Dine Out Maine: Despite occasional missteps, much to savor at Leeward

Editor’s Notice: Leeward is closed for a break till Could 5. 

Faucet on the wall behind Leeward’s bar, and also you would possibly hear the metallic jangle of vintage sprockets and pulleys singing again to you.

When you’re courageous (and have the bartender’s permission), set down your gorgeously balanced, Negroni-esque Polymorph cocktail ($15) and attain by way of the bottles of amaro, beneath the sparsely positioned floating cabinets and the mix-and-match classic wall artwork. When you’ve been nibbling on the spectacular grilled Broad Arrow Farm pork ribs with fried garlic and toasted flax seeds ($14), wipe your fingers off totally, however then go forward: Give the ochre-painted wall a agency rap together with your knuckles. What’s that echo?

“It’s the oldest escalator in Maine,” co-owner and front-of-house supervisor Raquel Stevens informed me.

A relic of the house’s historical past as a part of the Portland’s Porteous Constructing and the division retailer of the identical title, the escalator stays, in chef/co-owner Jake Stevens’ phrases “entombed again there,” paused on its upwards journey towards the second ground.

Whereas the couple understands the historic significance of the big machine, they’re in no hurry to tear down the wall. “Everybody has been making an attempt to persuade us to show it, however it’ll price a cool $80,000 to do this. So no, not proper now,” Raquel Stevens added with fun.

It’s surprisingly simple to image what eradicating that wall would possibly do to the largely Italian, pasta-focused restaurant. The Stevens’ design sense occupies territory that borders on fully-realized, Nineteen Seventies-inspired eclecticism, with cork wallpaper, skinny white barstools, and a tchotchke-filled custom-engineered hutch bisecting the eating room. So actually, what’s an additional escalator or two?

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Taken collectively, the eclectic décor weaves a homespun coziness throughout a cavernous eating space that was additionally as soon as a textile classroom and a karate dojo. However just a few questionable additions make the house really feel a bit too improvisational – particularly, wall-mounted sound-dampeners that resemble upholstered headboards and a thrifted Tiffany-style pendant within the entrance window that appears prefer it belongs in a Swensen’s.

A server at Leeward brings meals to a desk. Brianna Soukup/Workers Photographer

But it’s exhausting to fault the duo for infrequent missteps once you issue of their restricted price range and the sheer scale of the boxy, featureless house. “We had been actually going for one thing inviting and up to date with out trying prefer it was executed by a design agency,” Jake Stevens stated. “We needed to make it really feel smaller, however the massive measurement turned out to be a silver lining once we reopened through the throes of the pandemic, when house necessities had been a giant factor. We heard from lots of people that it made them really feel a lot safer having a lot headspace and movement right here.”

In 2021, I used to be a type of clients, though I didn’t have the choice to eat indoors. Leeward, like most eating places in Maine, tried its hand at takeout, then out of doors eating solely on what should qualify because the nicest patio seating Free Avenue has seen in a long time. Then early final autumn, Leeward reintroduced indoor seating, including a vaccination requirement to create an indoor eating setting that, to this present day, feels among the many most secure in Portland.

But, for a restaurant critic making an attempt to keep up anonymity, displaying a vaccination card on the host stand does pose a conundrum. Full disclosure: Workers did certainly work out I used to be there, however in response to Raquel Stevens, “If it’s any comfort, you actually did shock us.”

Jess Tamayo and Claire Griffin, each of Portland, dine at Leeward. Brianna Soukup/Workers Photographer

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One other shock that night: It was new pastry chef Michelle Hicken’s debut dinner service. I had identified that former Lio celebrity Kate Fisher Hamm had deliberate to step away from Leeward to open Biddeford’s upcoming Fish & Whistle, however I assumed I had just a few extra weeks to catch her in motion; her golden, herby focaccia was one of many highlights of my 2021 takeout meals.

Fortuitously, Hicken’s model ($6) was simply pretty much as good: springy and lightweight, that includes holes massive sufficient to go spelunking in. And her tackle a grapefruit tart ($11) additionally impressed. I beloved the steadiness between the almost savory, panna-cotta-like custard and the sticky dollop of candy Italian meringue whipped to an impossibly easy consistency. If there was a single intact grain of sugar left in that meringue, I couldn’t discover it.

I did, nevertheless, discover grit elsewhere throughout my meal. The background texture of incompletely rinsed greens isn’t a meal-killer for me, however it’s definitely not nice, particularly not when the remainder of the dish – a butter lettuce salad with crumbled blue cheese and a Inexperienced-Goddess-adjacent tarragon, lemon, chervil and chive French dressing ($11) – was in any other case terrific. “Nicely, it’s not a salad restaurant,” my dinner visitor quipped.

True. Leeward is a pasta restaurant. It’s plain that Jake Stevens makes glorious extruded, stuffed and hand-cut kinds. If we stopped there, Leeward would max out any ranking system I may create. However pastas want sauces, and through my latest go to, this part of the menu had each minor and main points.

Creste di gallo with Calabrian chili sausage, left, and rigatoni with ragu Bolognese at Leeward. Brianna Soukup/Workers Photographer

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Let’s begin with the large one: The creste di gallo, a ruffled, semilunar pasta formed like (and named after) a rooster’s crest. Dressed with house-made Calabrian chili sausage, caramelized fennel, chopped radicchio and a labor-intensive tomato conserva ($24), it had the makings of the type of savory dish I’d usually crave, particularly once you pour a puckery glass of off-dry Valle Reale Montepulciano ($13) to sip alongside. However this pasta dish was one of many saltiest plates of meals I’ve eaten in years, so salty that I got here near breaking my very own rule about not sending meals again once I’m engaged on a overview.

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Much less excessive, however nonetheless a bit too savory, was the rigatoni Bolognese produced from a {custom} grind of cured pork merchandise and grass-fed, grass-finished beef from North Carolina ($24). Maybe it was the bitter harmonic flavors from sautéed dandelion greens (from Dandelion Spring Farms, naturally), or maybe the sensible methodology of ending the dish with scalded milk that mellowed out the salt, however the equilibrium on this dish was touch-and-go.

Put these points to the facet for a second. There are three phrases to clarify why I’ve complete confidence that Leeward’s crew will appropriate lingering seasoning points as quickly as they learn this: Amaro Sfumato Rabarbaro.

A gruff, natural liqueur from the Trentino-Alto Adige area of Northern Italy, “Sfumato” is infamous for stealing the highlight in any drink or recipe the place it’s used. Its unsubtle, smoky taste comes from charred stalks of rhubarb, and when this amaro is deployed within the slightest extra, it may well make a cocktail style prefer it’s being served in an outdated firefighter’s helmet. I’ve solely ever been capable of make it work once I add Sfumato drop-by-drop to a drink.

Chef and co-owner of Leeward Jake Stevens tops spaghettini pomodoro with olive oil earlier than sending it out to a desk. Brianna Soukup/Workers Photographer

At Leeward, bar supervisor Paige Buehrer mixes Sfumato into the Italian on Vacation cocktail ($12) together with pineapple juice, lime and Angostura amaro. Once I inquired about portions used on this phenomenal and nuanced daiquiri-like concoction, I anticipated to listen to “a splash” or “1/8 oz.,” however not a full jigger of Sfumato.

“You’re kidding me!” I stated. “Nope. It’s a full ounce,” Raquel Stevens informed me. As we each sang Buehrer’s praises, she added, “I personally assume it’s the pineapple juice that does one thing magical to carry the drink.”

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She’s proper. That clear, tacit understanding of components and steadiness is why I’m sure that Leeward will attain its full potential, despite the fact that it’s not fairly there but. On sheer expertise and perseverance alone, the restaurant, which was open for just some days earlier than the pandemic shut it down, survived two pandemic years. It’s simple to image what success simpler instances will convey. You get the sense that, similar to the vintage elevator behind its partitions, Leeward is on a trajectory that solely leads up.

Andrew Ross has written about meals and eating in New York and the UK. He and his work have been featured on Martha Stewart Residing Radio and in The New York Instances. He’s the recipient of 5 latest Critic’s Awards from the Maine Press Affiliation.

Contact him at: [email protected]

Twitter: @AndrewRossME

RATING: ***1/2

WHERE: 85 Free St., Portland. 207-808-8623. leewardmaine.com

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SERVING: Tuesday to Saturday, 5 – 9 p.m.

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers: $9-$22; Pasta and entrees: $22-$37

NOISE LEVEL: Muffled teen sleepover

VEGETARIAN: Many dishes

GLUTEN-FREE: Some dishes

RESERVATIONS: Strongly really useful

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BAR: Beer, wine and cocktails

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Sure

BOTTOM LINE: Conceptually, Leeward suits proper in with its fellow finalists for this yr’s James Beard Basis Award for Greatest New Restaurant. Chef Jake Stevens’ pasta-centric, eclectic Italian menu has some over-seasoning kinks to work out, however the kitchen’s strengths are on full show in dishes like sticky pork ribs sprinkled with nutty toasted flax seeds and a creamier tackle Inexperienced Goddess dressing that I’d fortunately eat on any vegetable … even perhaps rooster and fish. Cocktails and reasonably priced wines (most bottles clock in at across the mid-$50s) are additionally must-try gadgets, particularly the smoky, but phenomenally balanced Italian on Vacation. Entrance-of-house supervisor Raquel Stevens leads the bar crew in addition to the pleasant, educated servers who appear to like the place as a lot as locals and vacationers do. “I’d come right here on my day without work if I may,” one server informed me whereas depositing a plate of pillowy rosemary focaccia at my desk. “That is my favourite place on the planet.”

Rankings observe this scale and think about meals, environment, service and worth and kind of restaurant (an informal bistro can be judged as an informal bistro, an costly upscale restaurant as such): * Poor ** Honest *** Good **** Glorious ***** Extraordinary. The Maine Sunday Telegram visits every restaurant as soon as; if the primary meal was unsatisfactory, the reviewer returns for a second. The reviewer makes each try to dine anonymously.

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