{"id":542,"date":"2005-09-01T12:09:03","date_gmt":"2005-09-01T19:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=542"},"modified":"2010-02-19T12:04:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-19T19:04:56","slug":"mediterranean-grill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/mediterranean-grill\/","title":{"rendered":"Mediterranean Grill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>reviewed by Diane Hudson Sept. 2005<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-150\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;\" title=\"diningguide\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/diningguide.jpg\" alt=\"diningguide\" width=\"200\" height=\"124\" \/>Deep blue autumn skies in Maine provide the perfect canopy for dining al fresco at Mediterranean Grill in Free-port, fragrant with its delightfully different &#8220;little dishes.&#8221;<br \/>\nReflecting the Turkish and Mediter-ran-ean tradition, the restaurant is family- and chef-owned by the Cigri family.<\/p>\n<p>The Mixed Appetizer Platter consists of dolma, hummus, eggplant salad, cheese, sigara boreks, and falafel ($13.95)-a must, especially for couples to split.<\/p>\n<p>The Lockwood Monterey Chardonnay ($24) almost set the food to music.<\/p>\n<p>Mezeler (appetizer) offerings, 14 in all, are either soguk (cold) or sicak (hot), and all are mouthwateringly stupendous. The Patli-can Salatasi (eggplant salad, $6.50) is superb, with a smokey grilled flavor. Do try the festive Sigara Borek ($7.95), fillo dough rolled in a cigarette shape with minced beef, diced onion, parsley, and fried to a perfect golden brown crispness.<br \/>\nThe Iskender ($15.95) absolutely knocked us out. Entirely homemade, the dish consists of lamb and beef marinated in a spice mixture, put on a vertical spit, and slowly cooked on a rotating flame. Served thinly sliced, with an incredible thick, creamy sauce, the meat is tender and flavorful.<\/p>\n<p>The Chicken Kabob ($14.95) was char-grilled just right, served with whole grilled tomatoes, pepper, and a choice of rice pilaf, house potatoes, or saut\u00e9ed mixed vegetables.<\/p>\n<p>House Specials include the intriguing Chicken Sarma-marinated chicken breast stuffed with rice and pistachios, served on a bed of spinach, mashed potatoes, and tarragon sauce ($16.95); Musakka-potato, eggplant, onion, and cubed lamb baked in bechamel sauce ($16.95); and Tiro-pita- ground beef, and lamb saut\u00e9ed with onions, garlic, parsley, cheese, and herbs rolled in fillo pastry, baked and served with mushroom or red sauce ($15.95).<\/p>\n<p>A good selection of kababs beckons, including beef, lamb, kofta, Doner\/Gyro, and mixed grill ($14.95 to $22.95). Grilled lamb chops ($20.95) and salmon filet ($16.95) are also available. n<\/p>\n<p>Mediterranean Grill, 10 School Street, Freeport. Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., lunch menu available daily. 865-1688 or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mediterraneangrill.biz\" target=\"_blank\">www.mediterraneangrill.biz<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a onclick=\"return addthis_sendto()\" onmouseover=\"return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')\" onmouseout=\"addthis_close()\" href=\"http:\/\/www.addthis.com\/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;pub=portmag\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:0\" src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/static\/btn\/lg-share-en.gif\" alt=\"Bookmark and Share\" width=\"125\" height=\"16\" \/><\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js?pub=portmag\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/about\/contact-us\">send us your comments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>reviewed by Diane Hudson Sept. 2005 Deep blue autumn skies in Maine provide the perfect canopy for dining al fresco at Mediterranean Grill in Free-port, fragrant with its delightfully different &#8220;little dishes.&#8221; Reflecting the Turkish and Mediter-ran-ean tradition, the restaurant is family- and chef-owned by the Cigri family. The Mixed Appetizer Platter consists of dolma, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1912,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}