Duckfat - Restaurant Review

Dave, Tyler and I went into Portland last night to see a concert, and since medical students don't eat unless they are forced to, we went to dinner. Tyler suggested Duckfat, and given our new-found love of duck anything, we went there.

What Duckfat is known primarily for, apparently, is, you guessed it, duck fat. Their signature dish is a cone of "classic Belgian fries made with local Maine potatoes fried in duck fat". We each got some of those, and they are fantastic. Best fries I have ever eaten. They also come with many different kinds of dipping sauce, including truffle ketchup (amazing), Thai Chili Mayo (good and spicy) and sweet and spicy mustard (would be better on a sandwich, but still good). Dave and I also split a cup of the soup of the day, which was sweet potato with candied ginger - sweet and smooth with just a hint of a bite.

For entree, we each got a panini, and as usual, split them. Dave got the duck confit panini (naturally), with shreaded duck, kimchi and sweet chili sauce. He complained about the kimchi not being authentic, but this was, in my opinion, a very good thing. Real kimchi is a rather deadening taste, and if you want to actually enjoy what you are eating, putting red pepper on it isn't the best idea. All in all, a tasty sandwich. I liked mine better though - roast turkey with brie and cranberry fennel relish. As I'm sure you can tell from all of the recipes here, if it has brie or cranberries in it, I love it. As this sandwich had both, it was pretty much perfect.

For dessert I got beignets with chocolate sauce - the beignets had a slight lemon flavor that added a nice zest to the fried dough - and Dave had churros - the chocolate sauce for those had some red pepper in it and I was tempted to drink what was left over. Dave even offered me his straw. I declined. I am kind of regretting it.

All in all, a great dinner, and pretty cheap - under $50 for 2 each of drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts. We will definitely got here again.

And finally, since the concert was our reason for going to Portland in the first place, we saw Flogging Molly! We missed the first opening act, The Drowning Men but did have the privilege of seeing the second, the Moneybrothers. We spent most of their set trying to determine where the lead singer is from. His accent ranged from Albanian to Tommy Wiseau - turns out he is actually from Sweden. The music was... interesting. Either the sound system was not checked properly for them, or they normally sound like a car accident in Hell.

Flogging Molly, however, was awesome. I'd never seen them before, although I'd heard many concert stories from a good friend of mine (including one where he was dropped on his head while crowd surfing). They played for a surprisingly long time (just over 2 hours), and included a number of songs from their upcoming album, Speed of Darkness. They also played a lot of old favorites, and those I can remember are linked below (so you can pretend you were there too).

Black Friday Rule, Wanderlust, Devil's Dance Floor, Drunken Lullabies, What's Left of the Flag, The Worst Day Since Yesterday, Float, If I Ever Leave This World Alive, Tobacco Island, Requiem for a Dying Song,

To my great delight, they finished with my favorite song, Seven Deadly Sins!

This Law Sucks! - The day Lady Gaga came to Portland

At 7:39 pm on Sunday, September 19th, Lady Gaga announced that she would be holding a rally the following day in a park in Portland, Maine for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

By 3:00 pm Monday, there were roughly 5,000 supporters in Deering Oaks Park.

She didn't sing, she didn't wear a crazy dress, and she was only there for about 18 minutes, but the audience loved it. Everyone there not only wanted to see the pop sensation, they also cared about the cause she is fighting for.






















To readers who may not know, Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a law passed in 1993 that prevents military service members from being openly gay or bisexual. If someone is outed, voluntarily or not, they are fired without retirement benefits. It is the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge. Since the laws passing, nearly 15,000 service members have been fired for admitting their non-heterosexuality.

When people began speaking at around 4:15pm, the crowd was animated and supportive. I was impressed with the amount of young people there - about 75% of the attendees were in my generation - who really seemed to care about the speakers.



First to speak was Nicholas Mavodones, Jr., the mayor of Portland. A major supporter of gay rights, the democratic mayor is clearly extremely popular with at least the younger crowd in Portland.


A number of former service men and women then spoke about their experiences. Some of them had been fairly new to the military when they were fired for being gay, but most of them had been in service for at least a decade. What struck me most was how much these people want to do their jobs. If they are willing to do so while hiding who they really are, then it seems evident that they truly love what they do. Discrimination in the workplace with regard to sexuality has been illegal for quite some time - why is the military any different?



After the service persons spoke came Maine congresswoman Chellie Pingree, another supporter of gay rights. She, like Mavodones, drew huge cheers. This interest of the youth in their political leaders is heartening.



Finally, to chants of "This Law Sucks!", our keynote speaker arrived. She delivered her already famous Equality is the Prime Rib of America speech amid cheers and storms of applause.

It is wonderful to see that, as a celebrity who got her start because of her gay fan-base, Lady Gaga is really giving back to her supporters.

* * *

Even as I write this post, the senate has refused to debate on the bill including the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Republican senators, including Maine's Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, voted unanimously against the bill, due in large part to the fact that the bill included a number of other controversial issues - like illegal immigration - and that the Democratic senators were attempting to block any amendments to the bill by the Republican senators.

While generally on the Democratic side, I am severely disappointed that this loss may have been solely due to the fact that the Democrats were not willing to give the other side an equal say.

While this loss is extremely disheartening - especially considering that the election in November will almost certainly lose the Democratic majority in the Senate - I have to believe that, like the womens' rights and civil rights movements, sexuality equality will eventually become a reality. Our children will look back on these events and wonder why it took so long for all people to truly be equal, but at least their America will be more accepting than ours is now.