Month: July 2014

Under Construction: The Farm Stand

| Posted in Under Construction

thefarmstand

Joe Fournier, Managing Partner at The Farm Stand tells me that they’re making excellent progress on the build out of the space and that they hope to open sometime in mid-August. They’re currently hiring to staff the market.

The Farm Stand is a collaboration between Fournier, Penny Jordan and Ben Slayton. Fournier has been a longtime member of the Rosemont Market staff, Jordan is a co-owner of Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth and Slayton runs Farmer’s Gate Market which sources all its pasture-raised meats from Maine farms.

The Farm Stand is located at 161 Ocean Street in the Knightsville neighborhood of South Portland.

Beertown USA

| Posted in Beer

draftmag201407Draft magazine has paid a visit to Portland to explore our city’s rapidly evolving beer scene.

Bars like The Great Lost Bear and Novare Res have championed beer for years, and now there’s even more to root for: 13 [Maine] breweries launched in 2013 and a staggering 16 more will fling open their doors this year. Sense the excitement and convivial vibe in the city’s tasting rooms, and strike at the chance to taste East Coast Portland’s beer bounty.

The article highlights: Mama’s Crowbar, Rising Tide, Allagash, Bissell Brothers, Austin Street, Foundation Brewing, Salvage BBQ, Maine Beer Company, Pai Men Miyake, In’finiti, the Bier Cellar, Urban Farm Fermentory, and Central Provisions.

The article isn’t yet online but you should be able to find the July/August issue on newsstands soon.

Updated: the article is now online.

Review of Slab

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has reviewed Slab.

Portions are huge. We shared a panzanella salad, more than enough for two.  It was a delicious mix of crusty caraway bread, which was actually too hard to cut using those wooden utensils.  Ultimately we picked it up by hand and dunkedf the bread in the sauce. The salad contained feta cheese, cucumber, an orange-dill sauce, olives and onions.  But it didn’t have the traditional cubes of tomatoes; instead it was slathered in a tomato vinaigrette.  It was very good, though too bready.

Interview with Locally Sauced Burritos

| Posted in People

From Away has published a Q&A with Charlie Ely, owner of the Locally Sauced Burritos food cart.

What first attracted you to the food business?
My garden. Four years ago I had a small garden that produced over 100lbs of peppers (way more than I knew what to do with anyway). So I started to play around with hot sauces. I reached a point where I had around 10 sauces. At this time, I was working as an accountant and hating every second of it. I realized there had to be more to life than sitting at a desk. I decided to focus on how I could get these sauces out to the public and turn that in to a job. Locally Sauced was born.

Reviews: Fore Street & Fishermen’s Grill

| Posted in Reviews

Diningsense has reviewed Fore Street,

As a veteran Fore Street customer, I thought I knew what to expect but this meal blew us away. The ingredients were well-sourced as always, but this meal displayed a level of precision that I’ve never seen and so this was my favorite meal of the year to this point. Past favorites were perfectly executed, while new plates confirmed that the kitchen’s creative faculties remain intact.

and Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Fishermen’s Grill.

I finished my wife’s meal and after spending close to 80 bucks on lunch, we were pretty full. I was happy. The lobster roll wasn’t what I was looking for, but fortunately, that was the outlier of the meal. I really wonder what the issue was as their other food was so good. I loved the diveyness of the place and almost everything about the place was really enjoyable. I would definitely go back, but unless I found out there were some changes to it, I’d avoid the lobster and probably choose something fried.

Washington Ave: Oxbow Tasting Room & a New Restaurant

| Posted in Under Construction

Two new under construction updates surfaced on Tuesday via an article in the Press Herald Real Estate section. The article (not available online) talked about the renovations to the old Nissen Bakery building at 75 Washington Ave.

New developments include:

  • An Oxbow Warehouse and Tasting Room – I talked with Oxbow co-owner Tim Adams and he confirmed that Oxbow is the “well-known local brewery” mentioned in the article. Oxbow has taken over 10,000 sq. ft. of space (instagram photo) in the building—a huge increase over the 800 sq. ft. they currently operate out of in Newcastle. In addition to tanks for conditioning, aging and equipment for bottling their beer, Oxbow also plans to open a Portland tasting room. The tasting room is being designed by local artist Will Sears and Sam Gilbert.
  • A New Restaurant – the article confirms the rumors around town about a restaurant going in on Washington Ave. It will be located in the retail spaces that are currently vacant. More details will no doubt emerge once they sign the lease.

Under Construction: Tandem Bakery

| Posted in Under Construction

Alex Steed has interviewed co-owner Briana Holt about the upcoming Tandem Bakery in the West End.

What can folks expect from the new West End shop?
It is going to be the awesome. There will be Tandem Coffee, of course, which they already serve at the East Bayside location. What we kind of want is a neighborhood joint that is focused on yummy, comforting-but-cool,  American-style baking…

Hilltop Superette

| Posted in General News

The Blueberry Files has posted a report on the new Hilltop Superette which just opened on Monday.

Hilltop Superette has been remodeled, but the layout is very similar to Colucci’s. The ceilings seem higher and the deli and checkout counters are raised as well. It’s very clean and bright, with a modern retro feel. 
I was immediately impressed with the selection of dry goods on the shelves. I saw Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese next to Cascadian Farms organic cereal, Thai Kitchen curry pastes next to Shake’n’Bake.