Bertie Lou's

Annie and I at Bertie Lou's!

One of the first things my friend Annie did when we were visiting her in Portland was take us to Bertie Lou's. The restaurant was in an eclectic little building, and had peeling yellow paint with a red trim. A large sign for a coffee cup sat up top. We shuffled in, albeit still a little jet-lagged from our flight out of Boston. I immediately took notice of the walls. They were adorned with framed art, clearly drawn by customers. A lot of it was caricatures, some of Bertie Lou's and some food-related in general. What made me smile was that they framed the clearly professional work right next to drawings that were done on napkins. It didn't take long for us to get seated, and a waiter with a spectacular handlebar mustache made his way over to us.

"I don't want to have lie to you about how good the food is here, so don't ask me."

I chuckled, and he flashed a grin at me.

"What can I do for you ladies?"

"I'll take a black coffee," my friend Abigail spoke up.

"Ick!" the waiter sighed, reaching for his notepad. "You're one of those."

Abigail shrugged, and I decided to go next.

"I'll have an orange...juice," I said hesitantly, my eyes slanting over the menu.

"Are you sure?"the waiter said mockingly, raising his busy eyebrows. "It's a pretty big decision."

"I'm sure."

"Well I'll give you ladies a moment with the menu then."

As I read over the what seemed to be standard breakfast fare, I'd began to wonder if our waiter had wrote the menu himself. Beside each entrée or appetizer there was a sarcastic or humorous afterthought written in parentheses. For example, the order of chicken fried steak and eggs was "simply the best you've ever had anywhere." The bacon blue cheese omelet came with a tagline that read "if you're hungover from last night, this one's for you." After much deliberation, I ordered the waffle breakfast special, which was "back by popular demand." As I took my first bite, I could definitely see why. The waffle was a perfect mix of soft and crunchy, with fresh whipped cream and fruit walloped on top.

"Did it pass inspection?" the waiter asked laughingly. I smiled and nodded, and he walked away.

Bertie Lou's in Portland is a gem that I would highly recommend. They dubbed themselves "the best mediocre food," but you can see that it's a tight-knit environment that serves up some fantastic eats!