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Rabelais, books on food and wine
86 Middle Street
207-774-1044
www.rabelaisbooks.com
Open Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Samantha and Don Lindgren have opened the bookstore of any food lover's dreams, dedicated to cookbooks, wine books, food books, published in the 17th century, the 18th, 19th, 20th -- and 21st centuries.
Rare old books, first editions of great classics -- How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher, is one -- and the books that are making the latest buzz all fill the shelves in this spacious, light-filled store along Portland's greatest restaurant block between Franklin Arterial and India Street. Lunch at Duck Fat should be capped off by a stroll to the other end of the block to peruse the coffee-table selections -- like the astonishing Au Pied de Cochon - The Album, a big book devoted to the big meals served in that Montreal foie gras-devoted extraordinary restaurant. The cartoons in this are not for the faint hearted. Or make this place a stop before dinner at Hugo's, the Pepperclub, Ribollita or Norm's Barbeque, when you can create an appetite as you read a Molly O'Neill cookbook, like the just-released compilation, American Food Writing.