Author: PFM

2 More Weekend Events: Wine & Soup

| Posted in Events

Here’s a couple more events for you to consider for your weekend calendar:

Saturday, 4-6 pm at Freeport Cheese & Wine – Ned Swain from Devenish Wines will be pouring a set of wines from Oregon and Washington state. The wines were imported by Wayne Clark, a former resident of Southern Maine who started Orwa Wines to bring wines from the Northwest to his former home state.

Sunday 7-10 pm – SPACE Galley is hosting Soup which is billed as a “collaborative public dinner event and democratic experiment in micro-funding for creative projects in Portland.” If you go, don’t forget to bring a bowl, a spoon, $5 and your 5 minute presentation. 10 people will get selected at random to present their idea and everyone present gets to vote on which proposal wins all the entrance proceeds for the night. The food “donated by Scratch Bakery, 50 Local, home, Aurora Provisions and Local Sprouts”.

Reviews: Market Street Eats & Harmon’s Lunch

| Posted in Reviews

From Away has published a review of Harmon’s Lunch,

The burgers at Harmon’s are thin, and cooked to a solid medium. They are topped with a thick layer of American cheese, which melts and oozes perfectly into the nooks and crannies on the surface of the burger. The “red relish” is a kind of pickle relish/tomato hybrid, and the onions are sublime; slow cooked for so long that they become incredibly sweet, with the consistency of a marmalade.

and a review of Market Street Eats.

The pita that Market Street Eats uses almost requires a new term to be invented; the word “wrap” is no longer really descriptive enough. These are some inspired sandwiches, served by a friendly, conversational staff, in a casual restaurant space that it’s easy to imagine yourself visiting at least weekly.

Gogi Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Gogi is now open for business. The menu is a mash-up of Latin American and Asian food such as Shiitake Mushroom Tacos, Kimchi Fried Rice and Scallop Ceviche. Prices range from $2.50 for the Tofu Taco to $8 for the Crabmeat Quesadilla. Gogi is owned by Ian Farnsworth who also runs Slainte.

Bar Review of Figa

| Posted in Reviews

Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Figa.

The bar menu is chosen specifically by Farrington, with input from her staff. With wine offerings evenly split between reds and whites and available by glass ($7-$15), half bottle and full bottle ($29-$88), there are many choices for a wine enthusiast. Especially of interest at Figa is the sparkling wine selection, with about ten different options it is one of the most extensive I have seen. If you want to try out a few, order the Sparkling Flight ($13), a sampling of Rose Brut, Cava and Prosecco sparkling wines.

Review of Shanghai Tokyo

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Press Herald has published a review of Shanghai Tokyo.

Shanghai Tokyo has three personalities — one Chinese menu, one Japanese menu and a Thai menu. It would certainly take more than one visit to determine whether a diner is a good match for a place that has 288 items on its combined lunch and dinner menus. (Yes, I counted them.) We zeroed in on the lunch menu, which is much more manageable on its own.

Novare Res & Ebeneezer’s, “Legendary Beer Bars”

| Posted in Profiles

Josh Christie profiles Novare Res and Ebeneezer’s in part 8 of his series on The Beer of Maine.

Maine is lucky enough to have two beer geek meccas known ’round the land. When beer websites, magazines, and periodicals list the best beer bars in the country, you can rest assured that Ebenezer’s, Novare Res, or both will pop up. Both combine the best of British pubs, German beer gardens and Belgian cafes. Good food? Heck yes. Great atmosphere? You bet.

And the beer? The beer?! Out of this world.

Golden on Bar Dining

| Posted in Reviews

John Golden gives a shout out to Back Bay Grill, Caiola’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Grace, Walter’s among others as having some his favorite restaurant bars to dine at.

A Portland couple I know who eat out most nights only dine at bar seatings–and they’re not even drinkers! But they do it because it’s cozy and familiar; as regular they’re fussed over and served well. One advantage is you never have to worry about finding your waiter because he or she is right in front of you behind the bar.
Greater Portland restaurants offer plenty of options mixing and matching fine dining with a polished bar at which to eat.

Vegan Goes Mainstream

| Posted in General News

The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald reports that as vegan diets are becoming more popular, Portland restaurants are responding to the need by adding more vegan options to their menus.

When the swanky Grace Restaurant opened almost two years ago in Portland, its menu was populated by meat and seafood-based entrees. But six months ago, the popular eatery did something unusual in Portland’s top-tier restaurant scene: It added a vegan entree to its regular menu.

“Why we have the dish started with demand,” general manager Kate Tozier said. “We saw more and more people requesting vegan.”

Immigrant Kitchens: Sudanese Small Potatoes

| Posted in Cooking

In the latest entry on Immigrant Kitchens Lindsay Sterling learns how to make Sudanese small potatoes from John Yanga (read the recipe and see the photos).

John Yanga’s love for small potatoes doesn’t come from some gourmet trend in glossy magazine. It’s just the way his favorite dish was done when he was growing up in a grass roofed, mud-hut in a village in Southern Sudan. The story of how he made it from there to here, cooking batatis all the way, really inspires me. If his life were a fable, the moral would be: the world is horrible and chaotic, yeah, but not too much so for you to bring some good.

Lindsay Sterling is teaching a cooking class on April 8 in Freeport. On the menu is Miso Soup and Oyakodon. For more information visit www.immigrantkitchens.com.

Opening Day Eats

| Posted in General News

Tomorrow is opening day at Hadlock Field and the Portland Daily Sun has published part 3 of their series on the food and food service staff at the Sea Dogs home stadium,

The Portland Sea Dogs are intensely proud of their local food and beer vendor relationships. The mutually beneficial support of Binga’s Winga’s (owner Alec Altman and former partner JD Way were aboard from day one when Binga’s started the on-going tradition of feeding both teams after home games), Greg Shane from Shane’s of Maine, former stand hawker Luke Livingston of Baxter Beer, Oakhurst Dairy, Pineland Farms, and others all add to the philosophy the team tries to embody.

Iacuessa states, “It’s vital to us to support the community and buy as locally as possible. It’s the right thing to do and we’re always looking for ways to tie in local vendors.”

Today’s Press Herald also includes a look at the food options at Hadlock Field,

Along with the usual steak-and-cheese sandwiches, pizza, fries, popcorn, fried dough and Sea Dogs Biscuits, you’ll find better-tasting burgers that are now made from Pineland Meats. Drivas said the staff was impressed by how much better the local meat was compared with the generic frozen patties they usually serve at Hadlock. (The Pineland burgers are actually processed in Massachusetts, then shipped back up to Maine.)

“We tried them and fell in love with them,” Drivas said.