{"id":7378,"date":"2013-02-15T11:12:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T18:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=7378"},"modified":"2013-02-15T11:12:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T18:12:12","slug":"fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>February\/March 2013<\/p>\n<h2><strong>HAUTE OCTANE<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>Fuel glows brightly with gourmet French cuisine in Lewiston\u2019s historic Lyceum Hall<\/h3>\n<p>By Diane Hudson<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/fuel_int.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-7379\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;\" title=\"fuel_int\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/fuel_int.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/fuel_int.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/fuel_int-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>We&#8217;re fired up over Fuel.<\/p>\n<p>The Lewiston landmark is overwhelmingly popular\u2013even at 5:45 on a Saturday, it\u2019s packed.<\/p>\n<p>One of our quartet orders a birdbath-sized martini while the others opt for a carafe of the house <em>rouge<\/em>\u2013Parducci pinot noir from California ($14)\u2013to sip as we peruse Fuel\u2019s dinner menu. The adventuresome French country theme includes daily specials such as braised rabbit on Thursdays and sole <em>meuni\u00e8re<\/em> on Fridays. <em>Frites<\/em> come in a paper cone, with salt and vinegar or bacon dust.<\/p>\n<p>Fondue ($9) is a fun way to start. The Alsatian classic features hot melted <em>gruy\u00e8re<\/em> cheese in a colorful pot; fire keeps it hot as we dip toasted garlic baguette chunks. Roasted oysters ($10) topped with creamed bacon, leeks, and breadcrumbs are a hit, as is the Caesar salad ($6), crunchy\u00a0 greens with just the right amount of dressing. Pork belly <em>rillettes<\/em> ($8) is a rich <em>p\u00e2t\u00e9<\/em> in a crock with toast points, mixed greens and pickled grapes.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>coq au vin <\/em>($19) transports us from our first bite (actually, inhaling the aroma is enough)\u2013pure French heaven. The Free Bird Farms chicken, braised in red wine with cipollini onions, mushrooms, bacon, and fingerling potatoes, is moist,\u00a0 memorable, and smoky.<\/p>\n<p>Braising is big here, so I opt for beef short ribs ($26), though it\u2019s hard to resist the balsamic braised pork shank ($21). The beef is fork tender, nicely accented with wild mushrooms, wilted spinach, and fine whipped parsnips that are incredible with deeply flavorful pan juices .<\/p>\n<p>Steak <em>au poivre<\/em> ($28) is Angus NY strip with a brilliant cognac and veal reduction, perfect with peppery arugula greens and rosemary-roasted red potatoes. Scallops ($24), huge little beasties, are nicely browned while retaining full taste and moisture, served with a delicious pumpkin risotto.<\/p>\n<p>Desserts are too good to miss, especially perfectly crusted pistachio <em>cr\u00e8me<\/em> <em>brul\u00e9e<\/em> ($6). Here\u2019s to our next <em>rendezvous.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fuel, 49 Lisbon St., Lewiston. Tues. &#8211; Thurs., 5-9 p.m.,<br \/>\nFri. &amp; Sat., 5-10p.m., 333-3835, <a href=\"http:\/\/fuelmaine.com\" target=\"_blank\">fuelmaine.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February\/March 2013 HAUTE OCTANE Fuel glows brightly with gourmet French cuisine in Lewiston\u2019s historic Lyceum Hall By Diane Hudson We&#8217;re fired up over Fuel. The Lewiston landmark is overwhelmingly popular\u2013even at 5:45 on a Saturday, it\u2019s packed. One of our quartet orders a birdbath-sized martini while the others opt for a carafe of the house [&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-7378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378","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=7378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7451,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378\/revisions\/7451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}