Hey, I’ve Been There!

Earlier this year, my friend Matt opened a new restaurant in Portland, ME. How is that in any way relevant to this blog, you ask? Well, the restaurant just happens to have been featured on the Travel Channel’s ‘Man v. Food’ this week, and the host gave it a rave endorsement. Cool! Still wondering why you should care? Let these three words sink in for a moment: Tempura Fried Bacon. Here are some more words to go with that: drizzled in honey and hazelnuts… Uh huh, yeah, I really just said that. Now do I have your attention?

The restaurant, Nosh Kitchen Bar, has a menu of what might be called upscale comfort food. Perhaps a better word to describe it might be “Gluttonous.” Really, check out the menu. Items of note include the Pig Belly Reuben, Bacon Dusted Fries, Fried Cheese Curds, and of course their signature Tempura Bacon. Pork features prominently in a lot of what they do. And we’re not talking pre-packaged bacon strips from the local supermarket. All meats are cured on the premises. This is rich, rich, calorie-packed and artery-clogging food. And it is GOOD.

‘Man v. Food’ host Adam Richman is known for his love of foodie challenges. Give him a giant, daunting plate of food, and he digs right in. Nosh put his gastronomic skills to the test with the Apocalypse Now Burger – four (FOUR!!!) beef patties each mixed with seared pork belly, topped by American cheese, thick slabs of cured bacon, foie gras, and a special house mayo. Yowzah! (Don’t worry, normal people, you can order it with just a single patty too.) Richman gave it a big thumbs-up.

I’m not going to pretend that this is the sort of food you’ll want to eat every day and still expect to live a long, healthy life. This is a special occasion treat. But it’s a really, really good treat.

Check out the ‘Portland (Maine)’ episode of ‘Man v. Food’ for a look. Matt himself doesn’t appear on camera, though. He left that duty to his co-owner.

8 comments

  1. Haha! I got really excited seeing that title until I found out it was Portland, ME your writing about. I live in Portland, OR which they have already done a Man Vs. Food episode here. Maybe you should change the title to Portland, ME to avoid confusion since now that there’s two different Portland episodes. It sounds like a good episode though.

  2. Saw this last night…my wife and i can’t wait to go the next time we’re back in new england. Love this show; only wish it were produced in HD (or maybe it’s just DirecTV being jerks like they are with AMC).

  3. hey Josh thanks for the ringing endorsement! it was great to see elizebeth and the girls a couple weeks back. hope to see u up here soon…the bacon is on me!!

  4. besch64

    Man vs Food came to Rutgers last year to do the Grease Truck challenge, and my friend got on the show. He asked a question at the end of the episode. It was very exciting.

    The Grease Trucks here at Rutgers sell things call “fat sandwiches,” which are sandwiches on sub rolls topped with cheesesteak, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, french fries, bacon, and stuff like that. Maxim magazine named them #1 sandwich in the country in a contest a few years ago, and they’re nationally famous. Somebody here might have even heard of them. Anyway, the challenge is to eat six of them and then you get to name a new one after yourself. He failed.

  5. Sounds absolutely fantastic – I have so many places I want to try in Portland ME though that a roadtrip would have to be an all day event, then I’d still miss a bunch of eateries worth trying. What to do!?!?
    Nosh Kitchen bar for lunch, Domillo’s Floating Restaurant for supper, yeah that’s it!

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