Monday, March 17, 2008
Reality Bites
Best Restaurant: Fore Street 78, Olive garden 67
Best Cheap Eats: McDonald's 65, Becky’s Diner 57
Best Lobster Roll: Lobster Shack 134, Red’s Eats 82
Best Coffee: Dunkin Donuts 547, Starbucks 119
Best Bakery: Standard 80, Foley’s 71 (now closed according to PortlandPsst!
Best Pizza: Portland House of Pizza 216, Ricetta's 136, Portland Pie Company 125
Now I am not a holier-than-thou kind of person. I shamefully admit to eating occasional two cheeseburger meals from the drive-thru. And I can’t lie and say as I kid I didn’t enjoy the endless breadsticks and salad at the Olive Garden by the mall in South Portland. But, I am still shocked by the publicly acknowledged preference for these chains by people lucky enough to live in a food mecca such as Portland. What it says to me is that Maine still has a long way to go in terms of making all our great, local food accessible to everyone. And not only accessible but desired and affordable.
Posted on Monday, March 17, 2008 in Permalink
Views expressed in this blog belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect either Down East's editorial stance or the views of Down East Enterprise. We ask that comments be civil; anyone who refuses to self edit runs the risk of being banned from commenting on Down East.com content.
Reader Comments:
Take heart, Ms. Mouth: These results say far less about preferences of the average Mainer than they reveal about the readership of the PPH.
A mere handful of respondents (less than 200 for any single category) does not a comprehensive list make. Thankfully, someone at the PPH decided to show how many people responded to the survey, which puts the survey results in perspective.
Now, chin up, and make reservations for Primo in Owls Head for fresh Maine fare done right! (It reopens in April, I think — get thee on the list)
Oh there I think you're wrong Anonymous. I think if we had polled every single Portlander or Mainer the results would have been even more heavily in favor of the chains. When it comes right down to it, most people place a high priority on value (which they define as quantity of OK food per $) rather than quality when making food purchases.
It's a minority, and I'm solidly among them, that would rather spend $2.50 for an apricot gallette at Standard Baking instead of getting 2.5 donuts at Dunkin.
These yearly polls have lost their zing recently as the tired Ray Routhier has made them smaller and smaller ....results each year and comments are tedious and repetitive.
HELP! ...looking to purchase coffee from Maine and need advise as to which is best. There are several micro coffee roasters in Maine and perhaps you other readers could recommend one (or more).
thanks very much
Rock City Roasters, Rockland. Fine coffee — and Jet really is rocketfuel. Rock City's organic morning blends have just enough kick and low acidity...