Snow and freezing rain couldn’t keep the more than 400 guests away from Monday night’s kickoff party to Maine Restaurant Week. The Signature Event Cocktail & Dessert Competition served up more than a dozen drinks and sweets from the area’s leading bars and restaurants.
The party was held inside the fabulous and mysterious confines of Portland’s Masonic Temple. I’m sure the mystique of the Freemasons fraternity was part of the draw. Guests admired the temple’s soaring ceilings, original decorative painting and finest quality millwork. Festivities took place in the Commandery Knights Templar Armory Room and the Scottish Rite Reading Room.
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With any luck, we’ll see more events similar to this one take advantage of this amazing space.
“Our intention is to open the building for greater public use,” Robert Kahn, the chairman of the Masonic Trustees of Portland, told me. “It could be used for weddings and other events like this. We need to save the building after years of deferred maintenance. We want to raise money by having events like this.”
Party guests were wowed by the opulent building, which was built in 1911 and hides in plain sight on Congress Street.
“This is such a cool venue,” Rebecca Daigle told me, prompting her friend Karla McMahon to say, “I never even knew it was here.”
And while lots of people had positive things to say about the building, what everyone wanted to talk about were the desserts and the cocktails.
“Tulips are great,” Karen Ray of Falmouth told me about the bakery’s cupcakes. “They’re all organic.”
Jed Rathband agreed, saying, “My friend Stephanie (O’Neil’s) cupcakes were the best.” Rathband is running for mayor of Portland, and like any savvy politician, he spread the love around, adding that he also enjoyed the dark and white chocolate raspberry cake from Katie Made Bakery.
“Walter’s Kitt Katt was phenomenal,” Daigle told me. “Because I’m a caramel freak.”
Angela Wing concurred, saying, “The Kitt Katt was really decadent.”
And so did Charly Duley, who hosts “Dining with the Duleys” on WMPG radio with her husband, Joe Duley, each Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
“Walter’s dessert with the salted caramel,” Duley said when I asked for her favorites. “And the Tulips cupcakes are really good, too.”
Kyle J. Norris had a different favorite.
“I don’t think you can beat the Cream Stout from The Salt Exchange,” Norris told me. “Any dessert with bacon and stout in it gets my vote.”
In the end when the People’s Choice votes were tallied, Walter’s Kitt Katt bar with sea salted caramel created by pastry chef Anthony R. Scherrer took top honors.
Along with the People’s Choice award, the party also featured a panel of experts who judged five entries in the Art of Dessert competition. Maine native and “Top Chef Just Desserts” star Zac Young attracted a lot of attention in his role as a judge, with many fans coming up and wanting to meet him and take a photo. The other equally impressive judges were Portland Press Herald food writer Meredith Goad and cookbook authors Kathy Gunst and Dana Moos.
In the end, the judges pronounced The Salt Exchange pastry chef Patrick Tubbs’ Cream Stout gingerbread with smoked sea salt and bourbon caramel, black pepper, vanilla ice cream, candied bacon and cinnamon tulle the winner.
“It’s nice to be on the other side of the table,” Young told me. “In some ways, being on the show gave me a more critical eye, and in other ways, it made me a lot more understanding. So I forgave a lot of mistakes because I know how they happen.”
Back on the tasting floor, everyone had an opinion about the cocktails on offer.
“The pear martini from The Salt Exchange was really smooth,” Jonathan Dunitz said to me. “You can’t even tell there’s alcohol in it. It’s good, but maybe a little bit dangerous.”
Joy Engel told me, “Sonny’s cocktail is amazing. It’s the one to beat.”
Robin Morse preferred a drink she’d had before.
“One time I was at the Grill Room and I told (bartender) John Myers to surprise me,” she said. “And he made me the Touchable. It’s great.”
Terez Fraser had trouble picking just one cocktail to love, telling me that “David’s and the Sage Against the Machine are the best drinks.”
Bobby McAuliffe agreed that the Sage Against the Machine created by Academe Brasserie at The Kennebunk Inn was an impressive drink.
“It was a very interesting blend of herbal meets fruity,” McAuliffe said.
When Lori Voornas, of Q97.9, presented the results of the People’s Choice cocktail votes, she started with the second runner-up. This prize went to Tom Laslavic of Natalie’s at the Camden Harbor Inn for his House Soda. The first runner-up slot was won by Jay Towle of Brian Boru for his hot ginger and lemon whiskey tea.
But in the end there could only be one top winner, and that honor went to the Sage Against the Machine.
“This is huge,” Brian O’Hea, the chef-owner of The Kennebunk Inn, told me after he and bartender Adrian Trudeau claimed their prize. “We thought we were the underdogs coming up to the big city.”
Maine Restaurant Week, which features almost 100 restaurants across the state offering three-course meals for $20, $30 or $40, runs until March 12. The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram is one of the sponsors of Maine Restaurant Week and the Signature Event.
Even though winners were crowned at the party, Kellie Camire summed up the sentiment of the evening the best when she told me “everything tonight was amazing.”
Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at:
akamila@pressherald.com
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Twitter.com/AveryYaleKamila
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