Bar Lola received 4½ stars from the review in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
Outstanding food prepared in different- size portions and courses to mix and match according to the diner’s whim. Top quality ingredients, well-conceived combinations and meticulous preparation make every dish a delight. Opened five years ago by Guy and Stella Hernandez (Guy is chef), Bar Lola is an intimate space with skilled service in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood outside of the city center.
Late night food cart Phil’s Dogs serving customers Friday night on Congress Street.
The cover story in this week’s Portland Phoenix reports on the struggle of local Maine farmers to break free from federal and state food rules that were written for industrial agriculture.
“From farm to table” isn’t just a meaningless foodie slogan anymore. It’s the rallying cry for the smallest of small-scale farming operations in Maine, which are fighting against what they consider to be burdensome state and federal regulations. In the process, they’re laying the groundwork for a nationwide “food sovereignty” movement, aimed at restoring the direct relationship between food producers and consumers, while reducing government interference in local food systems.
The Golden Dish has published a review of Deux Cochon.
Deux Cochon received 4½ stars from the Eat & Run review in today’s Press Herald.
The pork in the pulled pork sandwich ($6) was smoky and very flavorful, as close as you’ll find in the Portland area to what you can get down South. My friend and I, however, immediately and independently had the same reaction when we bit into our sandwiches: the meat, while delicious, was too dry. A vinegary, Carolina-style sauce from the Deux Cochon counter solved the problem, although it was a little overpowering…Despite that minor issue, I would highly recommend this pulled pork sandwich.
In the latest entry on Immigrant Kitchens Lindsay Sterling learns how to make Ghanian Peanut Soup from Ebenezer Akakpo (read the recipe and see the photos).
Ebenezer, born in Ghana, and I, born in Wisconsin, met one day in Roxbury, Massachusetts, at Tropical Foods Supermarket. I’d heard this was the place to go for a foufou stick (a stirring tool) and discovered that this is also the place where all the animal parts go that have gone missing from other supermarkets! Here were some of the labels in the meat section: “Chicken feet, beef neck, beef tongue, pork stomach, pig tails, pig snout, and beef feet.” Ebenezer must have seen me, the only white person in the crowded store, trying to guess my way through what looked like 100 different, boxed foufou mixes. He offered to show me how his family did made it in Ada.
Buttercup Cupcakes has leased the space at 426 Fore Street. Owner Alysia Zoidis hopes to move quickly on refitting the space and open by early June.
Scratch Baking is having a launch event on Sunday at 2-4 pm for Baker’s Notes their new “bi-annual journal offering recipes, stories, images and illustrations about the Scratch Baking Co. experience”.
Today’s Portland Daily Sun profiled Deux Cochon and its owner Adam Alfter,
“I love pickled pig’s feet, they are so good, but people are kind of scared of them,” said Adam Alfter, owner of the Public Market House’s newest BBQ joint, Deux Cochon.
“Probably about three people will eat it and I’ll eat the rest of them, but I’m cool with that, because those three people get to know what it’s like,” said Alfter.
reported on the upcoming return of the Groceria Cafe (aka Cafe at Pat’s),
“I had leased it for the last five years, and now I have it back with Greg Gilman, who is the original chef who built it with me. He’s coming back. Everybody’s excited,” [Jaime] Vacchiano said.
The cafe won rave reviews in local media, and one patron who dined at the cafe in its early years said Gilman’s return is great news.
and spread the word about Broke 207’s call for more affordable restaurants and the PFM Top 10 List.
The latest issue of Mainebiz reports on the changing face of farming in Maine,
Younger farmers like Brenner and Bliss are invigorating Maine’s agriculture industry, riding a societal shift toward locally sourced goods that has made farming a viable enterprise even for those lacking land and generational expertise. The average Maine farmer is 56.4 years old, hardly a spring chicken but ranking the state a decent 17th in the nation (between Wisconsin and Indiana’s youthful 55 years and last place New Mexico’s comparatively old 59.6), according to 2007 USDA census figures, the most recent available. The age is lower among Maine’s organic farmers, who average 52 years old.