Portland in a Snap has published an update on the yet-to-be-opened Luna Rossa.
Executive Chef Antonio Bruno, an Italian native, says the plan is to offer seating for a whopping 220+, including a full bar and lounge space. The bar, located on the mezzanine, has Las Vegas-style dueling pianos, which should offer a high-energy Thur-Sat entertainment option.
Red tide blooms in Maine are at record high levels. They are at 50-60 times the limit at which the state closes clam flats, according to an article in today’s Press Herald.
“With this (red tide), even a small number of clams would get people very sick and might actually be fatal if harvested from certain locations,” Anderson [a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts] said.
Tomalley, the green substance in lobsters, also is considered unsafe to eat because of red tide. Lobster meat and meat from scallops and from fish are not affected by the toxin.
Now that I’ve got your attention let me tell you about a new website called Portland Taps. Portland Taps is a guide to beer and bars in Portland. What makes the site notable is that they’ve gathered together into one location the price lists for beer taps at bars all across the city. If your goal is to drink the absolute cheapest beer in the city, you can quickly learn that for for $1.50 you can get Genessee Cream Ale at Mathews, a PBR at Shack’s, or a Busch at Ernie’s or The Frosty Pint. If you just want to see the full beer menu at the venues they list you can do that too. The site can also help you find the bars where a particular brew is available.
The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Paciarino.
Portions at Paciarino are large and filling, and the wine is reasonable. The place is rustic and it has heart. It seemed more like the magical Italy I imagined than the off-putting Milan I discovered. Confirming this impression, the dessert menu offered a “boccondivino,” literally “magical mouthful,” that was a sort of tiramisu made with a version of those crunchy almond cookies I remembered. Crunching them in the dim light of a candle’s flame, I regressed to childhood. They are a perfect way to celebrate your hosts’ escape from Milan.
A front page article on Maine Foodie Tours is in the new Food & Dining section of today’s Press Herald.
This two-hour walking tour was launched in June and developed by Pamela Laskey, owner of a new company, Maine Foodie Tours. The Old Port Culinary Tour takes visitors to local merchants who make and sell artisanal foods.
There’s plenty of sampling to be had, and guides share a bit about the city’s history and its thriving restaurant scene along the way.
The newly redone Food & Dining section (formerly Food & Health) now includes the Taste & Tell reviews that had been in the Sunday paper, a restaurant dining guide and a promise from editor Rod Harmon that this is just the start. “But don’t think that just because we’ve made a few changes to the Food section we’re going to rest on our laurels. We’re constantly on the loookout for new ideas to help make this section better.”
Elsewhere in the paper was an article about Wolfe Neck Farm “losing it’s famed beef cattle“.
The company that is currently raising beef cattle there, Pineland Farms Natural Meats, plans to remove the livestock by September, its president confirmed Tuesday. Erick Jensen said the operation was no longer economical, in part because of the measures that would be needed to keep manure from washing away and contaminating nearby clam flats.
The Portland Lobster Co. received 3 stars from the weekly Taste & Tell column in today’s Press Herald.
Exceptionally good french fries, sweet fried Maine shrimp and tender fried scallops later showed off the skills of the fast-moving kitchen. If only the food had been hotter and the clams fatter, the fried seafood would have stood out from the crowd.
Terrence Henry is a journalist who is making a food tour of US, Canada and beyond and reporting on the experience at TheAtlantic.com. He’ll be spending 24 hours in Portland and is asking for advice on where he should eat. Five Fifty-Five, Evangeline, Duckfat, Fore Street, Hugo’s and Bresca are all on his short list but he’s open to other ideas. The poll results are favoring Fore Street over Five Fifty-Five by a 2-1 margin at the moment. (via Port City Sally)
Had I planned this all out better, we would probably be spending a few days in Portland instead of just 24 hours. But this being a trip on a budget, we have to get to New York by Thursday to enjoy four nights of free accommodation (thanks, Mom!), so we’re left with too little time to sample what’s on offer in the promising city of Portland, Maine (this may necessitate a return trip in the future).
Avery Yale Kamila reports on Twitter that Luna Rossa hope to open next week. They’re just “waiting for state liquor inspector to return from vaca“.
A new blog, Portland Food Heads, has started up. The blog, which just launched this weekend, promises, “Recipes, reviews, scene reports and more from the Forest City.”
OpenTable, an online restaurant reservation service, has never had that many Portland area restaurants to choose from on their site. That’s now starting to change. Bar Lola, Bull Feeney’s, Cinque Terre, David’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Street & Co, The Frog and Turtle and Vignola are now all listed on the site. I hope they continue the expansion. It’s a very useful service, especially when looking for last minute reservations or trying to get a table for a larger group.
Restaurants are charged a fee for every reservation made through the site but the fee is less if you link to the OpenTable reservation page from the restaurant’s own website. So if you want to cut your favorite place a break go to their site first and click on their reservation link. Fore Street, Street & Co and Bull Feeney’s are the only ones that don’t have a reservations link on their own site.