Actually, the lack of good design and architecture is not due to lack of money...it's more due to a lack of nerve that afflicts almost everyone who finances buildings everywhere in New England...Boston is certainly a financial powerhouse but architecturally it's just as big a snoozeville as Portland, and has been for the same hundred years. And not to take anything away from the Katz firm -- they do good work -- but it's just tasteful and meticulous work, not adventurous in any way...though I guess when no one is doing anything daring, tasteful and meticulous can seem adventurous...

Where IS the nearest felafel stand?? I've had great sandwiches in Boston and Montreal, but since that place on upper Forest Ave. folded, I am looking again.

Style over substance rears its ugly head again.

And Golden would just LOVE to see a rarity (an actual working city waterfront) turned into yuppie condos.

Thank God this isn't Boston. Or New York.

I thought the decor was excellent as well, and our waitress could not have been more sweet or helpful. But I have to take issue with your praise for the tartare. I and my dinner mate - a CIA grad and veteran chef - had it last weekend during our visit there and likened it to eating 85 percent lean groundbeef straight from the package (fatty and no seasoning)
Other than that, the oysters and shrimp were yummy and our pizza was fine.

Stephen--I guess you haven't walked around Boston's financial district and other downtown blocks. It seems to be it's rife with office towers. I'm glad we're not inundated with those in Portland, but the blank facades here though charming get monotonous.

I'll take the monotony, myself. The reason people move here from elsewhere - and don't leave for other places - has to do with the quaintness. Not everyone needs big buildings to feel important ... just wondering, John, have you ever read over your work before posting it? A few sentences in this latest entry were almost unreadable they were so inundated with typos.

let me answer several questions and yes I may have typos but i thought this was a blog not an english class??? boston is a major city and the architexture is just like it should be. stephen must not have been there in the last 10 years. I moved here from boston a couple years ago. It's very eclectic and moderized at the same time. i have been to all the clubs and restuarants and all are unique very unlike portland. Vignolas, cinque terre are refreshing places to dine where you feel like you're having a night out not like the front room and several other where you can't breathe and feel "lucky" to get in. Portland needs to grow up! let the rest of maine be the old maine and lets have one major city! Yes, lets build up the waterfront with restuarants, high end shops and expensive condos i myself cannot afford. its called a city feel. we need it and to those detractors. believe me chante will come embrace it!

"Portland needs to grow up! let the rest of maine be the old maine and lets have one major city! Yes, lets build up the waterfront with restuarants, high end shops and expensive condos i myself cannot afford. its called a city feel. we need it and to those detractors. believe me chante will come embrace it!"

Smartest thing I've ever seen you type on here. I like the way you think.

Here's a solution.

Move somewhere else.

Go back to Boston and New York!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I gotta stick with John on this comment. Although most of the time I do find his comments to be a little stuck up.

When someone wants development in Portland, please stop saying "Just move to Boston. We don't wanna be like Boston".

Stop using Boston! We have nothing similar to them besides a Red Sox minor league team. We are not going to become like Boston, but we could become more like Manchester. We could start making the city improvements of Providence and Hartford.

We already have the crime and the drugs. The homeless, crazy, and the thugs. Why do people have to go crazy when we want something nice here like a new arena or office tower? So, we can build another million dollar home for drug addicts, who most only come to Portland because we offer all these services. But I can't have a new arena because wind tunnels are going to blow over old people at Franklin Towers?

No, you move to another city. I am sick of people who live in Portland complain about city things. "Well, I can't even afford anything intown". Go move to Gorham then. Why do you live in Portland if you don't use the stuff here? There are plenty of McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts in Windham. Go save yourself some tax money and let me have a few glass buildings.

I can't wait to see what white table cloth restaurant is going to open at the new Riverwalk complex next to Ocean Gateway. I don't even care if I can't afford it. This city is great but sometimes you look around and see a lot of crappy people. You need stuff on the higher end to even it out.

Ahhhhh.

People have differing opinions on what makes a city great. Some would say what makes a city great is a certain amount of "realness" to it. A place where people from all walks of life are able to live, work, and play.

Erecting a 20 story glass-paned building does not make a city great. Destroying the waterfront so that a priveleged few can have views of the water doesn't make a city great.

If these are the types of shallow things that will make a person happy, there ARE other places to live. Places without culture. Without diversity. Without charm.

Big deal, Boston has some tall buildings. The architecture as a whole is, I'm sorry, quite boring. Government center? A total eyesore if ever there was one. Hancock? Unimaginative. Prudential? Tired and dated. And 95% of the buildings in the precious financial district all look exactly the same.

Tell me again why upscale shops and yuppie condos would make Portland a better city?

Honestly, does everyone here just have a map of Boston? Boston has one of the top 10 biggest metro populations in the country. We..are..not..no matter what we build...going to resemble Boston.

Try Manchester. You know, the city that has come from the pits to take over as the most important city in northern New England. They didn't cry like little girls when building a brand new arena. We get offered free land and 20 million to a new one and we say "No!". Why? Because we didn't want to ruin the character of Bayside. Oooookay.

Then Joe Boulos, one of the nicest guys ever, wants to help us get a new arena/convention center/office tower. Not only does Governor Balscratchy completely lie about supporting it, we start calling Mr. Boulos names and acting like he's a bad guy. Now we are going to lose the arena to Westbrook if Portland doesn't hurry up. You'll hear about that in the near future.

And by the way Mr. Governor, you don't want a casino in Maine? But you have no problem letting $20.00 scratch off tickets be implemented during your time in office? A casino brings money from out of state. Welfare moms can walk over to Cumbies and buy a roll of scratchies. Way to go, Gov. Way to just recycle our money.

Nobody is saying we have to have a glass building to be better. Just saying that this is a "city" and nobody needs to freak out everytime someone wants to put something new here. We have the best natural features of probably any city in the northeast.

But this city has a problem. And that problem is a serious lack of pride. Nobody here wants anything nice for us. Everyone with money or brains has moved south, and we get the influx of the leftovers from every other city in Maine. Don't believe me? Take a nice long walk down Congress st. Are these people the face of Portland? Looks like some sort of zombie movie. It really shows that we lack a real college in the city.

Look, I don't like snobby people and places either. But when you live somewhere your whole life, and you want to still live here, you like to see some new things. I can't wait to see Bayside and The Eastern Waterfront in 2-5 years. Just need something new on the eyes.

Guess this didn't have to do with food. Anyone wanting to talk on the stuff I just did should go here

http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

If it's happening in Portland or northern new england, you'll hear it here.

Dominic. If you want a change....

Move to Boston.

why is it everytime change is mentioned the answer from some people is move to boston or nyc. It is so sophomoric and idiotic and makes little sense. I like portland alot and would not consider moving I just think it can be improved and become a great city. But our congress makes it impossible to do business here and caters to the poor without any regard to the middle class or rich for that matter. What i love about this city is that we could have the best of both worlds and that boston and nyc can not offer. we can keep the old world charm and build up an eclectic,hip, modernized city. A "mini" newbury st, a beatify waterfront with restaurants with an actual water view. A new arena and just a couple taller buildings. This my freinds would bring MONEY to the state and portland. Change will come! you can resist it, curse at it, but it is impossible to stop. and dont tell me to move anywher i love it here and will anticipate and embrace the evoloution of portland in the next decade and beyond

yeah boulos was building the civic center as a gift to the city of portland, it was all goodwill. Put it in a better location, you want gridlock everytime there is a show, its gridlock at 5pm every night and every time there is something at merrill as it is.
i couldnt agree more on the casino point though, casinos no was disgraceful and so is baldacci, great, we have a 'racino' up state, that is really going to bring in a lot of money from vacationers, is there more of a destructive and addictive form of gambling than slots and scratch machines??? throw it at a horsetrack and that makes it that much more attractive. I think if baldacci was serious about his crusade against gambling, he wouldnt have invested so much in the lottery.

Nick, you have my sentiments exactly. It does have the best of both worlds. We're surrounded by water yet have a very livable city core. It needs to be improved but everyone is so hung up on societal correctness that the special interest groups make things impossible. Enough affordable housing. Give the middle class a place to live too and in a city that thrives.

Just a couple of followup comments...

one, John, is that no doubt there are some big buildings in Boston, but they are, as one of the other commenters pointed out, quite boring...there has not been any cutting edge, adventurous architecture in Boston in about 100 years...if you think big expensive buildings mean quality architecture then you should not be commenting on architecture...

secondly, there are two characteristics that define great cities, whether large or small: density and diversity...we need buildings where there are parking lots, a working waterfront, yuppie shops and restaurants, jobs all up and down the pay ladder and economic and ethnic diversity...Portland has the potential to fulfill all these needs and be a truly great city...

Nice post Nick. Exactly how I would put it.

Gridlock at 5? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard. When you are at the back of a traffic jam, and you can see the front of it, that's not gridlock.

The Lincoln Center project was at the perfect location. Most events are at 7 or later when Portland streets are dead anyway. We could have got the arena/convention center and a standout beautifully designed 17 story building.

Do you people against growth think Portland can stay stagnant and survive? Why do you think Portland planners are looking for hundreds and hundreds or new housing units to be built in the next ten years. We are a tourist city. Take away all those Masshole plates, and Jersey and New York, and Portland is dead in the water.

So I ask you, go move to Buxton.

dominic, when traffic is stopped on 295S, and coming down the on ramp, all the way up Franklin Arterial, that is gridlock - put a new arena there and its 10 fold. i'm not saying that we shouldnt get a new civic center, or that we shouldnt engage in development, i'm saying, the proposal for that location was not sound. Irregardless, I cant think of her name offhand, but the person who revamped Fenway is working on the civic center now, so maybe things will turn out in that department.

and if you think gridlock at 5 is the funniest thing you've ever heard, you must have the personality and sense of humor of a fart.

Not sure why the last poster used my name. Unless they happen to have it which I doubt.

There may be backups for a little while but that's not gridlock. And most of that has to do with people, especially people that live here, not knowing how to get around the city. I can get anywhere in this city by not driving in stupid paths. Why on Earth would anyone who lives here ever take Franklin? I use that ramp maybe once or twice a month.

The new arena would have had an underground entrance leading in to one of it's garages. It would be a much easier location to get to than the arena now where people are going in and out of side streets. And as far as parking there, I can park within 4 streets or so of the CCCC during a sold out event. People are either too lazy to walk or just don't know.

I went to a sold out concert in Manchester and that place cleared out in no time. It is in the same type of location as Lincoln Center would have been.

Bottom line is that there are few Portlanders left in Portland. I am so sick of all these wannabe hipster dufus college of art kids moving here from other parts of Maine. The get checks from mommy and daddy, don't have any pride for this city, and could care less what happens to it since they'll be moving again in a few years anyway.

This city cannot stand still and survive. If we could get down to the size of Portsmouth and have less crime and yahoos on the streets, that's fine with me. But just like we are not going to become Boston by building, we are not going to become Portsmouth by standing still and shrinking. Who knows how far behind we would be if it weren't for Betty Noyce and what she did to save Congress st.

Portland needs to get it's population back to around the 70,000-80,000 mark. We need steady growth, plenty of new housing, and city amenities that will attract people who want to actually spend money here instead of buying a cup of organic coffee and protesting every two days in Monument Square.

We need to start to do stuff for the people who work hard. Start to do things for the middle and upper class. You might not belive in the trickle down effect as far as the country goes, but it couldn't be shown better than in Portland. Again, try taking away all these "massholes" and "fancy hotels" and tell me how we make money?

I'm not moving to Boston. I'm staying here where I was born and my parents were born.

Dominic, this may be a bit late, but I, too, am a native Portlander (currently living off-peninsula, but still in Portland), and I agree with you 100%! My only complaint about Joe Boulos' project was that it was too short... I wrote him asking that he ramp it up a little to be taller than those ugly towers in Manchester, but he said he couldn't get financing for that. I just wish that our newer buildings had more-interesting rooflines (and lost the brick, which really doesn't work if you aren't doing finely-detailed facades) instead of being flat boxes.

I thought this was about the restaurant? Debate urban development somewhere else. Was it worth it or like Cinque Terror did you spend $150 and leave hungry?

Had dinner here last night. Onion soup was excellent. Service was decent. Short ribs were tough and very fatty. No where near as good as I have had at Mims or The Front Room. The lobster pizza was dry and fishy tasting. We have had the other pizza and it was quite good, so this was dissapointing. Overall there are plenty of other places in Portland I would go to before I go back.