Street & Co.

I try to avoid restaurant reviews because they seem so fleeting and I find it strange photographing my meal, lol (though I will confess TB is revising my opinion of pictures – I took more pictures of Maine this weekend then I did during the ten years I lived here!). However, Street & Company was one of our favorite restaurants in Old Port fifteen years ago and after dining here tonight it passes the resiliency test.

There are probably newer and trendier restaurants around, but if you are searching for a first class meal in Portland I doubt this would disappoint. Street & Company is set in an old brick building on Wharf Street (a delightful cobblestone pathway which gets closed to auto traffic at dusk). Spread across three rooms, the middle section features the open kitchen and I have always been amazed watching the chefs expediently dispatching orders amidst belches of flame. The first room you enter is a classy wine bar and the third is another dining area.

Seafood is obviously a primary ingredient, typically co-mingled with a variety of pastas and local ingredients (such as goat cheese). The wait staff remains very young, I suspect they are mostly local college students, and extremely proficient and friendly. It was a bit odd eating here solo tonight, but it felt like coming home so I felt like an old hand despite not knowing a soul.

Reinforcing my confidence that this review will not get stale in a month or two, I was delighted to see their spicy Frau Diavolo still featured. Unfortunately this lobster extravaganza is a two-person serving so I had to pass, but here’s what I savored: lentil soup with (local) sausage, followed by an absolutely amazing salad of peppers, onions and salt cod (tastes like pickled herring) and an entrée of shrimp with garlic and tomatoes over angel hair pasta. Did I mention the amazing fresh baked bread they serve? Just an incredibly edible destination in Old Port!

They also have a very hip web site, check it out --- http://www.streetandcompany.net/home