9/4/09 Best at Bresca: Artisinal Italian in Portland Me.

[opinionatedchef]

We travel through handsome Portland 2-3 times a year and , after a number of tries,we have decided that we are not Fore St or Hugo's fans(the former's food has just never wowed us and the latter's is lovely but way too Precious in attitude, portions and $$$$). The last 2 yrs we have been fortunate enough to dine at the tiny 15 seat Bresca on Middle St. Last night we lucked into a 5:30 spot. It's a tiny place with a tiny menu but what most people don't know (I would guess) is that the devoted owner/chef puts out all this food w/ only one assistant. Now THAT is hard work. And she is a very serious 'artisinal' chef. For me, that means that almost every component is hand made. Artisinal= Labour of Love.

Of our 5 dishes, three were superior . The 'toc' is a rustic ,filling ,peasant dish turned into a svelte summer beauty. A pool of soft smoked ricotta polenta is topped with a paper thin slice of 'lardo' (think unctuous pork belly/bacon fat) and toothsome trumpet mushrooms.
Please Sir, a big peasant portion of this before I die. Krista also smokes her own quail
and it is served on a pool of corn puree/cream. The brilliance of the dish is in the details-the savory smoke and slight sweet are punctuated by gooseberries and a pool edge of scallion chive oil. The genius is that every component is necessary for the combined impact and any added element would ruin the balance. In my 30 years of dining I have very very rarely encountered a dish of this perfection. So for this reason, and because the two unsuccessful dishes of the evening- were not ordered by me, I could overlook the way -too- sweet and one-note honey sauce on the lovely rare duck entree and the appetizer of boring egg and kale on the amazing but tiny polenta pool.(This dish has caused epiphanies in others.)

Now, onto the incredulous meal end. I rarely order dessert. In my opinion, dessert is the most difficult course in which to find creative brilliance.( In this sense, I liken Desserts in restaurants to Comedies in films.) Much like Renee Zelweger said to Jerry Maguire, "You had me at 'Hello' ", the waitress had me at her opening words, "bananas marinated in Spanish sherry". I just intuited that I would never hear those words again. Completely Original. But there's much more. Said bananas were sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts, then topped by a paper thin olive oil crostini with a dab of chocolate hazelnut puree, and craime fraiche ice cream(my requested substitute for the vanilla ice cream.) At table, the waitress poured a bittersweet chocolate soup around this composition. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!

So 'Chapeaux' ('hat's off' in French) to Krista and her flashes of genius. In our world of culinary 'competence' (forgotten by the next day) may her unique brilliance burn ever steadier.