Portland Psst!

Traitor Joe's

2010-10-29T07:49:00.001-04:00

It's open. Before you go, read this:

Trader Joe's business tactics are often very much at odds with its image as the funky shop around the corner that sources its wares from local farms and food artisans, via Fortune.

Chanterelle

2010-10-27T17:06:00.002-04:00

Photo: David Needleman

This is Nutz

2010-10-08T06:35:00.002-04:00

The owner of Living Nutz raw food was arrested on charges of intent to distribute marijuana after federal agents allegedly saw him unload two duffels weighing 64 pounds.

Seth Leaf Pruzansky, who goes by the name Seth Leaf, has been a champion of the raw food movement in Maine. He also has been an advocate for the legalization of hemp production. The Pruzansky family owns Maine IntelliHemp, a company that makes lip balm and skin salve from hemp seed oil, via PPH.

Kiwi

2010-10-07T13:02:00.004-04:00

What does the world's best chef and his buddy David Chang want you to know about?

His team prepared 300 goodie bags — the brown ones they use at Milk Bar and other Momo establishments — filled with carrots, radishes, herbs, and a wild kiwi from Maine that was absolutely bonkers, via Eater.

And by bonkers, he means bonkers.

The Baumer

2010-10-02T02:25:00.002-04:00

Mark Baumer walked across the country and blogged about it. Now, he's eating pizza every day and blogging about it. He was on TV and he blogged about it:

Rob Caldwell came into the studio. He was wearing pants. I asked him what kind of burrito he ate at Wild Burrito.

2010-09-26T17:07:00.003-04:00

Ice cream

2010-09-25T06:05:00.003-04:00

Of all the ice cream nonsense published this summer, only one story was really worth reading. John Thorne's ode to eating with his mother in Maine:

You have to exercise special care when you tear open the wrapping to keep the loose peanut bits from spilling all over the rug. Once you catch these in your hand and eat them, you carefully bite into the hard chocolate coating, the curve of which keeps you from taking a large bite, via Bittman.

Where the evil pixie kings roam

2010-09-22T19:53:00.001-04:00

The Common Ground Fair is a source of inspiration. At least according to the author Carrie Jones:

As we were walking in, there was this guy wearing corduroy: corduroy pants, shirt and blazer, all in earth tones. That’s kind of freaky in itself, but he also had this huge fabric tail scrounging out from the back of his coat. I kept staring at it and staring at it. He smelled really bad too, like clothes that hadn’t been washed in ages and ages and ages, via PW.

Alien Land…

2010-09-21T05:32:00.001-04:00

Photo: Kris Larson,
via The Maine Blog

Now Open: Little Seoul

2010-09-16T06:27:00.004-04:00

Little Seoul restaurant, at 90 Exchange St., ~~plans to~~ opened in the space that was once The Greek Corner. Let's hope they ~~skip an attempt at~~ stop with the sushi and stick with the bibimbap and kimchi.

Now Open: Pai Men Miyake

2010-09-15T16:24:00.005-04:00

Masa Miyake's noodle shop at 188 State Street is now open. Cash only until Friday. [Update] Photos here.

Turkey Legs

2010-04-23T17:07:00.001-04:00

Photograph: Anna Low

Coffee Bar Lola

2010-04-20T07:57:00.002-04:00

Bar Lola's Guy and Stella Hernandez have reportedly purchased Hilltop Coffee, via PFM. Let's hope there's Bard Coffee and breakfast sandwiches at Coffee Bar Lola. [Updated 4/21] More on the move here.

One Fifty Ate

2010-04-20T06:29:00.001-04:00

Serious Eats visits 158 in South Portland and finds some bagel-shaped baguettes. And concludes:

Bagels plus Maine plus tattoos equals delicious.

Phoebe's thumb

2010-04-15T06:46:00.000-04:00

Photo: Lewis Hine/LOC

Plywood: Ramen edition

2010-04-12T07:28:00.005-04:00

Masa Miyake has signed a lease on 188 State St., the old Local 188, for what will probably be a noodle bar sometime this fall. [Updated 4/21] More on Pai Mei Miyake.

Eric and Nancy Zhou, of Bubble Maineia are also reportedly opening a noodle bar at 15 Temple Street, the old Morrison's Chowder House.

2010-04-09T05:24:00.000-04:00

Image: Rachel Sperry/MECA

What's missing in Portland

2010-03-29T06:07:00.000-04:00

In case you missed what's missing in Portland (and even if you didn't, the Portland Daily Sun didn't exactly highlight these choice bits):

1) Josh Peck and Sue Taylor, Sous Chef Training, Bar Lola: "We could also use a good raw bar that showcases the 15 to 20 types of oysters that you can get here in Maine."

2) Pete Sueltenfuss, line cook at Fore Street: "Late-night dining. This town rolls up its sidewalks at 11."

3) Nicholas Nappi, Chef de Cuisine at Local 188: "Chinese food that hasn't been Americanized. We joke that Portland ought to put a moratorium on Thai restaurants until we got one good dim sum place."

4) Declan McGough, Sous Chef at The Blue Spoon: "My dad works on the waterfront and I know how much seafood comes across so I'm surprised that there aren't more exclusively seafood restaurants, like cevicherias."

5) Karl Okerholm, kitchen manager at El Rayo Taqueria: "We need more affordable places and fewer high-end restaurants."

The Maine Restaurant Scam

2010-03-29T05:59:00.000-04:00

No, not Restaurant Week. It starts with a phone call:

The caller claims to be a bail bondsman and says the employee got in a fight with her boyfriend, drove drunk, got in an accident and was arrested for OUI. The caller says the employee is too drunk to come to the phone. The caller then tells the person at the restaurant to wire money to a special account through Walmart to bail the employee out, via WCSH.

Blueberry Harvest

2010-03-28T23:15:00.000-04:00

Photo: David Brook Stess

Does Moxie taste like tar?

2010-03-26T05:12:00.000-04:00

Robert Dickinson, a Southern guy, gets his hands on one of the country's oldest continuously produced sodas, the polarizing bitter tonic invented by some druggist in Maine and now made in New Hampshire.

At first sip, Moxie is reminiscent of a weak root beer. Not bad, but not memorable either. Then the bitterness takes hold. Like medicine. Like the tar on a telephone pole. Like the sludge at the bottom of the barrel that you’re supposed to just throw away. But Moxie is a complex beast and once the initial shock wears away, the bitterness mellows, and one is left with a bittersweet taste that isn’t so bad and may even quality as, dare I say it…pleasant, via Gastronomica (PDF).

The Court Room

2010-03-17T02:19:00.001-04:00

If the Emergency Room and the Quiet Room weren't enough:

Inspired by these events, Harding Smith is rumored to be planning a fourth Portland restaurant: The Courtroom, via The Bollard.

Jordan's Meat

2010-03-17T02:09:00.000-04:00

Photograph: Rob Hyde

Winter market

2010-02-27T04:12:00.001-05:00

There's a winter market today at 85 Free Street, from 10-1. The market got a late start because of additional permitting required in Portland, where the market is exclusively designed for farmers:

Larry Bruns of Hanson Field Flower Farm, who coordinates the Portland Farmers Market, said, "I don't know if at the time this was established there was a lobby from the fish markets on Commercial Street that didn't want competition, or if the city didn't want to regulate temperatures. As far as baked goods are concerned, there's always been an emphasis on keeping it farmers, via Press Herald [not live].

State legislators are also moving in the same direction with LD 1586, which would require 75 percent of vendors to grow 75 percent or more of what they're selling.

What the Presidents ate

2010-02-18T06:47:00.000-05:00

Sandy Oliver talked to the Boston Globe:

Q. Thomas Jefferson had a great interest in food. He was a real gourmet?

A. That’s his reputation. He really liked good food. I don’t think that Washington has quite that same reputation.

Q. Maybe the wooden teeth hurt.

A. I know. Poor guy!

Pandalus borealis

2010-02-16T08:03:00.000-05:00

Illus: John Burgoyne/NYM

Best of

2010-02-16T08:02:00.002-05:00

You should vote. [Updated: The results]

Nosh

2010-01-29T04:42:00.003-05:00

Nosh looks like it will open tonight. The meat-centric sandwich joint looks like it will be open until 1 a.m.

Along with the expansion at Otto, does this signal a revived late-night Portland?

Micucci Grocery Co.

2010-01-20T17:19:00.000-05:00

Photo: Rose Marasco

The Fox News

2010-01-20T17:14:00.004-05:00

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

Outside the Front Room, Portland police say that Jome Murphy, a self-employed contractor who occasionally works for Harding Lee Smith, threw fox urine at ROC protesters. As the Press Herald reports, "Murphy now faces seven assault charges (and a lifetime of backwoods humor)." Smith had this to say:

"Everyone who lives in the building was pretty irritated by [the protests.] I think everyone on Munjoy Hill is," via Portland Daily Sun.

Smith also allegedly bailed out Jome and bought him drinks at the Front Room.

Harding v. ROC

2010-01-11T06:53:00.001-05:00

Get your suit on.

Or not.

2010-01-09T17:12:00.005-05:00

Print: Hans Gissinger/Rabelais.

Now open: Sonny's

2010-01-08T17:09:00.004-05:00

Nope, not Sonny's Variety on ~~Commercial~~ Congress. Sonny's is Jay Villani's latest addition to the Local 188 empire building. It's open.

Sonny's has lunch from 11-2, weekdays, and dinner from 5-10. You can reach them at 772-7774.

Still open: Market Street Eats

2010-01-07T17:37:00.002-05:00

Due to a reporting error in our Tuesday edition, Market Street Eats was listed among eateries closing last year. Actually, it remains very much open at 36 Market St. and is doing quite well, its owner notes, and intends to remain so for quite some time. We regret the error, via Portland Daily Sun.

2010-01-07T08:07:00.002-05:00

via Mitchell Feinberg

Is Portland Maine the most underrated?

2010-01-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post's Tom Sietsema chatted about restaurants—and apparently he hasn't been keeping up with the Times or Bon Appetit:

WP: What's your vote for the most under-rated restaurant town in the country?
TS: Portland, Maine?

Lunch at Miyake

2010-01-02T09:39:00.003-05:00

The moment you've been waiting for: Miyake (871-9170) will begin serving lunch on January 6. (Thx Joe!).

2009-12-31T06:57:00.001-05:00

Photo: Ron Harrity,
via PTLDME.

Tony's coming to town

2009-12-23T01:02:00.006-05:00

Anthony Bourdain is coming to Portland in January. Lydia Tenaglia, Executive Producer says:

We’ve had Maine on the short list for several seasons now. However, picking each season’s line-up is not a matter of throwing darts at a map.... I strongly encourage you to send in a detailed list of people/places that we should visit there. Nothing sells a location more than a list of “What’s Not To Be Missed.” You can send that to contact [at] zeropointzero.com, via No Reservations.

[Updated] He went to Street & Co. and J's Oyster. What can you say? He likes good service.

[Updated] Bourdain tells the BDN that Portland has too many transplants to be considered the real Maine.

[Updated 4/13] Watch the show.

All your foods are belong to Internets

2009-12-23T00:58:00.002-05:00

Brian Duff analyzes the year in food for The Phoenix and gives us this professorial gem:

[T]here will likely be many folks opening restaurants that they simply shouldn't. Anyone who does will confront an online community of food-obsessives who have sometimes gotten downright ugly this year — with personal attacks, off-kilter rants, and ill-advised opening-night reviews. In such an environment, and with so many great restaurants already established in our small city, it's a wonder anyone has the guts to open another, via The Phoenix.

The more acute problem remains the lack of a single restaurant reviewer worth reading. Seriously, where is the Jonathan Gold of Maine?

Eat like a Mainer, according to Down East

2009-12-18T17:10:00.003-05:00

Down East has a list of 31 food producers and restaurants in its January issue, including Portland's 555, Bard Coffee, Blue Spoon, Bresca, Corner Room, Fore Street, Hot Suppa, and Otto.

The article also includes what has become the most commonly uttered thing about Portland's dining scene, this time from Dana Street:

“In 1988 I read that Portland had more restaurants per capita than the rest of the United States except for possibly San Francisco," via Down East.

Stocking up, live free or die edition

2009-12-17T07:05:00.002-05:00

Al Diamon discovers that Maine not only charges significantly more than New Hampshire for Allen's Coffee Brandy, but also:

I discovered that Maine had been running its alcoholic-beverage operations about as effectively as Tiger Woods managed his social life, via The Phoenix.

About Face

2009-12-16T16:57:00.012-05:00

Graham Letourney/
Salt, Dec. 17, 5-8 p.m.

Mead Works

2009-12-16T07:50:00.003-05:00

Is mead the new eggnog? NECN thinks so.

Mead has always been popular with the Dungeons and Dragons Renaissance Fair crowd. The challenge for modern mead makers is getting them to try this updated recipe.

Allagash koelschip

2009-12-14T17:22:00.000-05:00

Allagash has been experimenting with wild yeasts:

To anyone versed in conventional beer-making, the koelschip process is an exercise in madness. After boiling the wort and adding a dose of aged hops, the steaming liquid is pumped into the koelschip and left overnight, with the windows open. Wild yeasts and bacteria float in on wind gusts or drop down from the ceiling, via The Atlantic.

2009-12-11T08:06:00.001-05:00

Photo: Shoshannah White/
Photo A-Go-Go, Dec. 11, 6-8 p.m.

DiMillo's Floating Restaurant

2009-12-10T17:33:00.001-05:00

Long before Commercial Street meant Standard Baking Co., Bubble Maineia, or Gaucho's, there was a man named David "The Dogman" Koplow, who fed his wild dogs raw fish as they roamed the stinking, falling down waterfront. It was 1978 and DiMillo's was about to be born:

By sea, we moved in the Hercules, a 60-foot, wooden, self-propelled barge with a Bucyrus Erie crane atop her deck, and the Seboomock, a small 32-foot powerful tugboat that had done her previous work on northern Maine lakes; a couple of skiffs with outboards completed the armada, via Working Waterfront.

How to sell a chair

2009-12-10T08:05:00.003-05:00

Chef Rob Evans of Hugo's talked with Samatha Hoyt Lindgren from Rabelais about molecular gastronomy, a patron named Herman, and the future:

SHL: So the [Duck Fat]’s doing well?
RE: Yes, it’s doing well—that’s our nest egg, Duck Fat. We look at doing a few more of those and hopefully that will allow me to open up my hobby restaurant. All tasting menus, just twenty seats. I’d love to sell chairs. Instead of buying food, the chair will cost you two hundred dollars for three hours. Along with the chair comes three hours of food, via Gastronomica.

Lobster eggs

2009-12-09T17:07:00.000-05:00

Photo: Peter Dennen

Shrimp share: Portland

2009-11-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

Shrimp season starts December 1. What would it take to get a shrimp CSF in Portland?

“In order to make it feasible, we’d have to have 40 or more people sign up in any location,” Kim Libby told the BDN.

And apparently, there's already a pick-up location in the works.

Veggie monstrosities

2009-11-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Three Scarborough girls protest Sesame Street's transformation of a cookie-eater into a veggie-eating monster, via PPH.

See also, an NPR interview with the Cookie Monster.

Figa, Bangkok Thai and other random plywood

2009-11-20T08:05:00.004-05:00

Figa plans to open the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27.
Bangkok Thai has been closed for temporary renovations. Reopen date?
Central Maine Popcorn opened on Exchange St.
Binga's Wingas owner is in some hot saucy, um, redevelopment debate.

Blue Spoon burgers

2009-11-19T11:00:00.001-05:00

A Hamburger Today hits the $10 grass-fed burgers at the Blue Spoon:

At first I was concerned about a lack of salt, but the more I ate the more I realized beef this good is fine without much sodium. In fact, it's better than fine. Clearly, the Blue Spoon knows it's best to let the meat speak for itself, via MPS.

Uno Mas

2009-11-16T16:04:00.001-05:00

Havana's in Bar Harbor plans to open a Latin-esque restaurant, Uno Mas at 52 Wharf Street, next year, via HN.

Foraged apple share

2009-11-02T07:33:00.001-05:00

Wolfing season

2009-10-30T12:06:00.004-04:00

As Sam Hayward expressed in a brief, informal study of predation in the Portland restaurant ecology, an unprecedented wave of new restaurants and a short summer means one thing: It’s like adding wolves to caribou habitat.

The latest casualty: Una. Rumored to be going under in December. [Updated 12/20] And replaced with a Siano's.

Four Seasons Farm

2009-10-30T12:04:00.001-04:00

What's wrong with Eliot Coleman? James McWilliams, a critic of farmers markets and local foods, has a few words in his latest book, Just Food:

Because the Colemans of the organic world offer such a sharp contrast to industrial-organic and conventional operations, many influential food writers have swooned over them and told us that the main task is to protect the founding ideals of organic agriculture from the ever-hovering talons of agribusiness and its taste for chemically driven growth.... Despite my genuine respect for the agroecological ideas promoted by Coleman and others, I do not think that organic is the answer to our broken food system.

Forage fruit share: Quince

2009-10-29T08:14:00.001-04:00

Foodiotic trends

2009-10-23T08:02:00.001-04:00

One of the 10 worst dining trends of the last decade:

"You can't judge a restaurant from its opening night. It may be exciting to be there early. But to review it based on that first day is crazy and wrong," via Chicago Tribune.

David Chang told New York Magazine about another notable trends that he hates:

Type A's who take pictures and notes on the food at Ko, via Grub Street.

Luke's Lobster

2009-10-21T23:13:00.001-04:00

After a summer's worth of New Yorkers flooding Commercial St., one Mainer hits Luke's on E. 7th in Manhattan:

Searching for a “real Maine lobster roll experience” in New York City is as fruitless a quest as searching for a “real New York bagel experience” in Winter Harbor, via Hillytown.

RIP: Monday Market

2009-10-20T17:05:00.003-04:00

The Monday Farmers' Market in Monument Square wasn't a riveting success, and it's unclear if it will continue. Next year:

There are no plans to expand the market in different locations.... [but] there's talk of there being fish vendors in what would likely be a separate market, via Portland Daily Sun.

Fish!

Plywood

2009-10-16T09:00:00.005-04:00

Plywood all over the place:

The White Heart, has reportedly been sold to ~~Lance Meader & Jeffrey Li~~ Jason Loring and Matt Moran of Rivalries.

Bangkok Thai, 671 Congress Street, will now be named Boda.

Thanh Thanh Bida, at 250 Read Street, has a new owner.

Po’Boys & Pickles plans to move into the D'Angelo's at 1124 Forest Avenue.

Awful Annie’s also has a new owner and will henceforth be known as Momma’s Crow Bar, 189 Congress Street.

Luna Rossa: still not open.

G'Vanni's Italian Bistro

2009-10-16T08:51:00.005-04:00

G’Vanni’s Bistro plans to open at 15 Exchange Street, the old Walter’s, via Portland City Council. The building's owner has some unresolved code issues that may have contributed to Shima opening elsewhere.

2009-10-16T08:43:00.002-04:00

Mixed media: Amy Franceschini and Free Soil, Oct. 21 at MeCA

Perfect Maine Lobster

2009-10-14T12:38:00.001-04:00

The New York Times gets a couple letters about Linda Bean:

She calls her company Perfect Maine, but her plans should make Mainers ask, “Perfect for whom?”

Moo milk

2009-10-09T17:12:00.005-04:00

Coming soon: MOO Milk, pasteurized organic milk from Maine dairy farms, the possible upside to falling prices. [Updated] More on the milk from the Bangor Daily News.

Another local milk source.

Portland's Eater

2009-10-07T17:14:00.001-04:00

Eater's founder, Lockhart Steele, tells The Moment blog:

I do most of my cooking in Maine during the summer, and the Portland farmers’ markets are a huge source of joy for me, via The New York Times.

Found: Lost Coin

2009-10-07T17:10:00.005-04:00

A year after it opened, Professor Duff finds the Lost Coin—and finds it, well, kind of funny:

The head waiter, James, is 11 years old. He handled formal service deftly even as he sporadically entertained a rambunctious five-year-old. He explains the prix fixe, takes your drink order (Pepsi, diet, root beer, or orange), and gives you a choice of soup, via tP.

Wary Meyers

2009-10-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

Photo: Wary Meyers
Oct. 9, 7 p.m. at Longfellow Books

Raw cider

2009-10-04T08:11:00.002-04:00

Raw cider has been made safely without pasteurization for centuries. Until now. Bob Sewall, a postpasteurian and apple farmer in Lincolnville, talks with MPBN about the FDA's ban on retail sales of unpasteurized cider.

Shoot Magazine

2009-10-03T08:02:00.002-04:00

Shoot Magazine is was looking for food-themed photos.

[Updated] View it here.

2009-09-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

Photo: Mikael Kennedy,
Oct. 2, 41 Wharf St.

RIP report: White Heart Bar

2009-09-29T22:33:00.001-04:00

The White Heart, at 551 Congress St., has closed, but owner Anthony Hodge, of New Hampshire, tells the Portland Daily Sun he'd like to sell.

"I have two or three people that are really interested in it, one happens to be an existing employee."

Common Ground

2009-09-25T05:45:00.002-04:00

This is the first year for coffee at the CGCF.

For most of the history of the Common Ground Country Fair, coffee sales were prohibited [inside the fence] for a variety of reasons, including the fact that in 1977 no reliable sources of organically grown and processed coffee existed. Another strong consideration was the Fair's focus on Maine food, via MOFGA.

Well, it's not 1977 any more. Next year, the committee on micromanaging fair fare plans to ban donuts made without whole wheat flour, at least that's the hope. [Update: OrganicNation.tv covers the fair.]

Foraged apple share

2009-09-22T19:18:00.002-04:00

Community Supported Cafe

2009-09-21T18:46:00.003-04:00

Local Sprouts was part of a CSK roundup on Serious Eats.

Local Sprouts is opening a Community Supported C afe in 2010, which will feature a local foods menu, community events and workshops, local food retail, and art.

[Updated 9/25] The PPH covers the story.

Maine oysters

2009-09-21T18:35:00.003-04:00

A guide to 12 kinds of Maine oysters from Rowan Jacobsen: Glidden Points, Gay Islands, Dodge Coves, Wiley Points, Spinney Creeks, Wawenauks, Flying Points, North Havens, Norumbegas, Taunton Bays, Pemaquids, Winter Points, via Down East. [Updated: Barb Scully of Glidden Point was featured in The New York Times.]

Foraged apple share

2009-09-16T17:06:00.002-04:00

A market for farmers

2009-09-16T08:11:00.002-04:00

Should the Portland Farmers' Market remain a farmers market? Or should it expand to allow prepared foods and booksellers and a complete organo-Disney-playland?

"We have a waiting list for farmers at both markets," said market coordinator Larry Bruns of Hanson Field Flower Farm. "That's why I'm not pushing for farmers to do prepared foods. I'd like to save room for more farmers," via Portland Press Herald.

Anarchic times

2009-09-16T06:38:00.004-04:00

The New York Times's Julia Moskin thinks Portland's cruise ships are long gone for the year (they're not), but Moskin also says (quite accurately) that the "combination of culinary idealism and anarchy" is here to stay:

In the last decade, Portland has undergone a controlled fermentation for culinary ideas — combining young chefs in a hard climate with few rules, no European tradition to answer to, and relatively low economic pressure — and has become one of the best places to eat in the Northeast, via NYT.

There's also a slideshow of Stacey Cramp's photos and outtakes. See also, the PPH's coverage of the news and the discussion on Chowhound.

Foraged apple share

2009-09-16T05:45:00.002-04:00

Bowl Portland

2009-09-11T01:46:00.002-04:00

Bowl Portland, a big-ball, 10-pin lane is reportedly in the works for 8 Alder St. in Bayside. It may even have live music and:

The restaurant will serve pub-style food, via The Forecaster.

A is for Apple

2009-09-09T06:32:00.002-04:00

Apples abbreviated:

A guide to apple seasons and taste.
A guide to apple planting and use.
A guide to Out-on-a-Limb CSA.
A list of orchards.
A directory of organic apple growers.

O is for Otto

2009-09-07T12:27:00.005-04:00

The Bollard lists good deals for students and the destitute, including this one for Otto:

The delicious, New York–style slices at this new Portland pizzeria are cheap and served until 2 a.m. on weekends, but that’s not why they’re in this directory. Let’s not kid ourselves: these kind of features are just a crass attempt to stroke advertisers and lure new ones. How’s that for cheap? At least we admit it. (576 Congress St., Portland; 773-7099, ottoportland.com).

This month's issue also includes a must-read on where to find "Java for Nada."

Allagash

2009-09-06T03:41:00.001-04:00

Imbibe Magazine has named Allagash White in its list of dessert beers and its Tripel was picked as one of the “beers to serve to your friend who claims to be a beer snob” (via Media Mutt). The brewery was also featured in a recent BoGlo piece on wit beers.

2009-09-04T08:05:00.000-04:00

Photo: Tanja Hollander/
Sanctuary, via The Bollard

Colucci's Hilltop Market

2009-09-04T07:58:00.000-04:00

Now, why doesn't someone just tell us where to get the best Italian?

Bon Appetit

2009-08-31T17:32:00.006-04:00

Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit covers Portland and repeats that oft-uttered, little-fact checked piece of information with a fresh twist:

The local visitors bureau reports that per capita, more money is spent in Portland restaurants than in any other U.S. city except San Francisco and New York, via BA.

And lists the breweries, seafood restaurants, bakeries, and best places to eat. A short video here.

Minumentals: gastronomique

2009-08-31T17:02:00.002-04:00

Painting: Rob Sullivan
Rabelais, Sept. 4, 6-8 p.m. [On EMD!]

Haddock cakes and Marifax beans

2009-08-24T08:03:00.004-04:00

Sam Hayward talks about cutting costs, not corners:

In his kitchen at Fore Street Restaurant, amid the sounds of ovens and fans, and the murmurings and gurglings of pots and pans, Hayward makes a meal that harks back to the traditions of Maine—cod cakes and beans, via NPR.

Month in Review, August

2009-08-21T08:24:00.000-04:00

The New York Times' Julia Moskin planned to write about Portland restaurants in September (1) and preindustrialists from Brooklyn invaded Maine to butcher pigs (2). Attendees at a cod race got drunk and out of hand (3), a Matinicus man who reportedly shot another lobsterman did so to defend his daughter (4), and creating a Matinicus-only fishing grounds might solve any future tensions (5).

Because of fall harvests breaks, kids in The County started school in August (4). The potato was called an inexpensive food option (5). A surge in scallops on Georges Bank did not bode well for Maine's stocks (6). Livestock farmers were called an endangered species (7), the state's apple research facility turned 100 (8), and an 87-year old clam digger died (9). Food was better without meat (11).

12 Seats

2009-08-21T08:16:00.002-04:00

Photo: Jon Levitt

Restaurants per capita

2009-08-19T07:07:00.002-04:00

Whit Richardson looks at the numbers behind the oft-repeated, PR-infused accolade: Portland has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco.

The Portland City Clerk's office has 536 registered food service establishments with food preparation, according to Alexandra Murphy, assistant city clerk. Assuming a Portland population of 63,000, we come up with one restaurant for every 118 people. Pretty good! With that kind of figure, Portland even tops San Francisco, via Mainebiz.

The Farmers' Cart

2009-08-12T08:30:00.001-04:00

The Farmers' Cart, a 30-Acre Farm side project, opened today in Monument Square with breakfast sausage and pulled pork wraps.

2009-08-06T19:14:00.001-04:00

Sonny's

2009-08-05T07:13:00.000-04:00

Jay Villani, of Local 188, has rented the ground floor space at 83 Exchange St., the space formerly occupied by O'Naturals, for a new restaurant focused on the lunch crowds. According to The Forecaster, it will be called Sonny's.

RIP report: Huong

2009-08-03T07:09:00.001-04:00

Huong Vietnamese Food, the hole-in-the-wall pho shop at 349 Cumberland Avenue, has closed.

Green is gold

2009-07-29T17:51:00.000-04:00

Photo: E. Atterbury

Two takes

2009-07-28T19:21:00.002-04:00

Two tastes of new restaurants:

Restaurant Grace: I am sure I am destined for hell for saying this but my first thought upon walking in was not one of divinity but debauchery. It felt like it could be the ultimate dance club.

The Corner Room Kitchen & Bar: The Caesar was just as good as the one at the Front Room. There could have been a lot more truffle action in my macs for my taste, but I understand why they went for subtlety, via Tips from a Dweller.

Ice Cream

2009-07-23T14:06:00.002-04:00

Late-night ice cream block party: Tonight, 5-11 p.m. 46 Pine St (behind Bonobo). [Updated] "Two Scoops" has Sunday specials.