice cream, but the sponge seemed mostly to just stick in my teeth, and the taffy was so temperature sensitive that when delivered it was rock-hard, but soon softened just to the point of potentially pulling out your fillings. I think this would have been better as just the ice cream.

And with that, our heroic, 3 hour long meal of 4 courses and 13 different dishes was concluded. Compared to some years, this one was a little more conservative and traditional, and much of this played like highlights from previous Cabanes, but they chose well: the dishes were all good, and several were phenomenal. Like always, there was a substantial amount of food leftover that was portioned into our various takeout containers (another pro-tip: bring containers. A lot of them. And for Americans, briefly refresh yourself on the rules for what you can bring back, although cooked food generally causes no trouble.) This isn’t the sort of meal you want regularly (heck, we only do this every two years or so, which is probably still far more than a cardiologist might recommend), but it is a thoroughly enjoyable tradition, the food is really interesting, it’s a great chance to hang out with friends, and at the end of the day, this is actually one of the more affordable dining experiences like this you can have. We’ll definitely continue to do this every 18–24 months.

A recent weekend spent judging a high school FIRST Robotics competition had me driving over to Falmouth, ME for the weekend. An unfortunately fact of life of western NH living is that there isn’t any terribly good way to get to the Maine Coast: you’ve either got to go way out of your way and pay multiple tolls to get their via the interstates, or you’ve got to go on a long cross-country jaunt, much of it at 35 mph, taking a more direct route. I usually opt for the latter, since while slightly slower, it’s more fuel efficient, more relaxing, and there are better options for stopping. In this case, I found myself looking at options for lunch in and around Somersworth, NH, which is where I encountered Tasya’s Kitchen.

Tasya’s Kitchen is an unassuming little restaurant on Somersworth’s High Street, right opposite one of the driveways of their school complex. But walking into Tasya’s Kitchen, you can immediately tell there’s a difference between Tasya’s and most other area restaurants, the place is extremely aromatic, with distinct notes of coconut milk, lemongrass, and various spices. And that’s because Tasya’s Kitchen serves up Indonesian food. There are very few places in northern New England that focus on Indonesian food (and the only other one in NH I’m aware of, Bali Sate House, is interestingly also in Somersworth, which supports one of the region’s larger Indonesian populations). I’ll have to be honest, much of my Indonesian food experience comes indirectly, mostly via several trips to Amsterdam (where Indonesian food, particularly satays, have a strong presence due to colonial history), but I’ve always enjoyed good Indonesian dishes like Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Sate (grilled skewers), or Gado-gado (a peanut-based vegetable dish), and the Indonesian condiment, sambal, is a regular item in our own house. So I was really excited to have some good Indonesian food.

Tasya’s Kitchen

Menu-wise, Tasya’s offers up almost all of the Indonesian dishes I’m familiar with, from beef rendang (a dry beef curry made from simmering chuck or similar beef cut in curry spice and coconut milk until tender), to the other staples mentioned above like Nasi-Goren, several Sates, or fried chick, with a good two dozen options. You can tell from the aromatics that they are making most everything here; while they have a few Indonesian beverages and bottles sauces available, they offer up house-made variants of both as well.

Tasya’s Kitchen Interior

As far as the interior goes? Tasya’s is essentially a house converted into a small restaurant where the kitchen and dining area are only partly separated by easy other with a partition, so the overall vibe is “cozy”, almost like eating in someone’s home. And that’s part of the charm, since you can hear, and smell, them cooking everything.

Beef Rendang

While I was tempted by more than a few of the dishes on their extensive menu (like Mie Bakso, a spiced meatball soup, or Nasa Ayem, a spice fried chicken), I ended up going with a familiar classic that I’ve had at several of my previous Indonesian places: the above-mentioned Beef Rendang. The version at Tasya’s Kitchen is served up as a portion of beef, rice, a spicy egg, vegetable pickles, and a bowl of house-made sambal. This was everything I was hoping for. The beef here was the star: rich, deeply spiced, tender and clearly home-cooked, with strong pepper, coconut, and lemongrass notes. This smelled wonderful. Add in some of the nice pickled veggies and rice with a dab of the almost-smokey and heavily peppery house-made sambal, and you’ve got a nice little forkful of food.

Overall, I loved Tasya’s Kitchen: there’s obviously a lot of great food options to try here, and the beef rendang was absolutely splendid. I’ll have to make sure I come over to this part of the state again to give me an opportunity to try some of the rest of the menu. I’m certain I’m going to enjoy it.

As I mentioned in my review of Cedar Street Café, since the hotel we were staying in didn’t have on-site breakfast, it was a good excuse to go check out some of the local establishments, despite the relatively heavy snow. Our college Doc Tesla had given a hearty endorsement to a relatively new spot he had found just a few miles west in Sturbridge’s Fiskdale village, The Little Rest Stop, so we decided to go over and check it out.

The Little Rest Stop

Located just north of Main St/US-20 on Brookfield Road, The Little Rest Stop sits in a converted residential building that’s been a few other restaurant locations in recent history (until last year, this was the Old Village Grille, closing in July of 2025). After a bit of nice renovation (which, interestingly, was more “country charm” themed than the automotive theme I was expecting from the name, that theming mostly constrained to the menu), new owners Amanda and Rob, both veterans of several area restaurants, opened up The Little Rest Stop as a local restaurant focusing on good, affordable breakfast and lunch options.

The Little Rest Stop Interior

Walking inside, The Little Rest Stop is quite an inviting spot, with an L-shaped dining room offering plenty of seating, much of it by either the front windows or the old fireplace. You could tell that the place was popular with the locals; while there were a few tables open when we arrived, the place was full by the time we left. With a hearty welcome from both people we saw working (who later introduced themselves as owners Amanda and Rob), we found ourselves quickly seated with fresh cups of coffee and an explanation of the day’s several specials.

The Full Tank Feast

The menu is The Little Rest Stop is “classic diner fare”. They’ve got a nice list of “Sunrise Staples”, ranging from the simple (1 egg, toast, and home fries) for $6.50 (really nice to see something fairly affordable in these days of high inflation), up to the Pit Stop Platter with steak tips, 3 eggs, home fries and cornbread for $18.50. They’ve also got a handful of breakfast sandwiches, burritos, omelettes, pancakes and waffles, and one I don’t normally see on a breakfast menu: a selection of “Signature Spuds”. These were baked potatoes served up with a variety of breakfast items, including the Jet Lagger, which was essentially eggs and a steak bomb served atop a baked potato. While I was intrigued by the Jet Lagger, I decided to go for a variation on their Full-Tank Feast: hash and eggs with home fries, toast, and a fruit cup, but opting to upgrade the normal corned beef hash to the daily-special house-made hash. I’m glad I did, this was a solid, well-executed hash: nice tender chunks of corned beef and potato, perfectly cooked and nicely seared on the grill, along with some well-above-average home fries, some nicely-scrambled eggs, and some locally-made toasted bread. A great breakfast, albeit one with a huge calorie count (admittedly, one does not order a “Full Tank Feast” without expecting a large serving…).

The Fruit Cup

A special mention here should go to the fruit cup. Expecting a small cup of the usual slightly-dubious canned fruit mix, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a hearty portion of fresh fruit, nicely prepared and arranged, which was quite welcome after the rather large serving of hash and eggs.

Biscuits and Gravy

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Biscuits and Gravy special. This was quite good: an extra large house-made biscuit (which, unlike the usual New England biscuit, was a quite nicely done buttermilk biscuit) with a nice sear from the griddle, some nicely-done house-made gravy with a lot of sausage in it, two eggs, and some home fries. This was the exact sort of biscuits and gravy I’m often craving, but usually only getting when I’m making it myself at home.

Overall, we loved The Little Rest Stop. Some great food, friendly service, and a quaint little restaurant. One caveat: one of the ways The Little Rest Stop keeps their prices low is by being a cash-only joint, so bring cash, or be prepared to use the requisite slightly-sketchy ATM at the liquor store next door.

While we were staying at the Sturbridge Host hotel for a few days (whose on-site restaurants, weren’t, at least for the winter, open), we decided each morning to venture forth and try various local breakfast spots for breakfast. The first we tried was Cedar Street Café, which is just down the street from the hotel, although confusingly, not actually on Cedar Street (it’s sister restaurant Cedar Street Grille is, and the parking lot entrance is across from the Grille, although depending on which mapping service you are using, you may get some odd directions). Another of the local restaurants owned by Table3 (same owners as The Duck), the Café focuses on coffee, breakfast, and light lunch, served up in a converted farm house.

Café Omelette

Depending on the day of the week, the Café has one of two menu sets: the weekday menu has breakfast- and lunch-specific options, and on weekends there is a larger combined brunch menu. They’ve got a good variety of options, ranging from light fare like pastries, to classic breakfast combo plates, breakfast skillets, and omelettes. It had been a bit since I had an omelette, and one of their options, the “Café Omelette”, was right up my alley: with bacon, spinach, mushroom, and Swiss. This was a good, well-executed three-egg omelette: nice fluffy eggs, and a good selection of nicely seared fillings (I’m a sucker for the combination of spinach and eggs for some reason). Add in some nice, proper, double-cooked (par-cooked, then finished to a crisp on the griddle), and this was a great breakfast.

Monte Cristo

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Monte Cristo. You don’t see this classic breakfast sandwich much these days (the last one I had was at the now-closed Lebanon Diner, and you’re just as likely to find the batter and deep-fried version of it (which isn’t bad, but isn’t what I usually want for a breakfast) as a proper Monte Cristo, with ham, and cheese on nicely grilled French toast. The version at Cedar Street is quite good, with even more fillings than usual; their version comes with ham, turky, Swiss, and cheddar, all served up on nice, thick, Texas-style French toast with some maple syrup on the side. Served up with the same good home fries, and this was a great breakfast as well.

Overall, we liked Cedar Street Café: it’s a nice, convenient location with friendly staff, a nice ambiance, and a great menu. It’s definitely a good option for the area.

In early February, we gathered with a bunch of our friends for Nor’Easter Island, which is a wintertime event put on by the Greater Boston Vintage Society where we gather at the Sturbridge Host hotel in Sturbridge, MA for several days of vintage vending, swing dancing, and tropical drinks (all communities with more than a little overlap). However, in the middle of the winter, the Sturbridge Host is more than a bit of a ghost town, with no on-site dining, so when it came time for dinner, a bunch of us all decided to meet up at an old standby dining spot in Sturbridge’s downtown: The Duck.

The Duck Dining Room

The Duck is an interesting sort of restaurant space. Originally a large barn attached to a colonial-style house (the latter of which contains The Duck’s sister restaurant, Aviello, which also shares part of its menu with The Duck), the barn loft was converted into a restaurant about 30 years ago (lovingly called the Ugly Ducking), that several years ago was renovated by its owners (Table 3 Restaurant Group, who ones several nearby restaurants) into a much more modern space, and the result is a fairly welcoming dining room, bar, and back room, with some nice decor and a lot of exposed beams.

Sunken Bar

At the back of the restaurant, they have a bar where we enjoyed a few cocktails while waiting for our whole dinner party to assemble. It’s one of those odd “sunken” bars, where the area behind the bar sits a good foot lower than the main floor, so you end up looking down at the bartender. I think I understand the rationale (it allows the patrons to sit at floor level instead of bar stools, while still allowing the bartender to stand), but it’s still a bit of an odd vibe. But the house cocktails were enjoyable, with both their house mule and bee’s knees variants being well enjoyed by our party.

Statler Chicken

Once our party all arrived, we moved over to the dining room, and ordered our entrees. Carol ended up ordering the Statler chicken. A classic Statler chicken breast with attached drummette (also known an “airline chicken”), served up with a cornbread cranberry stuffing and Brussels sprouts. This was a well-prepared chicken breast, with a particularly moist breast and good, crispy skin. Overall, a great entree.

Prime Rib

But when I saw that Thursday nights are “Prime Rib Night”, I decided that it had been a while since my last prime rib (back at Lakehouse Tavern back in September), that I just had to get this, and I was really happy with the resulting meal. This was a simple presentation, served up with with potato mash, broccolini, and an above-average horseradish sauce. The roast itself, however, was perfectly executed: moist, perfect medium-rare done-ness, good marbleized fat, and a really flavorful herb crust. No separate jus, but served just wet enough that I didn’t find myself needing it. Really, this was just about a perfect prime rib, and I’m glad I got that.

Really, I liked the Duck. It’s a nice, inviting spot, has a good combination of tavern food and a few Italian items (from the Aviello kitchen), good cocktails, and a nice location in downtown Sturbridge. I’m sure if I got to future Sturbridge events (or repeat a childhood visit to nearby Old Sturbridge Village), I’d be happy to have a return visit.

One of the shortcomings of the greater Upper Valley area is that we’ve got a bit of a shortage of breakfast spots, especially if you are looking for something a bit more varied than “American Diner”. But in early 2025, we had a pretty big shift in White River Junction: the former Piecemeal Pies (which, after five years of business, shuttered abruptly in 2023 during bankruptcy proceedings) finally got remodeled and re-opened as a Turkish cafe: Cappadocia Cafe. Opened by Vural and Jackie Oktay, the owners of next door Tuckerbox (which has had its own interesting voyage transitioning from a Australian-owned coffee shop to a Turkish restaurant, but hey, variety is the spice of life) and Cappadocia Bistro in Burlington, VT, Cappadocia is primarily a breakfast- and lunch-based counterpart to the more formal dinner menu of Tuckerbox, offering an array of pastries, wood-fired flatbreads, and related lighter dishes.

Cappadocia Cafe Interior

Walking inside, they’ve kept the same basic configuration that the space had during the Piecemeal Pie days: a central ordering counter, the primary baking area and kitchen in the rear, and a nice seating area up front that can expand out to the sidewalk during warmer months. And they’ve added a vertical roasting spit out towards the front of the restaurant (although I haven’t been there at a time when it has been in use). The nice change here has been the overall decor: in addition to Tuckerbox and Cappadocia, the owners also run Little Istanbul, the Turkish store that sells minor Turkish foodstuffs, spices, and decoration, and various good wall paintings, table decorations, and chandeliers have spruced up the space nicely, giving this more of a “Turkish cafe” feel than “refurbished bakery.”

Pastirma and Egg Pide

While Cappadocia has both breakfast and lunch menus, we had come to Cappadocia for a weekend breakfast. Looking at the display cases as we came in, they’ve got a good selection of Açma (a Turkish bagel-like bread that’s soft and fluffy), Simit (another bagel-like bread that I primarily know from Turkish street vendors), and Poğaça (a soft and buttery Turkish breakfast pastry). While these looked good, I was primarily drawn to their breakfast pide selection. Pide is a Turkish, boat-shaped flatbread, similar to pizza, that is fired up in in a wood-fired oven to a good crisp, giving you a filled flatbread that’s somewhat halfway between a stuffed pita and a pizza (somewhat similar to the Georgian Khachapuri as well). Carol opted for one of their breakfast varieties: Turkish-style pastrami, egg, and cheese. This was a very satisfying breakfast: the flatbread itself is nicely flavored, and the wood-fired oven puts the perfect roasted “crown” on the bread, with a char that’s just starting to approach “burnt” but not crossing over. Add in some good Turkish pastrami (very lean, thin-sliced, and salty), a nicely-fired egg, and some bubbling Turkish cheese, and this was a great breakfast. One thing to note: this is easily enough food for two people: next time we’re splitting one.

Egg, cheese, and sucuk pide

Myself, I ordered almost the same item, a pide with sucuk (a dry, spicy, fermented sausage popular in Turkish cuisine, and a few Balkan cuisines as well, resembling something halfway between pepperoni and salami). This turned out to be a good call, since the crisped sucuk was the perfect accompaniment to the crisped flatbread, the just barely not-running egg, and the bubbly cheese. And for a bonus, it was less salty than the pastirma. I’d easily get this again, indeed, it’s probably near the top of my favorite breakfast items around the valley.

Bakery Case

With two different pides under our belts, we didn’t really have any more stomach room, which is a bit of a shame, since we were seated right next to the bakery case which had several different fresh-made pastries and cakes that looked absolutely divine. Another time, I guess.

Overall, I liked Cappadocia a lot. It’s a very welcome addition to the area’s breakfast scene. And if you come at lunch, they’ve got a similar menu of pide, börek, and lahmacun all freshly made with more lunch-oriented set of ingredients. I’ll definitely be back.

A few years ago, there was a pop-up donut bakery, Farmer and the bell, that was making French-style cruller donuts in the back of the Angkor Wat Cambodian restaurant in Woodstock, VT each weekend. After getting quite a following (they’d regularly sell out after only a few hours), they first moved to doing a slightly larger bakery space in the Parker House in Quechee, VT, serving up donuts on weekends in 2022, and still selling out quickly. In 2023, as the owners were starting their family, they put the business on pause, raised capital, and leased a spot in east Woodstock where an old former gas station had been a perennial eyesore, and built their own store, opening in early October 2025. We’d been meaning to go for several weeks, but most times we were passing through Woodstock, their parking lot was completely full, and we figured we’d come another time. But during early January, we finally had a chance to stop by and check them out.

Farmer and the bell

Mezzanine

The building itself is surprisingly nice. Built by local builder Geobarns, the structure nicely blends in with the surrounding buildings (indeed, better than the former gas station did). While the parking lot is almost always filled, when you get inside, the place is surprisingly spacious, with an enclosed patio, vaulted ceilings, and an upstairs level of seating. So while parking may be difficult (although note that the usually quite plentiful parking of East End Park is just down the street), there’s ample room inside for dine-in seating even when the patio is too cold for eating, especially once you go up to the mezzanine where you can get a table looking down over the open kitchen.

Bakery Assortment

Compared to the offerings when they were in the back of Angkor Wat, when they’d usually have four varieties each weekend, they’ve expanded their menu. Focusing on ready-to-serve donuts and pastries (both sweet and savory), they’ve got a large bakery display with the current donuts (a rotating selection of six different varieties depending on what is in season), croissants, focaccia, Danishes, and hand pies. They’ve also got some nice-looking sandwiches in a nearby cooler case. After looking things over, we decided to mix up sweet and savory, getting two donuts (cranberry and double-chocolate), and two croissants (a Farmer’s Croissant and a Ham and Cheese croissant).

Cranberry donut

Let’s start with the donuts. I started with the cranberry donut (we switched half-way to try both flavors). This is a French cruller donut, made with a very eggy pâte à choux, and you can tell that they are using fresh eggs, since when we were ordering you could see one of the owners, Ben, deftly cracking literally dozens of fresh eggs into a mixing container. The pâte à choux is piped out from a pastry bag, fried up into a wonderful, light and crunchy consistency, and then dipped in a cranberry icing (with just a hint of rosemary in it). Finally, a little dried cranberry and small sprig of rosemary to complete it. While a French cruller isn’t my regular choice for a donut… this is pretty much a perfectly done cruller. Light. Crispy. Flavorful. And a very flavorful and not-too-sugary glaze. I’d definitely get this again.

Double chocolate donut

Our second shared donut was a double chocolate donut, which was the same great cruller, but dipped in chocolate frosting, and then dusted with shaved chocolate. I rather liked this donut, the chocolate frosting adding one nice level of chocolate flavor, and the dusted chocolate giving it a bit of extra texture.

Farmer’s Croissant

I usually like my breakfasts to have a savory component, so I also had a Farmer’s Croissant. More of a “laminated dough wrap” than an actual croissant, this had bacon and Billings Farm Cheddar (from the Billings Farm just down the road). This was a well-composed filling, and worked well with the laminate dough, and one of the better savory pastries in the area, but to be honest, not quite in the same class as the donuts.

Ham and Cheese Croissant

Carol, meanwhile, did similar, getting the ham and cheese croissant, which was a lot closer to a classic French croissant in presentation, with reasonably good ham and cheese in the interior, and melted, crackling cheese on top. Again, one of the better savory pastries in the area.

Really, I enjoyed Farmer and the bell. While I’m not always in the mood for French crullers, these are outstandingly well done, and certainly worth checking out. And I really love seeing a local business go from “pop-up” to an actual restaurant, and happy to see that the place is popular with both locals and the ever-present Woodstock tourists and skiers. I’ll definitely come back, especially to try the focaccia or the sandwiches.

When we’re visiting relatives in Livonia, I like to use it as an opportunity to visit an old favorite of mine, Bates Hamburgers. You see, in one of those odd sort of time capsule manners, the Detroit area still has a strong presence of locally-owned hamburger joints, a good number of them selling “sliders”. Yeah, those sliders, the small hamburgers cooked over onions and served on small greasy buns. Yeah, those. While in most of the country the few proper sliders (vs just small sandwiches with that name) come from either White Castle (northern latitudes) or Krystal (southern latitudes), but in Detroit, various independent operators and small chains are still the reigning kings of classic sliders. Bates Hamburgers is one of my favorites, and I try to visit it every time I’m in town. I last reviewed Bates back in… wow, 2006, in one of the oldest reviews here on Offbeat Eats (yes, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now…), and I figured that this, time, camera and French fry-craving nieces in tow, that we’d head on over to Bates for lunch and do one of Offbeat Eats’ patented “Health Check” re-visits.

Hamburgers

Bates has been on this major street corner in Livonia, at the intersection of Five Mile and Farmington Road, for over 60 years, and the basic building hasn’t really changed that much at all. Like almost every Detroit-area slider joint, it’s a shiny white-paneled building meant to evoke the memory of the original White Castles that these local stores and small chains (like many of Detroit’s slider joints, there are multiple locations for Bates, the other is up in Farmington Hills) were all imitating in style. Despite the age of the building, aside from a few signs on the back fading, they’ve maintained the place nicely, and it is still neat and clean despite the age of the place.

Menu Board

Walking inside (for dine-in service: if getting food to-go Bates has a separate foyer on the back side of the building for the takeout window), very, very little has changed since my last visit in 2016, or for that matter, since the review way back in 2006. A few minor rearrangements of equipment, and new-ish point of sale system replacing the earlier old-fashioned cash register (and at some point, picking up the ability to use credit cards, when this used to be a cash-only establishment), and a few more signs have shown up. And, for this visit, the Christmas decor was still in full swing. But really, it’s almost eerily the exact same experience as my very first visit back in, oh, ’92 or so. Indeed, the menu is the biggest change. Not in the actual menu changing (as far as I can tell, the list of items is identical to my ’06 visit), but the inexorable march of inflation has hit the prices. A single cheeseburger in 2006 cost $1.20, and now it costs $2.49 (and I expect, with the retirement of the penny, for that price to soon go up to $2.50 at least), but really, over those 19 years, that’s an average inflation rate of 3.9%, which isn’t too shabby, especially considering the significant cost pressures of the last few years. In any case, I still found myself ordering a trio of cheeseburgers and a small side of chili fries.

Cheeseburgers

After a bit of a wait due to a surge of online orders (also a change since yesteryear…) my trio of cheeseburgers was delivered. And, just like 2006, these are some of the best sliders I’ve ever had. These aren’t your typical White Castle or Krystal sliders, these are more substantial, with noticeably better buns (I noticed on this trip that double burgers get sesame seed buns, vs the plain buns of the singles), a really good sear on the burger patties, a bit more meat, and some very good and fresh fried onions. This is every bit as good as 2006, they’ve got consistency down pat at Bates, even over the decades. These are pretty much perfect sliders.

Chili Fries

And the chili cheese fries? Still exactly how I remember them. The fries themselves (a favorite of the nieces) remain the same crinkle-cut fries, nicely fried in clean oil, and delivered with a good crisp. The chili s a thicker, meatier chili with a lot of cumin, and it works well with the fries.

So, how is Bates doing? While a lot has changed in Detroit, and there’s been more than a little change in Livonia, this particular corner of Livonia remains unchanged, and Bates remains in perfect health, cranking out excellent sliders and fries for over 60 years. It’s always worth a visit, even if you smell like onions the rest of the day.

During our visit to the Detroit area, I was craving some Mexican food. Normally this would involve a trip down to Detroit’s Mexicantown neighborhood, but for most of the trip we were up in the northwestern Detroit suburb of Livonia. But Carol’s extended family had a favorite Mexican place nearby that they really liked, so we headed off to a strip mall on 6 mile road to visit The Taco Factory.

The Taco Factory Interior

Located in a small storefront nestled between a jeweler and a AAA office, The Taco Factory is a fairly cozy establishment with a few tables up front in the window, and a long row of booths against the wall. Quickly getting seated in one of the front window booths, we were quickly supplied with the requisite tortilla chips and salsa, the latter being a nicely-spicy house-made red salsa served up in little carafes (I love it when places do this, since I can pour some salsa onto my chips or entrée, and not have to chase around chunks of salsa with a chip). While they had a good selection of margaritas that looked good, I was thirsty for something non-alcoholic, so I went for one of my other Mexican favorites: an aqua jamaica, which was an above-average beverage and not one of the low-grade Kool-aid-like versions.

Tacos Campechanos

For my main course, since the place was named “The Taco Factory”, I decided I needed some tacos, settling on the Tacos Campechanos. With grilled ground steak and chorizo, and topped with onion and cilantro, I rather enjoyed these. The tortillas were good, they were serving them up double-stacked (which I always appreciate to avoid “taco blow-out”), and the ground steak and chorizo had a very good flavor, spicing level, and sear. And particularly enjoyable to me was the inclusion of some grilled serrano peppers to give it a bit of kick. Overall, some great tacos.

Burrito Leon

Most of the rest of the table got the Burrito Leon, which was a flour tortilla burrito with with grilled onion and steak, topped with red sauce and melted cheese, and served up with rice and beans. The steak was nicely seasoned and grilled, and the red sauce a good, rich enchilada sauce, so this was a bit of a combination of burrito, enchilada, and fajitas, but quite flavorful and enjoyable. I didn’t try the rice, but did have some of the beans, which were the flavorful variety of refried beans that makes me not want to know how much lard was used in making them.

So, despite the fairly generic name, I rather enjoyed The Taco Factory. Both my tacos and the burrito were quite tasty and well prepared, the salsa good and bold, and I had a rather good agua jamaica to enjoy as well. It’s a great little spot if you are looking for Mexican food in the general Livonia area.

For the Christmas Holiday, Carol was spending her break with her brother’s family in the Detroit Metro area, and at the last minute I managed to rearrange my schedule and join them for part of the visit. Among the various holiday activities with the extended family, when I’m in Detroit I try to get together with my college friend Brian (the relatively rare example of an actual Detroit resident, versus the more usual “Detroit Metro” resident), this time for brunch. For a “brunch”, I usually like to go over to Selden Standard, but this was a bit of a last minute concept and Selden was booked solid, so instead, we decided to check out a spot Brian had enjoyed before, Cork & Gabel in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.

Cork & Gabel Interior

For the restaurant itself, while I’d never actually been in Cork & Gabel before, I’d passed by it several times (I’ve been to the neighboring Two James Spirits, and thought to myself “I should check them out at some point”. Cork & Gable itself is an odd building that’s been various businesses over the years (originally a roller rink, I remember when this was an Earl Schieb car planting business). Inside, it’s even more interesting. Mostly, they’ve converted it back to the original open volume that the place had when it was a roller rink, with a large front bar at one end an the open kitchen at the other. There’s a lot of random decorative details around the place, however, like the stein collection (visible here above the kitchen), an Easy-Bake oven, and old carriage lights.

Spicy Bloody Mary

A straight-forward, moderately-garnished Spicy Bloody Mary. Good combination of spice and tomato flavors, and the garnish wasn’t over the top, the wedge of salami being just enough of an extra garnish to be enjoyable and not excessive. If you do like excess, you can check out their Ultimate Bloody Mary, which has a small egg sandwich on the skewer as well, but I’m going to stick with my belief that over-garnished Bloody Marys (and the related over-the-top garnished milkshakes) are abominations. But with the simpler garnish, this Spicy Mary really was a great accompaniment to any of their savory breakfasts.

Crispy Pork Belly

I wanted to try Cork & Gabel’s schnitzel breakfast sandwich, but if there was one big hallmark for my 2025 dining (of which this is one of my last 2025 reviews), this was the year of places being out of menu items, and Cork & Gabel’s schnitzel was one of the unexpected outages. So I changed tack, and instead did the crispy pork belly ciabatta, which was 72 hour slow cooked pork belly, lightly tossed in hot sauce, with arugula, Hollandaise, medium fried egg. Really, almost all of the disappointment of not getting a schnitzel evaporated after my first bite, since this was a very good pork belly, with a consistency about halfway between ham and bacon, and a nice little sear on it, that combined with the ciabatta roll, a perfectly still-runny egg, and some fresh greens made for a very enjoyable breakfast sandwich.

Chorizo Ranchero Bowl

Carol, meanwhile, got the Chorizo Ranchero Bowl, with chorizo, house Ranchero sauce, two eggs, tortilla strips, and cilantro lime cream. Honestly, this was a rather good breakfast bowl, with the eggs nicely prepared and the flavors balanced. The chorizo was a bit more flavorful than usual, and I suspect that’s because Corktown is immediately adjacent to Mexican Town, and they’ve probably got a good supplier (indeed, one of our stops after Cork & Cabel was Busy Bee Market over in Mexican Town).

While I’m disappointed that I couldn’t try the schnitzel (the lunch and dinner menus at Cork & Gabel lean towards German, so I had high expectations), the crispy pork belly sandwich was no slouch. Between that, and Corktown having a lot more worth checking out in recent years, means I’m likely to come back at some point.

I’ve gone on a rather large number of backpacking trips in Arizona over the years, and I’ve got a tradition that goes back a surprisingly long time (to the 1980s, in fact). Towards the end of every longer trip, you start to tire of backpacking food, and one of the more frequent trail conversations is food cravings for when we get back to civilization, and inevitably the exact same food item comes up: a cheese burger. Specifically, a green chile cheeseburger. It’s the perfect antidote to several days of trail food. Back in the day, this was usually the saloon at Tortilla Flats, but I haven’t been up that way for a few years (the Arizona Trail was out of commission for several years, which made Tortilla Flats a bit of an out-and-back experience not terribly close to most of the trailheads I use in the Superstitions). For some of the more recent trips, this has been Joe’s Farm Grill (which is getting ripe for a re-visit) or Fate Brewing (which between a logistically-good location, has an awesome Hatch chile lager to enjoy with your burger). So, after wrapping up our week hiking in the Grand Canyon, we decided that we needed cheeseburgers, and I know there was just the place for this in Flagstaff: Diablo Burger.

Diablo Burger

Diablo Burger is located in Old Town Flagstaff, immediately off of Heritage Square, the central town square that’s been somewhat mall-ified over the years to make an outdoor shopping area. The interior of Diablo burger is tiny: it’s a large central ordering counter/bar, and a single arch of 6 top tables inside, but if the weather is nice (which in Flagstaff is a surprisingly large amount of the time, even in the winter and summer months), they’ve got a very nice outdoor patio with a lot of seating. But the interior is cozy enough that they’ve got to maintain pretty strict traffic flow as well, and they do manage to cycle people through the service line quickly.

Tips Up Hazy IPA

After only a short wait in line, I ordered up “The Blake”, Diablo’s version of the classic green chile cheeseburger, with Hatch chile mayo, roasted green chiles, and sharp cheddar. While waiting for my burger, I enjoyed a Tips Up Hazy IPA from local brewer Mother Road Brewing. A tropical hazy IPA brewed in collaboration with Arizona Snowbowl, the local ski area, this was a good hazy IPA with some good, crisp hop and nice fruity citrus notes. The perfect antidote to several days of mostly drinking water out of bladders (although in theory I could have enjoyed a beer at Phantom Ranch), and a great beer in its own right. I’ll have to check out the brewery the next time I’m passing through town.

All the Sauces

While waiting for my burger, my hiking buddy Sarah decided, in a particularly bold move, then when asked which dipping sauces she wanted for her basket of fries, went all in and got “all the sauces”. All of them. I lost track of which was which, but there were at least ranch, guacamole, Rising Hy (a local condiment company) Spicy Honey Mustard, sriracha mayo, Hatch chile mayo, DB Special Sauce (Thousand Island), curry mayo, chimichurri, coffee BBQ sauce, and at least one other. So we got to enjoy both some excellent fries (freshly cut, double-fried in fresh clean oil, so a nice crisp and a fluffy exterior, and then dusted with herbes de Provence), and sample all of their sauces, with my favorites being the chimichurri, the coffee BBQ, and the Hatch chile mayo.

The Blake

And then my burger arrived (with yet more fries, I should have coordinated better, although by this point I was several thousand calories down for the week…). Let’s start off with the bun. An interesting choice made by Diablo Burger is that they don’t use buns, they use nicely-grilled English muffins (from local bakery Breadworks AZ). I’m usually a little bit suspect of this, but in this case, it worked well. The muffin is nicely grilled and crispy around the edges with butter, and gives just enough crunch for the burger. For an added bonus, they offer gluten free alternatives to the English muffin, which was particularly helpful since one of our group maintains a gluten-free diet. Next, the burger itself. The meat itself is top notch, a 95% lean beef blend from the nearby Diablo Trust ranches (a ranching trust almost the size of Phoenix) that give their name to the burger joint, it’s a nice, flavorful beef, done to a perfect medium-rare with a nice sear. I’m usually leaning more towards 80/20 beef for a nice, juicy burger, but the folks at Diablo really know how to grill a burger right without squeezing the juices out, so this worked out perfect. Add in some grilled green chiles, a dab of the same Hatch chile mayo from the fry sauce, and some fresh veggies, and this was exactly the sort of chile cheeseburger I was craving. Indeed, this is definitely on my top 10 burger list.

So, as I’ve often said after these backpacking trips, “after the doing, there is the undoing”, and Diablo Burger was an absolutely perfect choice for getting a perfectly cooked, juicy, and well-dressed chile cheeseburger. I’m definitely coming back when I’m next in Flagstaff.

After meeting up with fellow backpackers Dan and Sarah in Phoenix, our Fitpacking trip to the Grand Canyon headed up north, stopping for dinner in Flagstaff. I’ve always enjoyed Flagstaff, between the cooler climate, the nice setting at the foot of the San Francisco peak, and the more laid back atmosphere, and look forward to trips when I can get that far north. And, in my experience, Flagstaff has always had a good dining scene, especially in the downtown area, with a lot of good restaurants and hang-out spots for nearby Northern Arizona University. But for this visit, we were aiming at a spot just a bit east of downtown on the old historic Route 66: El Tapatio.

El Tapatio Bar

El Tapatio (“El Tapatio” is a nickname for someone from Guadalajara) has been in operation for a while; While I’m unsure what year this east Flagstaff location (there’s now another on the west side) opened, the chain itself was started in 2002 with food truck in Grand Junction, Colorado, and they’ve now got over a half dozen locations in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. But for at least several years, El Tapatio has remained one of the more popular and enjoyed Mexican restaurants in Flagstaff. The outside building isn’t munch, and has a little of that “used to be a Wendy’s” look to it. But stepping inside, the place is very richly decorated, with decorated masks, brightly-painted chairs and panels, Mexican beer signs, and the like, and while starting to border on the excessive level, does make for the sort of restaurant I picture when I think “Mexican Family Restaurant”.

Cadillac Margarita Anejo

Like most any Mexican restaurant in the Southwest, El Tapatio has an entire page of margarita variants, ranging from the basic house margarita, to upgraded versions with better tequila and liqueur, to a good dozen flavored varieties. I usually try to keep to the classics, so I went for a regular-size Cadillac Margarita Anejo as a good way to splurge before a week in the wilderness, and was quite happy with this margarita: good lime notes, not overly sweet, and a reasonably good (but unnamed) anejo tequila. This was the regular size, I’m now curious how large the grande is…

Guacamole

As a table, we decided to get El Tapatio’s fresh-made guacamole. Those that regularly dine with me know that I’m really not much of an avocado fan, especially in the form of guacamole, which is usually to me a textural and flavor mess. But when I find the rare exception, I adore a really good, perfectly made guacamole. t this was seriously good, and one of the best best guacamoles I’ve ever had. Fresh guacamole that hasn’t gone squishy, cilantro, onions, jalapeños, lime juice, and salt. Perfectly executed, and topped with some good fresh tomato and jalapeño wedges, this was sublime, and I’d not only get this again, I’d detour to come get it.

Molcajete

While El Tapatio has a very broad menu of Mexcican classics, I decided to go for one of the house specialties, a Molcajete Mexico. Served up in a scorching-hot volcanic rock bowl (usually used to grind salsa), this was marinated steak strips, chicken strips, chorizo, onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms, served up with a chile sauce with melted cheese. Served with a side of rice, beans, and more guacamole, this is a serious amount of feed, but this was particularly tasty. The combination of chicken and chorizo with some cheese is always a great combination (indeed, if I see a Chori Pollo on a menu, I often will order it), and adding on some steak and mushrooms nicely adds to the dish, with everything getting nicely seared from the hot bowl. I do feel sorry for the kitchen worker that has to clean the molcajete, however.

Flaming Fajitas

My colleague Sarah opted to go with another house specialty, a classic order of steak fajitas. The version at El Tapatio is quite nicely done, with the addition of them serving the fajitas up flambéed with tequila, providing both a nice flavor note and a bit of theater.

Overall, I really enjoyed El Tapatio. The food and beverages were both enjoyable, the flavors nice and bold, and the staff very friendly and welcoming. Before coming back, I may want to fast a bit first, El Tapatio’s portions were large, especially if I’m not about to spend a week backpacking. But that house-made guacamole? I’ll definitely be coming back for that.

In early December I flew out to the Phoenix area as part of a trip to go backpacking in the Grand Canyon, but had a few days before and after the trip to visit with friends and family in the Phoenix area. Like many of my Arizona trips, I met up with my friend Allyson for lunch, and this time we decided to go to Old Town Scottsdale. Old Town Scottsdale is mostly “fake Old West” and “fake Native American Trading Post” shops on the tackier-end of the scale, but there are a few gems hiding amongst the various “Trading Posts”. One of the them is The Frybread Lounge, an Indigenous-owned restaurant serving up Indigenous staples, primarily focusing on frybread.

The Frybread Lounge Interior

It’s worth noting that frybread as a food comes with more than a bit of cultural baggage. First, while it differs somewhat in name and sometimes in preparation, most every Southwestern indigenous tribe has a variation of it as a staple. It’s common on reservations and in tribal restaurants, it is always around on special occasions, powwows, and large family gatherings. But it’s also problematic. As one Indigenous chef I know stated, “the recipe is simple, it’s basically flour, water, baking soda, lard, and more than a bit of colonialism.” The entire reason frybread exists is because indigenous peoples were removed from their land and their traditional agricultural and foraging practices, and had to replace their diets focusing mostly on game meat, maize, bean, corn, and foraged foods with a subsistence diet primarily made from Government-provided lard and flour. People didn’t eat frybread because they wanted to, but because they had to.

It’s also particularly unhealthy, having all the nutritional value of carnival food. Frybread is almost the perfect poster child for “empty calories” and diabetes-inducing diets. But it’s also a food of resilience. It represents survival through perseverance, pain, ingenuity and creativity, and it’s a symbolic food linking one generation with the next. It’s easy to understand why many indigenous chefs eschew frybread altogether, in favor of modern foods that incorporate healthier ingredients based upon traditional indigenous foods. And I’m highly supportive of that. But I’m also supportive of a place like The Frybread Lounge that focuses on a classic comfort staple done well, and leans into the concept.

With that in mind… walking into The Frybread Lounge, the overall ambiance is “old school Coffee Shop”, and that’s essentially what the place is, offering up a lunch menu that’s primarily appetizers and sandwiches, albeit featuring more than a little frybread and other indigenous foods. There’s a fair bit of modern decoration as well, and a handful of indigenous art pieces scattered about. But really, it’s like walking into a coffee shop, and a nicer one at that.

The Desert Rose

But the “lounge” part does come into play: The Frybread Lounge has a liquor license and a full bar, and with that, a nicely-crafted set of house cocktails. Both Allyson and I got the “Desert Rose” cocktail: Casa Noble tequila, Ramazotti Rosato liqueur, lime, agave nectar, rose water, and prickly pear salt. This was, essentially, a rosewater margarita, and pretty tasty. The prickly pear salt added a nice finish, and really helped to match the cocktail flavors with the rest of the meal

Frybread Flight

The Frybread Lounge obviously focuses on frybread, and one major way they do that is with a Frybread Flight. Three “miniature” (although these were substantial) frybreads, served with four different toppings: sugar, honey, a tepary bean hummus, and a wojapi berry sauce.
This was excellent frybread, and the accompanying berry sauce and bean hummus were great toppings that weren’t just piling sugar on top of starch. And the frybread here is particularly good: hand-mixed and kneaded to just the perfect level of gluten generation to make a springy and chew bread that still crisps up perfectly without becoming dense.

Rez Burger

For the main course, we both opted for nother traditional Southwest indigenous staple: a “Rez Burger”, a burger served up with frybread instead of a bun. For a nice added note, the version at The Frybread Lounge uses a bison-based burger, with chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. An excellent sandwich, but I was in serious carb overload between this and the frybread flight.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Frybread Lounge. It’s good to see a place shooting for some high quality in Old Town Scottsdale, and leveraging local suppliers to make some top notch food items. And the frybread is just about perfect. I’d love to come back and try out some of the rest of the menu, but unless I’m in a larger group, I will be abstaining from frybread for a while. This was an almost insane amount of calories.

A recent trip to various spots of interest around Newfound Lake had us passing back through Bristol, NH around dinner time. While I’ve already got some good places in Bristol that I enjoy, such as The Bristol Diner and LinCross Roast Beef, I decided that this was a good chance to check out another spot. We’ve driven past Cielito in Bristol several times (it’s across the street from The Bristol Diner), and decided that this time we’d actually have dinner there.

Cielito Exterior

Cielito opened in 2017, opening in a spot that’s been a variety of bars over my years passing through Bristol; I remember the Downtown Pub and The Rumor Mill both being here at various points, with Cielito opening shortly after The Rumor Mill passed up shop. It’s a nice location just off Bristol’s town square, and, unlike most of the other restaurants in the area, even has it’s own parking (although parking is never in short supply in Bristol in my experience).

Cielito Interior

Inside, the bar (which pre-dates Cielito to it’s prior bar existence) still dominates the space, with a scattering of tables around the bar and in the other half of the dining room, but it’s pretty substantial seating, around 10 seats at the bar and as many tables around the edge. This place gets pretty busy on weekends, but you should find yourself waiting too long for a table. One think I like about Cielito is that it’s got reasonable decor: bright colors, a lot of traditional Mexican decorations and themes, but nobody went over the top with sombreros, Mexican flags, piñatas, and mariachi frog statues (I’m looking your way with a bit of side-eye, Margaritas). Tasteful decoration wins the day here.

Jamaica Margarita

So, speaking of margaritas… Like most Mexican places that hold a liquor license around here, Cielito has both a decent house margarita, and a pretty decent selection of both upgraded and flavored margaritas, including several varieties I don’t usually see until I’m in the Southwest, like jamaica (hibiscus), morita (blackberry), and pepino (cucumber). Carol opted for the Jamaica Margarita and was quite pleased: a nice combination of tequila and lime notes while also having the rich hibiscus flavor of an agua jamaica.

Spiked Horchata

But in addition to the margarita variations, Cielito also has a decent list of other house cocktails, most of them variants of classic Mexican drinks. I went for the “Spiked Horchata”, which was Horchata Rum, Captain Morgan, spiced rum, cinnamon, sugar. While not being quite as flavorful as a freshly made from rice (or better yet, chufa nut) horchata, this was a nice, enjoyable drink with good cinnamon notes.

Enchiladas Mole Poblano

For the main courses, Cielito has a surprisingly broad menu: in addition to the classic taco, enchilada, and burrito dishes, they’ve also got a good selection of fish and shrimp dishes, cochinita pibil, and even tortas. So they’ve got a nice range of options. Carol opted for their Enchilada Mole Poblano, which were some nicely executed chicken enchiladas (proper shredded, moist chicken) in a rich mole sauce, with black refried beans, rice, queso y crema fresca, and pickled red onion. The mole was the star here, with a nice, rich chocolate and pepper flavor.

Chorri Pollo

Myself, I went for the Chorri Pollo. Grilled chicken, with grilled chorizo, pineapple, queso dip, black refried beans, rice, and tortillas. The grilled chicken was very nicely seasoned and cooked, with a nice tender texture and a good crisp, and both the pepper notes of chorizo and the smooth cheesiness of the sauce combined nicely with this, I’d definitely consider getting this again.

And a special mention goes to the service at Cielito. When ordering, our server had inquired how spicy we enjoyed things (Cielito does have a tendency to dial back the peppers to meet the expectations of New England diners), and when I said I liked the food really spicy, he followed up, and in the resulting discussion ended up having him bring out some of his favorite traditional Pulaprindo tamarind and chile pepper candy. So the staff is particularly friendly and welcoming.

Really, I’m glad I finally got to check out Cielito, it’s actually one of the most enjoyable Mexican places I’ve found in Northern New England. The food is good and flavorful, the prices reasonable, and the staff really pleasant. I’ll make it a point to come back soon.

Right before Thanksgiving, we had an opportunity to see one of my favorite brass musicians, Trombone Shorty, play at Rutland, VT’s historic Paramount Theatre. Looking at the various dining options in the area, I noticed a relative newcomer to the Rutland dining scene, Pao Pao Latin Cuisine, on the east side of Rutland city. So we decided to check them out.

Pao Pao Interior

Pao Pao opened in 2024 in a slightly funky building on Route 4 that is locate in a somewhat funky building that’s one of those locations that’s always been a bit challenging for restaurants, since over the years I can remember various Italian and Chinese restaurants in the space, and even a Rutland location of the once-common Weathervane seafood chain. But in early 2024, Ginger China ended, and after some remodeling, in December 2024 Pao Pao Latin Cuisine opened, selling a variety of Latin American cuisine, with a focus on Peruvian food. I’ll have to say, it’s a bit of a weird spot, you can see that the dining area has had a lot of owners over the years, and that at various times it has had sushi bars, karaoke nights, and the like. And a weird little back bar that now seems to be just used for holding up supplemental air conditioners. But while it’s funky, it’s a reasonable enough dining room, and there’s a nice little bar by the entrance, so we settled in and looked at the drink menu.

Pao Pao Beverages

Among various beer and classic cocktail offerings, the menu has a nice mix of classic Latin American beverages as well, including an entire list of variations on the Pisco Sour (a grape brandy, lime juice, simple syrup, egg white, and Angostura bitters cocktail, shaken until frothy and served chilled). I ended up going with the Maracuya Sour (left, basically a Passion Fruit Pisco Sour), and Carol got a house Chicha Morada (Peruvian purple corn drink), and we enjoyed both of these: a nice combination of sweet and sour.

Cancha

With our beverages, they also brought each of us a small bowl of Cancha, Andean corn. A different cultivar than American popcorn, sweet corn, or dent corn, Cancha has longer kernels where are basically cooked in hot oil like popcorn, but due to the thicker husks on the kernels it doesn’t actually pop. The result is pleasingly like partially-popped popcorn, and it’s pretty much the perfect snack to go with a Pisco Sour.

Patacones

Next up was a light appetizer of patacones: fried plantains topped with chicken, cheese, and a Peruvian pepper sauce. I rather liked these, the plantains were nicely double-fried (par-cooked, flattened, and re-fried, much like they do in Cuban cuisine), and the combination of the chicken and Peruvian aji amarillo sauce made a slightly punchy topping that was quite flavorful. All-in-all, a nice little appetizer.

Lomo Saltado

For my main course, I went for a classic dish: Lomo Saltado. This is basically Peruvian stir-fried beef with peppers, tomatoes, and Peruvian chiles. The star here was the beef, which was tender, cooked to a perfect medium-rare inside, and very nicely crisped. Add in the soy-based marinade, some nicely seared vegetables, and the nice earthy-hot note of the Peruvian chiles, and this was a particularly enjoyable dish.

Tacu Tacu Con Lomo

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Tacu Tacu Con Lomo. This is essentially a variation of the Lomo Saltado, starting with a bed of Peruvian refried beans (smoother and more garlicky than the Mexican version), mixed with rice and crisped into a patty, topped with essentially a smaller portion of Lomo Saltado. A nice overall combination, since it had the nice garlic and starch notes with the tacu tacu, and the same things I enjoyed with my Lomo Saltado topping it. A good overall dinner selection.

Overall, we enjoyed Pao Pao. The food was quite flavorful, as were the cocktails, and they fill a nice niche (Latin American food) that really doesn’t get a lot of presence in Vermont. The ambiance is a bit funky and could use some polish, by between my dining there (November) and publishing this (January), they were actually closed for remodeling, so I’m hoping to go back and see what improvements they’ve made (the published menu appears unchanged, however).