Katie Made Bakery – Portland, Maine

Street Address: 181 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Hours Of Operation:
Mon: Closed
Tue-Wed: 7:30am-4:30pm
Thu-Fri: 7:30am-6:00pm
Sat: 8:00am-3:00pm
Sun: 8:00am-12:00pm

I’ve become more familiar with businesses on Munjoy Hill and the surrounding neighborhood a bit more since my girlfriend started living there about a year ago. Since there are so many good places to eat, I figured I’d try some of them out and put the results down for all to see on my blog. I frequently search on the web to see if a place is highly-regarded before I seek out food there, so I figured there would be some use for my reviews of these places.

Katie Made is a little bakery situated right up near the Portland Observatory on Congress Street, mid-hill. It’s an unsuspecting little place and one might easily overlook it since parking on the hill can be spotty depending on what time of day and year one visits. However, if you’re in the area and want to try out some baked goods and maybe a little breakfast or lunch, you won’t want to miss out.

I’ve been going to Katy Made for a while now, and they’ve never given me anything resembling a bad experience. The staff consists of Katie herself, who you can see toiling with a smile in the kitchen and who even hand-delivers your food to you if she has the time, along with a cashier and another baker in back who I’ve rarely seen but who I’m sure is there quite a lot like the other two women. They are always friendly and accommodating.

The only downside to this establishment is that if you’re looking to dine in somewhere, there aren’t a lot of options open to you. The place makes use of its interior room but even doing so, there is only room for about 10-12 people maximum, less if you don’t want to sit across one of the small tables from a stranger. There are a couple of seating options available outside as well, but those are dependent mostly on weather.

For breakfast, one can get a variety of regular menu items Katie offers, including a loaded breakfast sandwich (which I always get) that comes on an english muffin with a scrambled egg patty, mushrooms, sizzling sausage, caramelized onions (though I get it without onions, myself), melted cheese and a touch of mustard. The price isn’t bad, either. The breakfast sandwich is only around $6.00 if I remember correctly, making it on level with big chains like McDonald’s but with extremely superior ingredients.

However, for this review, I went in to grab a quick bite to eat for take out lunch. When I arrived, the place wasn’t super-packed and I was waited on right away. The cashier put my purchase through with no problem – a Cuban Sandwich ($7.00) and two Strawberry-Cheese Danishes (Forgive me for not remembering the exact price, but they were around $1.50 or $2.00 each). I sat down on one of the comfortable seats near the window and waited only around 5-10 minutes for my food to be brought out by Katie herself, smiling as she handed me the foil-wrapped sandwich that was good and hot through its wrappings. I bid the women adieu and left to enjoy my sandwich.

The Cuban Sandwich came on a delicious roll that held up its integrity throughout the meal. There were tangy pickles, melty cheese and very delicious and generous strips of real cut pork. The mustard had a zip to it, but did not overwhelm the taste buds. I finished with my favorite thing at Katie Made, which are the Strawberry Cheese Danishes (I reluctantly gave one to my girlfriend). The pastry was light and fluffy with enough backbone to chew and to give it a pleasing texture. The insides were creamy and addictively delicious, the strawberry slices bursting with flavor.

Anyway, if you find yourself in the Munjoy Hill area and want a really solid breakfast or lunch, or a nice pastry to accompany you for the day – hit up Katie Made Bakery. You can tell Katie and her entire staff put a lot of love into what they do.

JOE Rating: ★★★★

Check Out The Katie Made Bakery Web Site Here
http://katiemadebakery.com

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Original Theatrical Release: August 27, 2004
Director: Jared Hess

Napoleon (Jon Heder) lives in a small Iowa town, where there seems to have congregated a long list of off-the-wall eccentric characters including his crazy family – Kip (Aaron Ruell), Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) and Grandma (Sandy Martin). At his school, he pursues a girl named Deb (Tina Majorino) and tries to help his newfound friend Pedro (Efrem Ramirez) become the class president and defeat the obnoxious Summer Wheatly (Haylie Duff).

The big draw to this film, in case you couldn’t already tell, are the zany characters. The story is there to fit the characters, and not the other way around.

Heder is definitely at his best here, playing the squinty, annoyed and overly-confident but tragically clumsy Napoleon who must constantly wade through the others in the cast to get anything accomplished in his life…from his squabbling brother Kip, who wants to be a cage fighter and somehow gets more attention from the ladies….to his Uncle Rico who does nothing but eat steak and wish he were still in the 1980’s.

There are many worthy moments of comedy cold and there are lots of catchphrases still being used even today from the film (and even a new animated show, which I’m not sure is still on or not).

The locations where the film was shot hold a sort of nostalgic charm that you can’t find in today’s hustle-and-bustle cities and it’s really fun to see a world where you’re really not sure if it’s supposed to be the 1990’s or if it’s really just that backwater there.

This is a classic, for sure.

JOE Rating: ★★★★★

Movie Trailer For Napoleon Dynamite