Month: September 2012

Food Truck Love: Love Cupcake & Teresa Esposito’s On the Go

| Posted in Openings

The Portland Daily Sun checked in with Love Cupcake after the food truck’s first day of operation.

A year after building their food trailer, the owners of Love Cupcakes finally opened on Commercial Street in Portland this week. On Thursday, early customer response seemed to vindicate the owners’ efforts to navigate city government and gain permission to operate a mobile food trailer.

“It’s been a mix, a lot of tourists, but a lot of local and business people, too,” said Anna Turcotte on Thursday.

The article also reports that there’s a second food truck in operation on Riverside.

“The only other application we are working on is for Teresa Esposito’s On the Go, on private property at the Home Depot parking lot at 245 Riverside Street,” Gardner said.

Esposito has operated a food truck at the location under a “unique agreement” with the city, with a temporary food service license, Gardner said. Now, she has filed an official food truck application.

City spokeswoman Nicole Clegg said, “The task force developed the policies, we put some rules in place, and now we’re in a wait and see mode to see how it goes.”

Review of Green Elephant

| Posted in Reviews

Eat Maine has published a review of Green Elephant.

The food comes out quickly and we dig into fresh rolls filled with avocado, vermicelli noodles, lettuce, carrots, and mint. The refreshing bundles wrapped in rice paper are crunchy and light on their own, but when dipped into the creamy peanut sauce, the dish is transformed. What makes it so good isn’t the unusual combination of ingredients—hoisin sauce, coconut milk, and peanut butter—but that every morsel comes out tasting even better. I might even consider putting it on ice cream!

More Restaurant Inspection Reporting

| Posted in General News

The Press Herald has published another article about restaurant inspections in Portland,

[President of the Maine Restaurant Association Dick] Grotton said Portland restaurants, many of which are in old buildings, are being cited for facility issues, such as not having a covered trash recetacle in the ladies room.

Instead of focusing on what are considered non-critical violations, he said, the city should concentrate on critical violations that could lead to illness.

“There are degrees of bad,” he said. “We need to separate what’s really important and what’s just part of the code.”

MPBN also interviewed Groton about the restaurant inspection process,

But Dick Grotton, president of the Maine Restaurant Association, says the records alone don’t provide a complete picture – mainly because some of the violations have nothing to do with food safety. Grotton spoke with MPBN’s Jennifer Mitchell.

The full Maine Food Code is available online on Maine.gov.

Speckled Ax x Allagash = James Bean

| Posted in Beer

Speckled Ax and Allagash Brewing are collaborating on the production of a bear to be called James Bean. The coffee infused beer combines Allagash Tripel with a blend of Ethiopia Amaro Gayo Natual coffee. According to the Speckled Ax Facebook page,

This batch is headed for bourbon barrels later today, and will be ready for drinking in a few weeks. Subtle, clean coffee and fruit nose, with sweet, yeasty tropical fruit and mild, clean coffee flavor.

Restaurant Inspections Reporting

| Posted in General News

Today’s Press Herald widens their reporting on restaurant health inspections. Based on city documents they found that,

In August 2011, Portland hired its first health inspector devoted to restaurants. Since then, the inspector, Michele Sturgeon, has inspected 49 restaurants and failed 39 of them. Six failed initial follow-up inspections and three failed multiple follow-ups. In general, a restaurant fails if it has more than 13 violations.

There’s a report that the state has criticized “Portland officials Thursday for allowing the owner of [The Porthole] to cook a lobster dinner for a wedding reception in a kitchen that had been closed for health code violations.”

Interview with Frosty’s

| Posted in People

Thursday’s Press Herald includes an interview Nels Omdal, co-owner of Frosty’s Donuts. As reported earlier this week, Brunswick-based Frosty’s will soon be opening a location in South Portland.

Q: How many doughnuts do you make each day?
A: Last Tuesday, we made about 140 dozen and sold out around noon. On the weekends, I make 225 dozen. There is usually a line out the door and everything’s gone by 9:45 a.m. On Labor Day weekend, when we opened the Freeport shop, we made 400 dozen.

Love Cupcakes First Day

| Posted in Uncategorized

WMTW TV and the Forecaster covered the opening of Love Cupcakes in the Old Port yesterday.

Meanwhile, Love Cupcakes is preparing to celebrate its new location with menu additions, including coffee and a selection of fall-themed cupcake flavors. Spear said she is “optimistic” about the food truck’s future.

“Portland is such a great city,” she said, “and the addition of food trucks can only make it better.”