The Press Herald has published an interview with Shannon Bard, chef of Zapoteca.
Q: But why in Maine?
A: I knew there was a need for traditional Mexican cuisine. I take traditional dishes and I modernize them and make them my own, using as many local ingredients as possible. People have their preconceived idea of what Mexican is, but they’ve had border Mexican (cuisine). A huge majority hasn’t had interior Mexican cuisine. That was the biggest challenge – people having ideas of what Mexican food should be. I could bring up traditional produce and fish from (Mexico), but it would cost a lot more money and I want to focus on local products as much as possible.
Just curious, are they still planning on opening a Spanish restaurant on Congress St in Portland? I stopped seeing info about it.
Because of delays in the rennovations of the building they’ve decided not to locate Toroso at the corner of High and Congress. Lat I heard I think they still plan to launch a Spanish restaurant at some point.