Squid Eats: Central Provisions

Exotic Fruit Salad

Central Provisions is a small plates restaurant in Portland, Maine.  We went on the first night of our recent trip to the small, coastal city.  We ordered Bread + Butter (fancier than it sounds - more on that in a bit), Exotic Fruit Salad, Bone Marrow Toast, Duck L'Orange and a half-dozen oysters.  Everything was very good.  I wish to stress that before I launch into my micro-gripes.  Service was excellent, too - both friendly and knowledgeable.  Central Provisions has an impressive allergy-coded menu, something I've never seen before.  Typical allergens are listed for each dish.  Any ingredient in red ink is essential to the dish and cannot be omitted.  Anything in green can.  It's a clever system, one I hope catches on with other restaurants.

Duck L'Orange

Central Provisions (CP) was our most expensive meal in Portland.  It was not our best.  During this trip, I thought a lot about how restaurants add value (cost) to their dishes.  Which choices genuinely enhance quality?  Which merely increase price?  

Case in point, the Bread + Butter.  It's not just any old butter.  CP serves sourdough on a spread of bright yellow uni saboyon and green, speckled nori butter.  Eye-catching?  Certainly.  Tasty?  Sure.  But actually better than a high quality whipped, fresh cow's milk butter?  No.

Bone Marrow Toast

Or the Bone Marrow Toast.  We've gotten bone marrow on dishes at other restaurant and they can be quite lovely, the high fat content providing dazzling mouth feel as well as rich flavor.  CP's dish was essentially cheesy bread that could have been just as satisfying without the bone marrow.

High quality ingredients are important, to be sure.  But I would prefer a restaurant let relatively simple elements speak for themselves rather than invest in the exotic.  So again, it was a nice meal - just not our best.  For the price, I would have wanted it to be the best.