Troy Mains from the Harraseeket Inn has been named the 2018 Chef of the Year by the Maine Restaurant Association.
Month: January 2018
Babette’s Feast
The Press Herald has published an article about the upcoming performance of Babette’s Feast at Portland Stage.
“It is a very profound movie,” he said. “It was, in the end, about bringing everybody together.”
Now “Babette’s Feast” is coming to the American stage. A new adaptation, written by New York City playwright Rose Courtney, will have its world premiere Jan. 23 at the Portland Stage Company on Forest Avenue.
Tickets are available through the Portland Stage box office.
Craig Dilger
Beer Advocate magazine has published a profile of Craig Dilger, co-founder of Foulmouthed Brewing.
Craig Dilger and his wife, Julia, spent the better part of a decade honing the plans for Foulmouthed Brewing. They placed the things Dilger loves about homebrewing—the creativity, the variety, the limitless experimentation—at the core of their business plan. Foulmouthed, the brewpub the couple launched in June 2016 out of an old automotive garage in South Portland, Maine, hews closely to that vision, eschewing flagships and long-range production calendars for an eclectic and ever-evolving tap list. And while going pro involves a lot more squeegee-pushing and business management than his days racking carboys in a kitchen, the payoff comes in the opportunity to offer underappreciated styles in an IPA-heavy market. “People will come in specifically to get our German-style Black Ale. They’re happy we have a Brown on tap,” Dilger says, “even if malts aren’t that sexy anymore.”
CNT: The Lost Kitchen
Condé Nast Traveler has included The Lost Kitchen on their list of the Most Beautiful Restaurants in the World.
Freedom, Maine: a quaint town located just an hour-and-a-half-drive from culinary capital Portland, and the site of self-taught chef Erin French’s The Lost Kitchen. Situated over a bridge, through the woods by a babbling stream, French has built a true fairytale story in a renovated 19th century gristmill building. The chef welcomes diners into her home, to eat at wooden tables (made from old barn boards) in her kitchen. And along with her all-female team she works with the produce (all sourced from local friends) that looks best each day.
Food Writing Workshop
Acclaimed Maine author, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, will be teaching a food writing workshop this summer in Rockport, July 22-28.
Want to be a food writer but don’t know how to start? Already a food writer but feeling stumped or uninspired? Whether a beginner or experienced writer, you’ll explore every aspect of writing food, from recipes to restaurant reviews, from profiles to feature articles, from food memoir to food history to the issues that make food a compelling read in today’s news. Read, write and share thoughts about what makes the best food writing, what makes it salable, how to pitch a story, how to craft a cookbook, or just how and where to begin.
Join award-winning cookbook author and food journalist Nancy Harmon Jenkins and several of her peers, including Mitchell Davis, executive vice-president of the James Beard Foundation and Kathleen Fleury, editor in chief of Downeast Magazine. Together, we’ll break apart the complex world of food writing and see what makes it work when it does—and also when it doesn’t.
3rd Purple House Dinner
Here’s a look at Sunday night’s pasta-themed dinner at The Purple House. This was the third of chef Krista Kern Desjarlais’ dinners in North Yarmouth.
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This Week’s Events: Dracula Dinner, Brew Pub Cup, Good Food Awards, Baking Classes
Thursday – an Allagash dinner is taking place at Terlingua, Gather is collaborating with the Royal River Community Theatre on a Dracula Dinner, and the Brew Pub Cup is taking place at The Great Lost Bear.
Friday – the Good Food Awards are taking place, 3 Maine vendors are nominees, and there will be a wine tasting at the West End Rosemont.
Saturday – Woodford F&B will be celebrating their 2nd anniversary and raising money for the Locker Project, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Sunday – Foley’s is kicking off their baking class series.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.
Maine Scallops
The Maine Sunday Telegram has explained why only a limited part of the Maine scallop makes it on to the dish and reports on a new aquaculture operation that may change that.
December into April is the season when wild Atlantic sea scallops can be pulled from state-regulated waters in the Gulf of Maine both by divers and mechanical drags for our dining delight. Maine scallops are both delicious and pricey, but few of us realize that half of the scallop is chucked out at sea even though it’s perfectly edible.
This might also explain why it’s illegal in Maine to serve scallops on their shell in Maine.
Reviews: Tuscan Table, Maiz, Pearl
Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Tuscan Table, and
In addition to the service, the meat and cheese plate – which I felt was both really delicious and a very fair value needs a couple of – I’ll call them logistical – improvements. And my haddock was good, but not the great, flavorful piece of art I’d look for in a perfect world. Still, Tuscan Table is off to a good start in their first weeks. In fact, good enough that my wife went back with a friend the very next night. I think it’s reasonable that you check it out at least once and see what you think.
the Press Herald has reviewed Maiz.
What I am saying is I’m glad none of you witnessed my consumption of this arepa. This delicious arepa, with its crispy (gluten free!) exterior and its messy interior. It comes with an optional sauce that varies from day to day. I chose chimichurri. Something made the arepa the tiniest bit greasy, and I think the chimichurri might have been the source. But it wasn’t enough to stop me from enjoying every single last bite.
Also, the Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Pearl in Kennebunk,
Some dishes, like golden shoestring fries, an overstuffed bouillabaisse and a meaty, lightly dressed lobster roll ($24) are twins of dishes she serves at Pearl Oyster Bar in Manhattan. Others, like a warm-spiced apple crisp and a crunchy, schnitzel-like pan-fried chicken breast served with creamy celery remoulade, demonstrate that Charles – who, unlike many famous chefs, frequently cooks on the line in her own kitchen – knows a whole lot more than oysters. You won’t be able to score a table here once the tourists arrive, so take advantage of the off-season and get here while you can.
NYC→PWM
Today’s Press Herald reports on some of the former New Yorkers making a new life and a living in Portland, and helping develop the restaurant scene in the process.
Restaurateurs who have moved here from New York say the customers are different, too. Sansonetti says that Mainers, curiously, appear to be more adventurous eaters than New Yorkers. When he worked at Bar Boulud, Sansonetti put Mediterranean sardines and Maine herring on the menu, but they were tough sells. When he opened Piccolo, he served sardines “and we couldn’t keep them on the menu.”