![\"REST-salad\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/REST-salad.jpg\")
<\/a>Try a sensuous stop at the museum cafe<\/p>\nBlockbuster art exhibits can make you hungry! The PMA Caf\u00e9, managed by Aurora Provisions, takes museum dining seriously. At first glance, you think\u2026OK, sandwiches, salads. Think again.<\/p>\n
Take the Studio Lunch ($12.95). Visually, it\u2019s a painter\u2019s palette of a plate. The seasonal soup is a velvety potato leek, garnished with colorful drops of Sriracha. An assortment of cheeses includes the aromatic, creamy Le Delice; tangy Great Hill Blue accented with a dab of honey; and a sharp Shelburne cheddar, all playing well within a Standard Baking baguette. House-pickled vegetables\u2013tasty dilly beans, cauliflower with a hint of curry, and red peppers\u2013are served on crisp greens along with mixed olives.<\/p>\n
We continue our artful noshing with the meze plate ($9.95), savoring the complementing flavors of house-made olive tapenade, creamy hummus, fresh pita chips, veggies, grilled stuffed grape leaves, and baguette. The grape leaves are a major attraction here, filled with saffron rice, sundried tomatoes, feta, and walnuts. It\u2019s all a cut above your usual meze plate.<\/p>\n
Oh, yes. There are sandwiches, of the kind you always think you\u2019ll make for yourself but never do. The imaginative Parisienne ($8.95) has smoked ham surrounded with ripened brie, just enough Dijon mustard, sliced cornichons, and peppery greens in a gorgeous baguette, with potato chips (or green salad for an additional $3.95).<\/p>\n
Liquid refreshments include white wine, good brews, and cocktails such as the C\u00e9zanne\u2013Cold River Vodka with Ram Island Lavender Lemonade ($10).<\/p>\n
Deciding instead to devour the dessert case, we tear into the Genoa cake, rich chocolate layers oozing with chocolate raspberry filling and decadent buttercream topping ($3.95). Robust coffee ($1.85), roasted by Carpe Diem in North Berwick, finishes us off, refreshed and ready to take in more of the museum\u2019s never-ending delights. \u201cWinslow Homer\u2019s Civil War\u201d is on view from September 8 to December 7. Come feast your eyes.<\/p>\n
Portland Museum of Art\u2019s PMA Caf\u00e9, 7 Congress Square.
\nTues.- Thurs. & Sat. (Sun. & Mon. thru Columbus Day),
\n10 a.m.- 4 p.m; Fri. to 8 p.m. 775-6148, portlandmuseum.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 2013 Art of the Meal Review by Diane Hudson Try a sensuous stop at the museum cafe Blockbuster art exhibits can make you hungry! The PMA Caf\u00e9, managed by Aurora Provisions, takes museum dining seriously. At first glance, you think\u2026OK, sandwiches, salads. Think again. Take the Studio Lunch ($12.95). Visually, it\u2019s a painter\u2019s palette […]<\/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":[75],"class_list":["post-8648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-september-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648","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=8648"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8855,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648\/revisions\/8855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}