Review: Zapoteca

By BRIAN DUFF | November 23, 2011

The brick oven also produced an entrée of pork shoulder. The waiter said they call it the "pork brownie," and indeed, it arrived as a crispy looking square of meat. Beneath the crisp exterior was lots of tender pulled meat, rich and fatty. It is served with house-made tortillas (hard to find in Maine), and you can assemble your own pork tacos from the meat and the accompanying pickled onions and avocado.

With Sonny's, Havana, and now Zapoteca upscale Latin American cuisine is really coming on in Portland. It's food we Americans are still getting used to paying up for, and one wonders if they can all coexist. But why not? Certainly Zapoteca's Mexican cuisine has nothing to be ashamed of, unlike our traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Brian Duff can be reached at bduff@une.edu.

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