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Duck Fat (Portland, Maine)

August 22, 2014 by Jennifer Che 4 Comments

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This is the second post about our weekend trip to Portland. Other posts in this series include A Summer Weekend in Portland Maine.

Portland’s the type of city that’s perfect for a weekend trip from Boston. It’s a little over a hundred miles away, which if there’s no traffic (and hrs could be a BIG if), takes less than two hours by car.

As the largest city in Maine, it boasts many of the state’s best restaurants. Yet because we’re in Maine, It’s not an overwhelmingly huge city either. Unlike huge metropolises that would require a week or more to explore, you can easily conquer Portland in a weekend. There’s great craft beer, excellent restaurants, and a really good vibe over all. The city is surrounded by ocean on three sides, which means lots of gorgeous views and a plethora of ocean-related activities.
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Do any search for best restaurants in Maine or Portland”and there’s no doubt that Duck Fat will show up on the list. Duck Fat is the second restaurant for chef-owner Rob Evans, who previously owned (but has now sold) the more upscale and very well regarded Hugo’s just down the street.

Opened since 2006, Duck Fat is one of the most popular destinations in the city. In the summer, there is virtually always a line out the door.

On our second day in Portland, we decided to drive back to Portland from Freeport just to eat here. We were prepared to wait, no matter how long it was. Thankfully, after only waiting about 15 minutes, we were pleasantly surprised that they had seats for us at the bar.
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It seems like all the restaurants in Portland have good beer selections, typically involving several (if not all) local craft beers. There are so many excellent breweries nearby, it’s really fun to sample different beers at each restaurant.
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Duck Fat is most famous for its Belgian Fries ($5 for a small; $7.75 for a large), which have received accolades and recognition from all over, including a coveted spot on CNN’s top 10 fries in the U.S. list. The fries are twice fried in duck fat and come with your choice of dipping sauces like garlic mayo, lemon-herb mayo, truffle ketchup, horseradish mayo, Thai chili mayo, and toasted curry mayo.

There were definitely some diners (tourists like me, I’m guessing?) who came just for the fries. I saw some folks order a large to go (which I guess is smart if you don’t want to wait in line).
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Another alternative is to try their Poutine (large $12; small $8), which is essentially a pile of their Belgian fries mixed with cheese curds, gravy, and (optionally for $2) topped with a fried duck egg.

We thought both of these were good, though part of me was a bit puzzled by the hype. I mean, the fries are pretty tasty and all, but I don’t necessarily think these were the best fries I’ve ever had. If anything, I wouldn’t have minded if they were just a tad more crunchy (but that’s my personal preference – I LOVE crispy fries).
Bryan, who loves anything duck, really enjoyed the poutine and ended up eating most of it. That worked out for me because I preferred the normal fries, which don’t get soggy from all that gravy.

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Of course, Duck Fat is more than just about the fries. They have soups, salads, charcuterie, sandwiches, and a nice selection of craft sodas, milkshakes, and duck fat fried doughnut holes (yes, I’m serious).

We started with a simple Leafy Salad, which came with Dandelion Farm greens, hakurei turnips, watermelon, and feta. It was simple, refreshing, and pretty good.
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The server convinced us to try one of their signature sandwiches, yet another duck item. We ordered the Overnight Local Duck Confit panini ($13), which came with super soft and tender duck that had been confit overnight in duck fat, pickled tomatillo, local cheese curd, and a spiced orange mayo. The sandwich was well executed and also quite enjoyable.

General Thoughts
Duck Fat is a fun place to go. The food is reasonably casual but definitely has a gourmet slant to it. Overall, every menu item we tried was solid. The whole place has that great vibe of your local, neighborhood restaurant. The fries are good, but I’m not sure if they are necessarily worth the extra hype. There are lots of places that make really good fries (though to be fair, very few places make poutine).

All in all, despite the hype and slightly touristy obsession surrounding this place, I still think it’s a great place and worth a visit if you’re in the area. The food is good, the local craft beer is fun to try, and the desserts actually look pretty awesome (though I unfortunately had no room for it after all those fries!). If I came back, I might not order two dishes that involve fries just so I could have room to try some of their other fun looking sandwiches (plus at least one dessert!)

Duck Fat
43 Middle St.
Portland, ME,
04101

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Maine, Portland, Restaurant, Review Tagged With: duck

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Comments

  1. John says

    August 23, 2014 at 11:20 am

    Just FYI – it’s “Hugo’s” and Rob doesn’t own it anymore!

    – John from Portland

    Reply
  2. Jennifer Che says

    August 23, 2014 at 3:06 pm

    Thanks John! I’ll update the post accordingly. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Heidi says

    August 23, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    I definitely agree with you on the fries — actually think the best part of Duckfat is the milkshakes, which are amazing!

    Reply
  4. Daisy says

    August 25, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    Once again, I concur! The fries were great but a bit too much hype surrounds them. And, we sat at those same exact seats at the bar, and also got fries and poutine with the duck egg. (Just a snack, because we also had just ate some Holy Donuts.)

    Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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