PORTLAND, Maine — I know what you're thinking. Meatloaf? That doesn't seem like anything that you'd find at a nice restaurant. It seems like something your mom made, and it was likely smothered with ketchup.
Well, that's only part of the concept behind Thistle and Grouse in Portland.
The restaurant takes classic gastropub dishes and gives them a modern twist. Personally, this is one of my favorite concepts for restaurants. It's the food you actually want to eat but a fancier version of it. None of the foams, and you can actually pronounce the ingredients. My kind of place.
One of their signature dishes is their Heritage Pork Meatloaf, so I had to see how it was done.
Head chef and owner Bobby Will gave me a peek inside the kitchen. They start off by grinding the pork fresh before mixing in the other essential ingredients.
We took the meatloaf mix and put it into a pan to bake it. The first round of baking should leave the meatloaf slightly underdone, but it's not done yet. This technique prevents it from drying out during its next round in the oven.
Let the slightly undercooked loaf cool down a bit before slicing, then put the slices into a hot skillet. This step is important because it finishes the cooking process and caramelizes the outside of the meatloaf to enrich the flavor even more.
Time to plate! The restaurant serves the meatloaf over coconut sticky rice and roasted squash before sprinkling it with some bonito flakes and a soy-gochujang drizzle. They add a little cilantro and garlic, too.
Taste test? Yes, please!
This meatloaf was exactly what was promised: a modern twist on a classic.
The flavors were complex because of all of the different notes it hit. The glaze was delicious and delivered that richness that you can only get from soy sauce. The sticky rice paired surprisingly well with the meatloaf. Oh, and the meatloaf itself? It just melted in your mouth with the richness that you crave from a dish like this. I'll definitely be back some time to eat it again, just not on camera this time.
Thank you so much to Bobby Will and everyone at Thistle and Grouse. I know y'all just opened in December, but it seems like you have a lot of experience under your belt. I had the best time and can't wait to return.