Four Stars for Cho Sun; Five for Ruby Thailand; Saltwater Grille; More

Nancy Heiser finds, somewhat surprisingly, an "excellent" upscale Korean and Japanese restaurant in the small western Maine town of Bethel, giving Cho Sun four out of five stars in her Maine Sunday Telegram review. "It's not every day you find an atmosphere that combines Maine mountain lodge-style with subtly displayed antiques from the Far East." She enjoys the kimchi pancake and steamed vegetable dumplings for appetizers, as well as the complimentary red corn tea and banchan. The entrees also left little to complain about: "Tender duck breast slices were served with a lightly sweet mango sauce with carrots and bells pepper, plus gently flavored wasabi mashed (my friend wished for more wasabi zing in these potatoes)." [MST]

Ruby Thailand Cuisine in South Portland received a perfect five stars from the Press Herald's Eat and Run feature, which uses anonymous staffers for reviews. "I decided to try the mango curry with chicken ($7.95). It had snow peas, onions and mangoes in a yellow curry sauce, and comes with a big mound of jasmine rice. The sauce was sweet and smooth, with just a hint of warmth, but wasn't really spicy. The chicken was fall-apart tender white meat." [PPH]

After slamming one South Portland waterfront restaurant two weeks ago, John Golden has better things to say about the Saltwater Grille in his Golden Dish blog, even if he does find the prices high for a "casual waterside bistro." Though the menu may not be particularly innovative, it gets the dishes mostly right: "I opted for the Maine haddock, a delicious piece of fish with a Parmesan crust and served over a creamy mash of Yukon gold potatoes. The accompanying string beans were cooked al dente, though the kitchen might have opted for local, seasonal asparagus, which would have been more appropriate." [TGD]

Golden has high praise for The Well at Jordan's Farm, a seasonal restaurant in Cape Elizabeth where chef Jason Williams mans the kitchen solo. Here Golden finds innovation in the evening's "brilliant" meat dish, which is "a special preparation of 12-hour smoked pork shoulder, pulled and shaped into a cake, finished off on the wood grill and served over soldier beans with whole grain mustard and roasted onions." [TGD]

In his Portland Phoenix story previewing what's coming to the Portland eating scene this summer, Brian Duff works in a mini-review of the Wicked Good food truck. He digs the BLT made "with terrific Iraqi flatbread and lots of crunchy and bitter arugula. The thin bread let you really taste the thick salty bacon, the sweet tomato, and the tangy-sour mayo." [PP]

Cho Sun in Bethel. [Photo: Yelp]