For the latest episode of the Maine Culinary Podcast, host Dan Bodoff interviewed Joe Ricchio and business partner Alex Steed about their new project, Food Coma TV.
Month: August 2011
Under Construction: Granny’s Burritos & The Bakery on the Hill
Here are a pair of new items on the Under Construction list:
- Owner Chris Godin is reopening Granny’s Burritos. This new incarnation of Granny’s will be located on the 2nd floor of the Public Market House in the space formerly occupied by Deux Cochon. Godin has announced a grand reopening will take place September 4th.
- The Bakery on the Hill is the name a of new French bakery that under construction at 253 Congress Street a couple doors down from Figa. Their goal is to open in October.
Reviews of Green Elephant and 13th Cookie
Eat Here, Go There has published a review of Green Elephant,
Each time I dine at Green Elephant I find even more reasons to return. Their food is inventive and packed with flavor, the prices are reasonable, and the ambiance is great. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone—from carnivore extraordinaire to vegan lettuce lovers there really is something for every appetite.
and The Spiced Plate has published a review of 13th Cookie.
My favorite, however, was the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie. It was like a little bit of cookie with a load of almond butter and the perfect balance of chocolate. I felt like I was getting the right balance of protein, energy, and sweetness. I really liked that it wasn’t too sweet (they don’t use white sugar, corn syrup, margarine or shortening, either!), and that they weren’t shy about the almond butter. It was a delight to enjoy, and held me over until lunch time.
CbD at the Roasters Guild Retreat
For the 2nd year in a row Coffee by Design’s head coffee roaster, Dylan Hardman, took first place at the national Roasters Guild Retreat. According to the press release,
The Tri-Style Roast Challenge, which placed nearly 100 roasters from across the country on teams, tested roasters on their coffee capabilities through three tests: roast for a pour-over filter preparation; roast for a press-pot preparation; and roast to match a sample score.
Hardman’s team, which included members from Seattle, Texas, and Oregon, received the highest score for the pour-over filter preparation and the highest overall score.
Review of Market Street Eats
Market Street Eats received 3½ stars from the Eat & Run review in today’s Press Herald.
In my wrap, the blue cheese dressing melded with the buffalo chicken spice, and before too long, I had broken into a sweat. The chicken was strips of fresh breast meat, not the deep-fried stuff often associated with buffalo chicken. It was a bit messy, but nothing that three napkins couldn’t handle, and certainly well worth the effort.
Interview with Dan Sriprasert
Maine Ahead has published an interview with Dan Sriprasert, chef and co-owner of Green Elephant.
Where you studied and/or apprenticed: My formal education was in computer engineering (Thailand) and graphic design (Seattle). Everything I know about cooking comes from my family and from lifelong, hands-on experience.
When you realized you really were a chef: When I opened my own restaurant. It was then that I realized “I’m doing this!” and that it wasn’t a hobby anymore.
Mark Sprague, Organizer of the Portland Brew Festival
Brews and Books blogger Josh Christie has posted an interview on Hop Press with Mark Sprague, the organizer of the Portland Brew Festival.
Nationally and locally, beer festivals are becoming more popular every year. How is the Portland Brew Festival different than the other Maine beer fests?
Maine has some awesome beers and nearly every festival in the state focuses on just these great in-state brewers, but I made the conscious decision to invite brewers from across the region–there are so many up-and-coming brewers and unknowns who should be known… I want the people who come to this festival to leave with an “aha” moment about a brewer or beer or cider they discovered here. I’m also coming at this from a homebrewer background. I’ve been to a number of festivals, but never one where they are brewing live at the event.
Immigrant Kitchens: Cambodian Curry Soup
In the latest entry on Immigrant Kitchens Lindsay Sterling learns how to make Cambodian Curry Soup from Makara Meng (read the recipe and see the photos).
It was there that Makara told me this story, in — as a very strange God would have it – the rice aisle. Because it’s what I do, I asked her if she would teach me a dish from her homeland. This Cambodian curry is a dish she and her mother made in her childhood before all that hell broke loose. Today the two of them make it, still together, in South Portland for family birthday parties. It’s bone-in chicken pieces, eggplant, yam, green beans and onion wedges all covered and wading in a thick red sauce.
Monday Market, Tequila & Macrobiotics
Today’s Press Herald reports on efforts to bring the Monday Farmers Market back to life,
Farmers on the wait list said they won’t come on Mondays because no customers attend. They can’t afford to take time from planting and harvesting to travel downtown and not sell anything. Likewise, customers won’t come on Mondays because no farmers attend.
It’s a self-defeating cycle, but a group of immigrant farmers will soon try to revive the Monday market. Dawud Ummah, president of the Center for African-American Heritage, is coordinating the effort.
an article about tequila featuring staff from Zapoteca,
For a lot of people, sitting in front of a line of three shots of tequila might conjure some flashbacks involving a pinch of salt, a lemon wedge and a pounding headache. But the shots that come in a flight of tequila at Zapoteca, a new Mexican restaurant and tequileria in Portland, are meant to be sipped and savored like a fine single malt Scotch, not downed in one gulp by a drunken college student.
and an article about the macrobiotic diet and the macrobiotic cooking classes at Five Season Cooking School,
The school is run by Lisa Silverman, and it hosts frequent visits from well-known macrobiotic teachers.
Next week, Jessica Porter, a former Portland resident and author of “The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics,” will teach a class at the school. At the end of September, internationally acclaimed macrobiotic educator Warren Kramer will come to the school to offer a lecture and teach a class.
NY Times: A Gilded Lobster Trap?
An article in today’s New York Times explores the idea that Maine’s reliance on the lobster fishery creates a “gilded trap” for Maine fisherman.
Maine lobsters, prized for their succulence and briny sweetness, are so abundant, and so lucrative, that they support fishing communities up and down the coast.
And that is just the problem, says Robert S. Steneck, a marine biologist at the University of Maine.
In a paper in the current issue of Conservation Biology, he and a team of researchers say the lobstermen, their communities and the state economy are caught in “a gilded trap,” in which short-term profit outweighs long-term social and environmental risks.