This little up-scale, take-out restaurant is an intimate space perfect for a business lunch, casual dinner or watering hole hangout (it serves bottled beer, beer on tap and wine). Two outdoor tables hug the screen door entrance and inside is an “Order Here” bar. (Since I thought we were going to a restaurant with waitstaff and over-priced food, I was surprised to find the take-out bar and immediately skeptical of the food.)
The atmosphere calmed me — contemporary reds with bar seating along an exposed brick wall and with a steel plate above the table top holding a word salad of magnetic poetry. (Really, who isn’t won over by magnetic poetry?) There were two tables for window seating (already taken) and a few other spots around the kitchen.
We ordered poutine (Belgian French fries cooked in duck fat, with duck gravy and cheese curd) to share, reuben and duck confit sandwiches (all are on panini bread) and beignets (the most savory doughnut hole you’ll ever eat — but don’t call them holes!). We also tried the homemade sodas: I got strawberry mint (which needed to be stirred before every sip) and Johnnie got ginger brew. We both loved them except that the cups were overflowing and spilled all over our clothes.
The presentation of our food was clean and classy — sandwiches were served on rectangular wooden plates above a sheet of waxed paper, and fries and beignets were served in paper cones with mini forks. The reuben was good, and probably the first one that didn’t fall into my lap. I didn’t care so much for the panini bread for a rueben, but it was fantastic with the duck confit sandwich, a hit with the chef boyfriend, who said it was a smooth combination of blueberry chutney, boursin, duck and rosemary. The poutine (oh, mercy) was so tasty I would have sold my soul at the potato crossroads for a second helping. With just about everything on the menu homemade (including truffle ketchup and four different mayos), Duckfat’s attention to detail and passion for culinary art wasn’t lost on us.
Although my stomach got a little wacky after my first duck fat experience, I’m going back to try everything on the menu — including the $5 milkshake (out of cinematic principle, of course). After a few visits my sensitive stomach will adjust, right? Plus, I was satiated for a whopping eight hours — a near impossibility for someone who’s starving after three hours without a snack.
Duckfat is located at 43 Middle Street in Portland and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 774-8080 or go to www.duckfat.com.