Maine DayVentures: Portland Old Port Culinary Walking Tour — Tour Review | Condé Nast Traveler

"Zoom out. What’s the big picture here? The flagship among all of Maine Day Ventures’s (formerly Maine Foodie Tours) offerings is this food tour that spotlights the ever-changing group of eateries and breweries that have helped put Portland ’s working waterfront area on the map. Expect to sample everything from fresh lobster rolls to local craft beer (try Gritty’s), Maine crabmeat maki rolls, potato donuts (from Holy Donut ), and creative superfood smoothies (at Blake Orchard). Tell us about your fellow tourees Like nearly every food tour in the universe, there are always those who show up solely to eat, and not necessarily to learn about the places and the people that provide that food. But so are plenty of folks who want to find out more about and celebrate what makes Portland’s food scene so singular. Note: For those with mobility issues, this is a challenging tour, depending on which eateries and bars are visited (the list is ever-changing). Some of those destinations will have more accessibility than others, and there’s a fair bit of moving from one place to another. How are the guides? On three recent tours, guides were both well-versed in the history and the changing life of the neighborhood, and how that’s influenced the quality and integrity of the food—from local suppliers’ ever-changing challenges to end result: the moment when a restaurants set a plate down in front of you. Blending facts and substantiated opinion with occasional jokes (including a few groaners), the presentation moved at a reasonable pace, and did a decent job of engaging the staffs and teams at culinary sites along the way, while balancing that out with questions from the tourees. Anything you’ll be remembering weeks or months or years from now? The diversity of sites, for starters. Some are expected (you simply can’t run an eating tour in Old Port without including at least a few spoonfuls of some kind of chowder), and others surprising (chocolate truffles made from Aroostook County potatoes, for example). But above all, the storytelling and interactions are solid; guides do a good job of providing wide-ranging context for how foods are made and how they fit into the culture of the city. So: money, time—how can we make the most of both? People who join the tour primarily to eat (read: cruise ship day trippers) won't be disappointed. There's plenty to sample and savor along the way. But the tourees who will walk away with the most from the experience are those who stay focused on the big picture: not simply on the delicious food, but why the food is delicious in the first place. The Old Port’s working waterfront is an essential key to the neighborhood’s evolution and attitude, and to its success as a major food destination. Anyone who soaks up that information along the tour will leave not just with a full belly, but with an appreciation of place and culture." - Alexandra Hall