Nosh Kitchen & Bar in Portland, Maine

Nosh Kitchen & Bar is a bar-first spot in Portland that does comfort food big and late. The menu is tight but focused: smash burgers, bar pies, fried chicken, poutine, pretzel bites. It's where you go when you want hearty, unpretentious food after 10 PM, or a solid lunch on a quiet Wednesday. The crowd skews casual and hungry.

• Smash burgers taste like an polished fast-food burger.
• South Shore bar pizza, rare find in Maine.
• Pretzel bites with generous portions and great dip.
• Open late for casual, unpretentious grub.

Get the smash burgers, which come in different styles. The pretzel bites are massive and come with good cheese dip. South Shore bar pizza with sausage and onion is worth the trip if you know what that means. Buffalo chicken tenders swim in sauce. Poutine fries are solid. The summer of '69 cocktail pairs well with everything.

Bar-focused room with good music and a relaxed feel. Can be quiet on winter weeknights, busy and lively on weekends.

The kitchen knows what it's doing with a small menu. Burgers are smash-style, cooked tight. The South Shore bar pizza is a standout (if you're from that part of Massachusetts, you know what this means). They're not trying to be everything to everyone. Service is attentive. They'll swap your fries for a Caesar if you ask, and they'll fix things immediately if something's wrong.

Guests rave about the burgers and come back for the South Shore pizza, which one recent visitor called 'as good as you can get' for Maine. People appreciate the small, focused menu and the fact that service jumps on problems immediately. One diner ate there twice in 24 hours.