Blue heaven

Munjoy Hill eatery feels like home after a busy summer

By Avery Yale Kamila

2007-10-02

Dining at the Blue Spoon was like coming home. After a summer spent eating everywhere but our un-airconditioned kitchen — weddings, parties, out-of-town restaurants, hot new Portland spots and favorites within a few blocks of our Bayside house — I remembered the many fine meals we’d enjoyed in this tiny dining room. It’s a pleasure that had been snatched from my mind in the whirl that is summer in Maine.

Adam and I used to walk over to the Blue Spoon all the time when we lived on the Hill. (We even based the paint color in our current living room on the cheerful yellow color of its walls.) Now that we live intown, and don’t pass it on our daily comings-and-goings, we’re forced to rely on sensory memories of past deliciousness to point us to the top of Congress Street.

Thankfully these memories recently floated to the surface.

Inside on a Friday night, we were offered our choice of open tables. They don’t take reservations for parties of less than six, so if you don’t want to wait (sometimes for up to an hour) the best advice is to get there when they open at 5 p.m. By 5:30 every seat in the house was taken.

After we were seated and served a terra cotta flower pot filled with moist bread and a saucer of olive oil, we ordered a glass of Gazela vinho verde ($5) and a Stella Artois ($3). The wine list (all by the glass) and changing menu are very approachable. The food’s separated into apps, salads and entrees and reads like an artistic reinterpretation of the bounty we’d see at the farmers’ market the next morning.

All the bases are covered at this restaurant — seafood, chicken, game, beef, vegetarian, vegan. We finally settled on two orders of “the salad” ($6) to start.

A tangy dressing balanced the earthy goodness of the almonds, apples, red onions and mixed greens in this yummy start to the meal. We followed this up with the stuffed squash ($15) for me and the duck breast ($18) for Adam. The duck was juicy and tender and perfectly paired with a whole mustard seed sauce, rainbow chard and cooked rings of winter squash. The rainbow chard was sautéed with thinly sliced garlic, filling it with flavor.

The stripped delicata squash, cut lengthwise, took center stage in my meal. It came stuffed with a savory mix of golden raisins, apples, almonds, onions and rice that embodied the season. Peeking out from below was a nicely salted bed of sautéed spinach.

We both enjoyed a hearty autumn meal and vowed to not stay away so long. But just like home, we know the good folks at the Blue Spoon will be there to welcome us with excellent food no matter how long it’s been since they’ve seen us.