Saturday Morning Grocery Mile in Portland, Maine

By Frederick Bever

For seafood, and any food, really, Portland is a great place to visit and an even better place to live. Amongst the city waterfront’s crowd of 19th- and early 20th-century brick buildings, there’s a remarkably dense concentration of restaurants, watering holes, breweries, bakeries, coffee roasters, groceries ranging from Asian to Latin to Italian, even a mead factory. In the cobblestoned Old Port you can find the august heroes of the city’s 1990’s gustatory revolution, Fore Street and Hugo's, joined by more recent standouts...

Explore Portland's Most Daring Dinner at the Newly Reopened Hugo's

By Will Bleakley

...Inside, couples carry on hushed conversations while observing the chefs in the open kitchen and taking long moments to savor each course. The leather booths, lounge music, and wooden bar, made from a 160-year-old red birch tree scooped from the bottom of Moosehead Lake, create a warmer and more personal atmosphere. It’s less about meeting up with friends than it is about having time to comfortably relish one of the best meals in the entire state.

The Top 10 Iconic American Restaurants

By David Foxley

Since opening in 1988, Hugo's, situated at he top of Portland's Old Port district, has evolved from its humble Irish-pub roots. Today, Hugo's is a nationally acclaimed culinary destination known for New England-style dishes with a refined approach: cornmeal-crusted soft-shell lobster; local pheasant with polenta, turnips and shiitake; rabbit salad. "There's a sense of community here", says Andrew Taylor, a co-owner and chef. 'The people who work here love their jobs, and their love of the food and their energy comes across to the guests."

Portland, Me.: Locavore in Menu and Décor

By Suzanne MacNeille

The streets were empty on a Monday night, but Hugo’s, a sleek, lounge-like restaurant at the edge of the Old Port district, was filled — not only with diners intent on their delicate assemblages of, say, braised daikons with summer kimchi, but also with the dozen or so servers and food preparers who take center stage in the bright open kitchen that faces the bar.

No. 2 Top Restaurant in New England

By Steve Plotnicki

Portland, Maine, is the last place one expects to find progressive cooking. But that's what Rob Evans, a self-taught chef who originally trained to be an electrician, serves his customers, many of whom have traveled from out of state to eat there. In addition to a terrific in-house charcuterie program that is lorded over by executive chef Andrew Taylor, the daily menu features 15 different offerings, including creations like cornmeal-crusted soft-shell lobster with creamed corn gazpacho, foraged mushrooms, leeks and marjoram; confit of foie gras topped with salted and pickled cherries; and slow-cooked and honey-glazed Luce Farms pork belly with cabbage, apple, onion relish and charred rosemary. Even the desserts, like the house vanilla sundae with "usual and unusual toppings," get into the progressive act.

The New Tastes of New England

By Jonathan Levitt

If chefs like Wiley have their way, fine dining menus, with their unlimited year-round fresh produce and expensive cuts of meat, will soon be replaced by a cuisine that is a more specific expression of New England’s seasons, landscape, and culture.

Hugo's Restaurant

By Joe Ricchio

"The purchase of Hugo's was, for us, about as turn-key as one could possibly imagine. We have basically been running the restaurant for two years now, so there is really no change outside of the actual ownership itself."

This is front-of-house manager turned owner Arlin Smith, when questioned about his recent acquisition of the iconic Portland restaurant. Both of his business partners in this venture, chefs Andrew Taylor and Michael Wiley, wholeheartedly agree.