Andrew Ross

Portland

Restaurant Critic at The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram

Restaurant critic @ Portland Press Herald & Maine Sunday Telegram. He/him. Find me on T H R EA D S at andrewrossmaine

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Articles

Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland in 2025

1 month ago | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

Editor’s Note: Former Portland Press Herald restaurant critic Andrew Ross wrote his last review in January. He is making a return appearance for our annual Best 75 feature. > Portland isn’t a big city. Expand outwards to include the entire metropolitan region, and Greater Portland still winds up with a population barely larger than Amish country. And yet, we’ve built an outsized reputation for food.
If you needed another reason to dine on Middle Street, Mr. Tuna is it

Jan 2, 2025 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

When I interviewed Jordan Rubin two years ago, he asked me to keep a secret. Call it terrible timing on my part, but days after we chatted about the previous version of Mr. Tuna, Rubin messaged me. On the QT, he let me know about his plans to decamp from his sushi restaurant’s transitional-feeling space at the Public Market…the same spot I had just recommended in a well-earned, four-star review.
At Magissa, homey and agreeable Greek food inspired by family recipes

Dec 25, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

Some cafes have tip jars; some families have swear jars. I think Magissa needs a joke jar. Not for just any old groaner, but for the wisecrack I heard repeated from two opposite ends of the newly renovated Anderson St. space during my recent visit. The first: from a jolly older man who bore a striking resemblance to Santa. Seated at the rear of the taverna-style Greek restaurant, in one of the inviting “stucco snug” booths, he struggled to pronounce the name of the red wine he wanted to order.
Off-Track Pizza, from the team at Via Vecchia, gets almost everything right

Dec 18, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

On my first day of my first restaurant job, I pulled a red Pizza Inn apron over my neck, tied it in the back and asked what my first task was. Would I be shredding cheese, slicing bell peppers on a mandolin or rolling dough? Maybe something necessary but less exciting, like mopping a walk-in refrigerator? None of these, it emerged. “I want you to watch the pizzas bake,” my manager said, chuckling at my eagerness and positioning me at the end of a languid conveyor belt oven.
Best of 2024 from Maine’s restaurants, bars, cafes and bakeries

Dec 11, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

People who eat at dozens of restaurants a year wind up forgetting most of those meals. That’s natural. Eating and drinking are fleeting experiences, after all. You savor what’s on your plate, in your bowl, in the waxed takeout bag tossed into your backseat, and then you move on. Then a few hours later, you do it again. What you recollect after a calendar year of noshing is, at most, a soft-focus highlight reel of dinners, breakfasts, lunches and snacks.
Lucky Cheetah might be the most exciting restaurant to open this year

Nov 27, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

One day soon, Lucky Cheetah will be a blockbuster of a restaurant. I have no doubt. For now, about four months into its run, this semi-subterranean, dim-sum-inspired “dumpling lounge” in the Old Port remains a work in progress. But it’s tantalizingly close to excellence.
A cozy setting at Dok Mali Noodle Bar, but spotty food and drink

Nov 20, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

Nonglack Thanephonesy, the chef/owner of Portland’s Dok Mali has no illusions about how nearby Middle Street has contributed to her Thai restaurant’s well-deserved popularity. “It’s right there, close to Duckfat, Honey Paw, Micucci’s, Eventide…It’s a well-known, very busy area that people come to for food,” she said. “Especially tourists.
Marker Alpinist Heel Riser Repair

Nov 15, 2024 | the-high-route.com | Andrew Ross

For those interested in getting into the nuts and bolts of Marker Alpinist Binding repair, here’s a how-to for remedying floppy risers. Happy tinkering. Marker Alpinist: The binding that offers everything you need, and only a dash of what you don’t. After three seasons on these bindings, I almost love them. They’re lightweight, have three riser heights (including flat), and have never iced up on me. So far, so good. Where do they fall short, you ask? It’s those heel risers.
At Yolked, the Bouchards are ‘preposterously good in the kitchen’

Nov 6, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

“Alexa, how long does it take to drive to Windham from Portland?” I inquired before I grudgingly set out for a weeknight meal at Yolked Farm to Table. I don’t know what I was hoping to hear, but 31 minutes sounded about right. I must have been cranky that particular weeknight, not much in the mood to spend time in the car, and I was probably looking for an excuse to postpone. But I picked up my dinner guest and stuck to the plan.
Dine Out Maine: Thames Landing fails to consistently stick the landing

Oct 30, 2024 | pressherald.com | Andrew Ross

In my twenties, I went shopping for a tuxedo with a former French haberdasher. To me, all formalwear looked alike. But not to him. After a few hours of sighing and tut-tutting as we slid jackets from their hangers, I started to see what he meant when he told me, “All the parts can be there. Sometimes they look OK, too. But when you pay attention to what’s holding them together — the stitching, the interfacing, the lining— you can tell who is thinking about quality.