Live the Live ™

I’m not a big beer guy, so my travels to Scotland and Ireland did not include a lot of pub visits. Despite being told by my driver that the pub next to my hotel was an excellent “puller,” (at least I think that’s what he called it), my thing is cocktails.

 

 

Sure, a pub can make a gin and tonic for you, and a gastropub, like Element in Edinburgh,  can add a nice plate of food, but I’m always looking for a special place to sit and sip. 

 

 

 

 

I’ve found that the best cocktail bars are located inside the best hotels. And even though I can’t afford to actually stay at the hotel, I can pop in for a drink. I had one very fancy dinner while in Edinburgh, at Dean Banks at the Pompadour, at the Caledonian Hotel.

An excellent meal, but I started the night at the Caledonian’s Caley Bar.

 

 

 

My first stop when I reached Dublin, Ireland, was to pay tribute to my rock and roll hero, Phil Lynott, the lead singer and bassist of Thin Lizzy, one of my all-time favorite bands.  A statue of Phil stands next to Bruxelles pub. But just a little further down that street was the classic hotel, The Westbury.

Having had so many gin and tonics in Scotland, I was craving a good old vodka martini at the Sidecar. Unlike the United States, however, the limit of booze per serving in Scotland and Ireland is about 2 ounces. So they were trying to get me to add things to it, to make it look bigger. I like my vodka unmessed with, because I like the taste of it. Why ruin high quality vodka with nasty salty liquid from an olive jar? A dirty martini is not for me. So they shook it a lot to dilute it, poured it into a tall, thin glass, and dropped a huge olive into it. It was exactly what I was looking for!

 

The Merrion Hotel, another beauty, had a couple of bars that were worthy of a visit. The ground floor bar, the No. 23 bar, had that typical classy hotel bar vibe. But The Cellar, downstairs, was an amazing creature unto itself, with a huge cavern-like space. It was absolutely packed with partying people, and a space I will definitely visit again if I’m ever lucky enough to go back to Dublin.

 

 

I managed to fit in one other historic hotel on my cocktail journey, and that was The Shelbourne, celebrating its 200th year. I enjoyed a beverage on the Horseshoe bar, one of five bars in the hotel.

 

All in all, a pretty successful journey to many classy and classic (found mostly in hotels) cocktail bars. Recovery is now in order!

Since I like to check out rock n roll memorabilia, and I am a tourist from America, after all, I check out Hard Rock Cafes wherever I go. The one in Edinburgh, Scotland was small and not that impressive. (There was one in Glasgow that suddenly shut down earlier this year.)

But the one in Dublin, Ireland, was in the middle of all the action in the Temple Bar district.

Dublin was my 21st Hard Rock Cafe!

I’ve visited: New York, Boston (no longer there), Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Orlando, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Maui, Bangkok, London, Athens, Cayman Islands, St Thomas (no longer there), Rome, Paris, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Reykjavik. (As far as I remember!)

I made a quick stop as I was heading out of town.

Doune was used in the filming of “Outlander,” but for me, all that mattered was this was the castle in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” A bucket list destination!

Founded in 1451!

Here for a visit. My first night featured the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a fantastic show at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.

 

 

 

I marinated and roasted both lamb and chicken with this marinade, and both worked great. So if you’re not as big a fan of lamb as I am, no worries.

 

The key to the success of this dish is to make sure you give the meat a lot of time to suck up the marinade, and to season the meat well.

1/4 cup Dijon mustard
The zest and juice of a lemon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh thyme and rosemary, chopped fine

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

 

 

Place the lamb and/or chicken in a Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade, squishing it around so that it really covers the meat. Marinate the meat at room temp for at least 3 hours, but overnight in the fridge is best. Make sure to squish the bag around every few hours to make sure all parts get the marinade.

The next day, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

 

Place the marinated meats on a sheet pan with non-stick foil. Season the meat with salt and pepper.

Pour whatever marinade is left in the bag into a bowl and use it to baste the meats as they cook. (Don’t use any of the marinade without cooking it–it has touched raw meat!) Bake until medium for the lamb, or all the way through for the chicken. At the end of cooking, toss the meat under the broiler for a few minutes to get a nice char.

 

 

Grilling is certainly an option for this dish. Lamb can be cooked directly on the grill, all the way through. Chicken will require to be pre-cooked in an oven or cooked over medium heat on the grill to make sure it’s cooked all the way through before that final char.

I overheard a conversation at a Portland, Maine, restaurant where the server told one of their customers that Portland has the most restaurants, per capita, in the country, second only to San Francisco. I would not doubt that for a minute. Although I live just minutes away from Providence, Rhode Island, a pretty darn good food town in itself, what makes Portland so very special is the fact that you can park your car and walk everywhere. And the variety of foods you can sample is hard to beat.

The food craze in Portland started many years ago with the granddaddy of them all, a restaurant that is still kicking butt: Fore Street. Fire roasted meats and fish, served in a beautiful dining room, with tasty crafted cocktails… it’s a fine dining experience. You definitely want to save for that special occasion. But for this trip, my mission was to have a small bite in many different places, and so I chose to visit Fore Street again another time.

My first stop was Crispy Gai, a small, energetic Asian bistro. I was there before the lunch crowd at 11 AM, but I could imagine this place just jamming on weekends.

Their Hat Yai fried chicken wings were to die for and the Siu Mai dumplings were fantastic.

After that, I checked into my hotel, got my room early, and walked down Commercial Street to the main focus of my trip: a magnificent trio of restaurants, all located around the same corner of Middle Street.

Perhaps the one restaurant that has made the most noise when it comes to luring foodies into Portland, is Eventide. It’s been featured in countless food magazines, and they even have a second (smaller) location near Fenway Park in Boston.

I started coming here years ago, when nobody even heard of this place, and you could get a seat right away. Now, no matter what day you go, and no matter what time of day it is, you’ve got to wait.

So here’s my secret: walk up to the maître d’ and give her your name and phone number. They will text you when a space becomes available. That gives you just enough time to go next-door to The Honey Paw for a quick bite and a drink.

Owned by the people that run Eventide (in fact, they share one long kitchen that runs the length of the back of the building), The Honey Paw features incredible, creative, and eclectic Asian-themed dishes with really fresh ingredients.

I enjoyed a fabulous plate of bluefin tuna crudo with a Hendrick’s and tonic.

And just as I was finishing the last sip of my drink, I got a text that my space at Eventide next door was waiting for me.

If you’re a regular at Eventide, you may go there for the oysters. They certainly do have a huge selection. But for someone like me who rarely gets to visit, it’s all about the creativity, and their chefs really shine. I’ve had the lobster roll and the bao buns and all that stuff, so for me, it’s all about the specials on the chalkboard, and this time, a BLT, using cured and smoked Toro tuna as the bacon, instantly caught my eye.

Words cannot describe how fantastic this sandwich was!

I really wish I lived closer to Portland because I would go to Eventide every single day until I got sick of it. (And I don’t think I ever would!)

So I washed my TBLT down with another Hendrick’s and tonic (you can see where this is going!) and I crossed the street to a brand new spot, at least for me, called Mr. Tuna.

Fresh sushi is the name of the game here, and I enjoyed an Otoro hand roll and a Maine crab maki roll. This time, I accompanied my bites with an excellent glass of refreshing sake.

To say I was stuffed at this point was an understatement. I’m glad I had a bit of a walk back to my hotel to burn at least a few calories. But a power nap was definitely in order if I was to continue my journeys into the evening!

On the way back to my hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott on Commercial Street, I noticed a new hotel called the Canopy, which featured a rooftop bar named Luna. I decided this would be my first stop after my much needed nap.

Luna is on the sixth floor of the Canopy hotel, and when I arrived, it was absolutely packed with well-dressed couples, enjoying drinks and the fantastic views of Portland Harbor.

I managed to get my first cocktail pretty quickly, and soon I found a seat at the bar. But then the masses moved in and the two bartenders, though very skilled and hustling as fast as they could, were completely overwhelmed by the crowd. It took forever for me to get my second drink. A third bartender was absolutely necessary there. It is, after all, summertime in Portland…

I didn’t have any of the food at Luna, because the menu was not impressive. Basic bar bites that didn’t really do anything for me. So after a couple of drinks, I made my way down the elevator once again to Commercial Street.

I wanted to finish my adventure on a happy food note, and I was craving pizza. But I didn’t want to go to a pizzeria. That’s when I remembered having had wonderful appetizers at the bar at Solo, an Italian restaurant on Commercial Street, just a short walk down from where I was.

I grabbed a seat at the bar and enjoyed a Negroni.

The menu was full of fantastic crudos that would’ve tempted me at any other time, but I was craving pizza, so I went for the Donna Scala, a sourdough focaccia with mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh basil. The perfect way to end a long day of eating and drinking.

My food day started at 11 AM and ended just before 11 PM. Someday, I will come back to Portland and do this again. But I think a diet is in order right now…