SONG OF SURRENDER: Old and new again |
Of the ten years Odysseus spent making his way home to Ithaca, Homer tells us least about the seven he spent with the lovely goddess Calypso. While every other diversion is described in all its frightening or titillating detail, of his “sweet, reluctant, amorous delay” with Calypso we learn little. Homer’s reticence is the more frustrating since what little we do learn is so intriguingly wrapped up in taste and aroma. On Calypso’s island the mornings were “saffron,” love was always “sweet,” the hearth “wide perfumed the isle,” and visitors always “tasted the dainties of her bower.”Calypso’s island seems to have been all about eating and making love. We can forgive Homer for being playful about the latter (he hints at her “nymph’s seducements” and “lawless charms”). But could he not, for the sake of posterity, have unleashed his eloquence upon the food? When Calypso bids Odysseus farewell (with a final “rich repast of cates divine, ambrosial banquet, and celestial wine”) she is most concerned that he eat well. “Every kind provisions were heaved aboard; and the full decks with copious viands stored.” But just as the reader begins to hungrily anticipate pages of mouth-watering descriptions of this floating feast, jealous Poseidon unleashes a wave that sends it all to the bottom of the sea.
As it was in ancient Greece, so it is in contemporary Portland, um, sort of. For seven months Calypso Grill, previously Soffrito’s on Wharf Street, also promised provisions of every sort. Their ads touted an “international menu” with an almost silly proliferation of influences — Italian, Thai, Japanese, Spanish, American, Southern, Greek, South American, Indian, and Cajun. I never got to try it, and now it appears it has all been washed away. Just as Odysseus abandoned a haven of endless culinary variety for the comforts of his native Mediterranean cuisine, Calypso Grill now seems to be serving mostly Italian and a little Greek. They have even hung a little Soffrito’s sign out front — a small, sad gesture of surrender regarding the new venture.
Calypso Grill is owned by Joe Soley. In the late ’90s Soley was found by a Maine jury to have intentionally inflicted emotional distress on certain residents of the Old Port. More recently he inflicted empty-carbohydrate chain food distress on the rest of the Old Port by ushering in Dunkin’ Donuts. Calypso’s sudden change in focus appears to have come when Soley replaced head chef Moiz Talib (who I’ll bet is a little emotionally distressed himself from his stint at Calypso) with Jeff Fazekas.
I won’t complain about the food, which was all right for what it is — pastas, meats, and fish served in traditional sauces, tending toward the heavy and oily. The bread was not good, and our Spanakopita spread out on the plate unappealingly. The spinach seemed like it might have been recently frozen, but the edges of the pastry were crisp, and the filling was satisfying in the way that mushy salty things almost always are. The ravioli with lobster and crab was pretty good. Big pieces of lobster lurked among the generously stuffed pasta, along with sun-dried tomatoes that were an oddly maraschino-red. The lobster cream sauce was hardly subtle, and got a little gooey as the oil began to separate, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. The pasta devino was a little lighter despite its cream base, and we found nothing to complain about in its penne, chicken, and shrimp.
