Yosaku Japanese Restaurant (Portland, Maine)

On Saturday, Bret and I continued the birthday weekend celebrations.  After fueling up on a hearty breakfast of veggie omelettes, spiced potatoes and fruit at the Chadwick Bed and Breakfast, Bret and I headed out to Freeport to go shopping for the day.  Bret, like most men, dislikes shopping.  I, on the other hand, love it - even if it is just to browse instead of really buy!  In all of our many trips to Maine, we have never once stopped at the outlets and for my birthday, Bret treated me to a day of shopping at the Freeport outlets.  We started out at L.L. Bean and of course took a few touristy photos. 

But after that, we were down to business and Bret patiently shopped with me for about four hours and treated me to a lot of new clothes!  I seriously am a lucky gal.  We broke up our day of shopping and met our good friends Tonya and Alan (who live in Boothbay) for lunch at the Broad Arrow Tavern.  It was great to catch up with them one last time before their baby (which is due the day before Super Bowl Sunday) hopefully arrives!

By the time we got back to the bed and breakfast, Bret and I were both pooped.  We made ourselves some tea and split a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie.  And then we simply relaxed.  I caught up on some blogs and wrote a few blog posts myself, while Bret watched football and napped.  It was absolutely wonderful to have all the time in the world and nowhere to rush off to.  Eventually, we got hungry and decided to venture out for some dinner.  Since we had such a huge hearty meal the night before at Fore Street, we decided to have something lighter for dinner - sushi!  At the recommendation of the owner of the bed and breakfast, we headed out to Yosaku Japanese Restaurant.

Yosaku is a small restaurant that hosts a sushi bar, dining room, and an area with traditional Asian dining tables that require sitting on the floor.  Although Bret and I would have loved the more traditional Asian dining experience, we thought that taking off our wet dirty boots would have been too much of a hassle and we opted for the dining room.

Bret and I first started out with some Sapporo beer - a little guy for me and a tall boy for Bret.

We received two bowls of complimentary miso soup to start our meal.  It was the perfect way to warm up from the cold temperatures outside!

Bret and I started out with two appetizers.  The first was sticky broiled black cod in a glazed miso sauce.  This fish was so rich and flaky.  Bret and I both wished that we could have more of this delicious fish!

We also ordered one of our favorite dishes - agedashi tofu in a miso broth.  Typically agedashi tofu comes with a crispier texture outside and this dish was sadly lacking that.  I guess I'll just have to stick to my marinated baked tofu for a nice crispy texture.

Even though some of the warmer udon entrees were tempting, Bret and I decided to order from the sushi menu.  We ordered a bunch of different types of sashimi, including umachi (yellowtail), toro (fatty tuna), wasabi tobiko (wasabi infused flying fish roe), sake (salmon), and saba (mackerel).  The fish, particularly the salmon and fatty tuna, were so fresh that they tasted almost buttery in texture.

We also ordered lnari (sweet tofu) and quail eggs - sashimi style.  The quail eggs certainly garnered interest from our neighboring table as we ate them shooter style!

Bret and I couldn't resist ordering one roll so we opted with the Rainbow Roll to have a nice variety of seafood (shrimp, whitefish, tuna, mackerel, tobiko, tuna and avocado).

The sushi and sashimi really hit the spot.  We were happy we stuck mostly with sashimi to avoid filling up on all of the rice in a maki roll.  But we weren't stuffed enough that we didn't order dessert!  I introduced Bret to his first taste of mochi ice cream.  This dessert is simple - mochi (a doughy rice cake exterior) filled with ice cream.  We got to choose our flavors and we opted for one strawberry and one red bean paste.  This was a rare treat for me growing up so I couldn't resist ordering them.  Bret, much to his surprise, really enjoyed them!

Yosaku didn't have any fancy presentations but it was probably some of the best sushi I've had in awhile.  The fish was fresh as it is to be expected in Portland.  The service was warm and attentive.  And this meal fulfilled our sushi craving that evening.

Yosaku Japanese Restaurant is located at 1 Danforth Street, Portland, Maine.

Birthday Celebration at Fore Street

Before I get into this blog post, I wanted thank you all for the kind birthday wishes!  I felt so loved on Friday with all of the supportive and sweet comments on my 30 by 30 list.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

For my birthday, Bret took me up to Portland for a wonderful birthday weekend.  We stayed at the Chadwick Bed and Breakfast.  Bret's sister got us a gift certificate for this place for an engagement gift and we thought this weekend was the perfect weekend to use it.  When we arrived, I was happy to discover that Bret had a beautiful present waiting for me in our room!

After relaxing for a bit, we headed downtown to do some shopping at a few of our favorite Portland spots - Dean's Sweets, Shipyard Brewing Company, Stonewall Kitchen and LeRoux Kitchen.  We got lots of goodies at each place and some of these ingredients will be making an appearance in our kitchen soon!  After dropping off our purchases in the car, we still had an hour and a half to kill before our dinner reservation at Fore Street.  We decided to see if we could grab a spot in Fore Street's bar and lounge area before dinner and we were surprisingly able to score some comfortable seats in the lounge with no trouble at all!

Since it was a celebration, I decided to start with a cold glass of Prosecco while Bret opted for a warmer Cotes du Rhone.

Since we had some time to kill and were hungry, we decided to order an appetizer to go with our wine.  I've heard multiple rave reviews for their mussels and I really wanted to order them.  Since Bret isn't the biggest fan of shellfish, I hesitated but he ordered the wood-roasted mussels and actually ate his share of them!  The mussels were so plump and juicy and the white wine and shallot sauce added so much flavor.

Even though we've been low-carb this month, we couldn't resist and split a piece of bread from the bread basket to sop up the white wine sauce.  The bread comes straight from Standard Baking Co. downstairs and it was light and soft in the middle with a nice thick chewy crust on the outside.

By the time we finished up our mussels and ordered a second glass of wine (malbec for me and merlot for Bret), our table was ready and we were directed to our table.  I absolutely loved the exposed brick and open warehouse aesthetic of Fore Street and the huge open kitchen was full of activity.

Since we already ordered our appetizer, we went straight for our entrees.  I ordered the half Peking duck, which had a wonderfully crispy skin and tender meat.  This came with a side of glazed carrots and wilted greens.  The portions were huge and I couldn't do more than eat a quarter of it (although Bret eagerly helped me by digging into the drumstick).

Bret ordered a rabbit dish, which also had a huge serving of rabbit meat, along with the most delicious raviolis filled with foie gras, sage and porcinis.  These raviolis were so decadent and I was lucky that Bret was generous enough to share!

We also ordered a side dish of cider-braised turnips.  Bret and I are both big fans of turnips and I loved this preparation.  I know that I will totally attempt to recreate this side dish in my kitchen this winter!

Although I barely made a dent in my duck, I did make room for dessert.  There were a lot of great options to choose from and Bret let me choose.  I went with the tangy goat cheese cheesecake topped with spiced cranberries and candied orange peel with a not-too-sweet burnt orange sauce.  This dessert was so decadent and so rich.  I couldn't help but groan with pleasure at my first bite.

We had such a lovely warm meal at Fore Street and the restaurant lived well up to its reputation as one of the best dining destinations in Portland.  This hearty meal kept us warm as the temperatures quickly dropped outside.  Since we go to Portland several times a year, I hope to visit Fore Street again in warmer temperatures to check out their seasonal menus.

Fore Street is located at 288 Fore Street, Portland, Maine.