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The elegance and distinctiveness of Chef Erik Desjarlais' Evangeline menu has attracted the attention of critics and diners alike since the day the restaurant opened in April 2008.
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By Tom Sietsema
April 18, 2008
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To Dine For > New Restaurants
Fresh Acts
Evangeline whisks me to France. Its broad window, decorated with a gold leaf stencil of a pig, fuels the feeling. So, too, do the tiny black-and-white tiles, candle lights and bistro posters. More than anything, though, the menu of this fledgling restaurant in Portland, Maine, puts me in mind of a place that isn't afraid to serve calves' brains as one of its signatures.
You don't have to worship pork to dine here, but an affection for it helps. "The hog gives us a lot of gifts," says Erik Desjarlais, the 32-year-old chef and owner of the intimate restaurant, which takes its name from a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I caught up with Desjarlais shortly after he and his sous-chef had returned from a nearby farm, where they spent a day butchering a hog, the many parts of which would eventually go into braises, terrines and sausages.
Warm cheese puffs launch dinner. Tender snails in a buttery broth and vichyssoise enriched with local peekytoe crab make fine segues to the main courses. Every night is delicious, but the best bargain comes on Monday, when the chef and his crew prepare three courses of "whatever we feel like cooking" for a mere $28, says Desjarlais. The deal brings in lots of neighbors and cooks from other restaurants that are dark that night.
Like a lot of restaurant owners, Desjarlais dislikes cell phones in his dining room. But he lets his guests know that with a wink rather than a warning: Use of a cell phone, he tells you on the menu, "causes the stove to malfunction."
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