Author: PFM

This Week’s Events: Wine, Cheese, Winter Harvest Dinner, V-Day, WSET

| Posted in Events

Wednesday — Black Tie is teaching a cooking class, both Grace Wine Revolution and Wine Wise are holding wine classes.

Thursday — The Cheese Iron is teaching a class on Winter Cheeses.

Friday — there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli. First Friday Art Walk is taking place, restaurants will be busy so reservations are recommended.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Irish Community Center, LeRoux Kitchen is having a wine tasting and the Winter Cache Project is holding their Winter Harvest Dinner.

Valentine’s Day — February 14 is coming up fast. V-Day is is a very busy night for Portland restaurants.  If you’re planning on taking your significant other out for dinner on Valentine’s Day now is the time to call your favorite restaurant for reservations. Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday this year but many restaurants that would usually be closed that night are staying open and several have announced special prix fixe menus:

  • Bar Lola — 5-course, $45 per person.
  • Bresca — on February 12 Bresca is offering a 5-course dinner for $65 per person; on Valentine’s Day Bresca is serving a 3-course dessert menu for $18 per person and on February 16 Bresca is having a 5-course sparkling wine dinner for $65 per person.
  • East Ender — 4-course, $30 per person.
  • Five Fifty-Five — 4-course, $75 per person or a 3-course menu at the bar for $60 per person.

WSET — The Wine & Spirit Education Trust, will be offering their Intermediate Level 2 certificate class in Portland March 26-27. The class is being taught by instructors from Grape Experience. The program is aimed at anyone “who works in wine, wants a career in the wine industry or has a serious interest in the subject”. See the WSET website for a more detailed explanation of what the course covers.

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.

CNBC List of Top American Foodie Cities

| Posted in Reviews

Cable network CNBC has published their list of America’s Top Foodie Cities and Portland slots in at #4. They based their assessment on the

ratio of local restaurants to chain restaurants, number of Whole Foods and cooking stores, number of wine shops, wine bars, craft breweries, and brew pubs; and the number of CSA (community supported agriculture) farms and local farmers markets.

Review of Katahdin

| Posted in Reviews

Katahdin received 3½ stars from the Taste & Tell review in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.

After a year in a new location, Katahdin Wood Fire Grill and Bar in Portland continues to enjoy weekend crowds and faithful regulars who are enamored of bartender Winnie Moody’s generous martinis, the kitchen’s good food and a community that always has a place for a newcomer.

AP Winter Recommendations

| Posted in Reviews

Appetite Portland has posted a list of hearty winter recommendations from Little Seoul, Kamasouptra, Bard, Havana South, Flatbread and The Front Room. Here’s a taste,

The Seafood Udon Soup at Little Seoul. Out-of-this-world kelp broth steams my pores as I plunge the depths of a great big bowl for hearty chucks of salmon, scallops, Maine shrimp, fresh veggies and thick, meaty noodles. This newish Korean restaurant is doing MANY things right (I’ll publish a full review soon), but this stellar Udon deserves a separate spotlight.

Review of Pamola Xtra Pale Ale

| Posted in Beer

Brews and Books has published a review of Pamola Xtra Pale Ale, a new beer from Maine’s newest brewery, Baxter Brewing in Lewiston.

If you’re looking for a hop bomb or a malty mouthful of a beer to impress your beer geek friends, Pamola ain’t it. Even in Maine’s landscape of mild English-influenced ales, it’s a notably subtle brew. Coming into the beer looking for big APA, you might very well be disappointed. If you’re looking for a fridge staple, however, or the fabled “gateway beer” to get non-drinkers in the craft beer camp, you’re in luck. The Pamola Xtra is crisp, light, dangerously quaffable, and tastes wicked good.

Closing of Terroni’s, Burger Chains in the Old Port

| Posted in Under Construction, Closings

Today’s Press Herald includes a pair of front page stories on “food-service transitions”. The first article is on the closing of Terroni’s Market on Park Ave—today is its last day. Terroni’s was opened by Florence Terroni in 1949.

And as regulars dropped in for lunch and said their goodbyes, it was an emotional time.

“Don’t get me crying again,” [44-year employee Sheila] Cunningham said while reminiscing about her years at Terroni’s.

The second article is on the increased interest of chain restaurants in Portland and the plans two burger chains that have plans to open in the Old Port.

“They are looking for niche markets that they wouldn’t have touched a few years ago, (when) they had bigger fish to fry,” said Dick Grotton, president and CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association.

This spring, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, a nationwide chain based in Lorton, Va., will open in the Old Port, in a 2,900-square-foot space at 425 Fore St.

Another Virginia-based burger chain, Arlington’s Elevation Burger, plans to open three Maine locations, including one in the Portland area this year, said spokesman James Stewart.

Review of Bayside Bowl

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Bayside Bowl.

Where this plan founders is that bowling alleys rarely serve good food. That is why the pub at the Bayside Bowl is such an exciting development. It is the rare alley that takes its menu as seriously as it does lane wax. You know you are in a different sort of bowling alley dining room when you inquire about a mushroom and the chef swings by with a box of his favorites for show and tell. He gets them from Maine’s Tibbetts Mushroom Company, and the current crop features some great enokitake, among others.

2011 Phoenix Best of Portland Readership Poll

| Posted in General News

The Portland Phoenix has kicked-off their 2011 Best of Portland readership poll. The Phoenix has a a 2 step process:

  • Step 1, nominate candidates you think are an especially good fit in any or all of the categories
  • Step 2, based on the nominations, the Phoenix will publish a ballot next month summarizing the top nominees from each category for us to vote on.
  • The final results are usually published in April.

There are a plethora of food and drink categories (Bagels, Bars, Barbecue, Beer Selection, Brewpubs, Brunch, etc) there’s even one for food blogs. A list of the 2010 winners is available online as a reference.

Community Kitchens TV

| Posted in General News

Yesterday’s Locavore column in the Portland Daily Sun was about the Community Kitchens local access cable TV show. Each episode the show visits and interviews cooks in their own kitchen. January’s episode of Community Kitchens was an interview with the creator’s of Otto Pizza. The article isn’t available online but you can watch full episodes of the show at the Community Television Network website.