Meat loaf panini with onion relish and cheddar, Maine sun choke soup with bacon, gorgonzola accompanied by fig jam on brioche toast—where are we? At DuckFat, of course.

I’ve been both excited and skeptical about the new Duck Fat, the latest dining venture to slip into downtown Portland. It’s brought to us by Chef Rob Evans and his partner Nancy Pugh, the brains and brawn behind the ever fabulous Hugo’s

I went there for lunch today and enjoyed a delicious if not exotic meal. Don’t misunderstand. I mean this in a good way. This could a winner for many reasons. I’ve only sampled a few of the dishes, so perhaps it’s too early to offer ironclad opinions. But this much I know. There’s no other lunch menu like this anywhere in Portland, and there’s no other chef of such brilliance and competence around anywhere—at least in our part of the world--who’d dare to open up what is basically a panini shop and food to go.

You sit at bar tables on very comfortable stools, or you can walk in and take out. I expect the neighboring office pool will become firm followers of this unusual eatery.

Look at some of these sandwich/panini combinations: Duck confit with peppered Boursin cheese and sour-cherry chutney; smoked turkey with gruyere and avocado; pulled pork with apple-mustard compote and Muenster cheese; Caldwell Farm’s Maine meatloaf with aged Vermont cheddar, tomatoes and charred onion relish.

The sandwich is made with delicious focacia that’s grilled so that it’s extremely crispy, as rich as the most buttery pastry.

There are also soups, salads, homemade milk shakes, homemade sodas like sassafras root beer and gingerbrew.

You can also have a cheese plate served with a fruit panini. I tried a wedge of gorgonzola accompanied by two buttery slices of brioche toast filled with fig jam. It was the perfect accompaniment. With the sun choke soup as my main course, it was a great lunch.

A friend who joined me had the meatloaf. I tasted it, and it’s the best I’ve had outside of my own. In fact, it was better. He had a milkshake, which he nearly inhaled at once, it was that good. I tried the gingerbrew soda. Wonderful

What we didn’t try were the Belgian French fries. I’ll save that for my next visit. But this is diet week, so I’m trying to go light. There’s also, dessert beignets and lots of other combinations that sound intriguing.

When we left I thought, we're pretty darn lucky to have a world-class chef who's taken the time to serve us lunch.

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