Down East has reviewed Casa Novello in Westbrook.
As for those entrées: The penne a la vodka was fantastic — perfectly cooked seafood in a reddish-pink sauce that had just a hint of a kick. My veal parm, however, suffered from a slight lack of attention, with the cutlet’s thin ends dry from overcooking and the accompanying dish of pasta boiled well past al dente. Did any of that stop me from gobbling it up, however? Heck, no.
The Press Herald has published a Shop Talk interview with Gene DiMillo. DiMillo is co-owner of G & R DiMillo’s, a sports bar and restaurant.
When we opened up I really thought the demographic would be ages 25 to 40. We had the menu of basically pub food, pizza and burgers. And we did some Italian dishes as well. And slowly it started morphing into the family restaurant idea, as we were getting people who used to go the Village. The age range now runs 25 to 80. It’s unbelievable how it’s changed, and we’ve revised the menu two or three times for that reason, different items that appeal to an older clientele.
Lindsay Sterling from Inside Immigrant Kitchens has published another installment in her series on authentic ethnic cooking in this week’s Portland Phoenix.
Cooking Indian food by myself for the first time felt like skydiving; it went against all my instincts. I had one thing going for me: an Indian woman, Aruna Kilaru, had shown me exactly how to do it two weeks before. Aruna, a botany teacher and school principal from Hyderabad, India, had been visiting her daughter and son-in-law in Maine. I met them in, of all places, the office supply store Staples.
Here are some new meal deals that I’ve recently come across:
Portland Bar Guide has reviewed the 2nd floor bar at Joe’s New York Pizza.
The most notable trait is the ice strip at the bar, which seats around 10 people. The strip follows the length of the bar and is 11 degrees. Meant to keep your drinks cold, the ice strip could serve many needs, however Dino said no one has gotten their tongue stuck to it.
The Portland Daily Sun has a report on the start of the season for Farmers’ Markets and the nascent Monday market as well as the planning for a weekly market at Mercy.
There’s also an interview in today’s Sun with Jon Courtney, the organizer of this week’s Food+Farm program.
A Blog About Beer has the scoop on Gargamel, the new a Belgian Style sour ale that Allagash is releasing on Thursday morning.
Down East has published an interview with a euphoric Rob Evans.
This was our third time. We knew the set up, and I prepared myself for the let down. I just said, ‘Let’s ride it out, and have a good time. We get to see friends and go out to eat and expect that it might not happen.’ We were ready for that this year. When you hear your name, you’re still not ready for that. It’s just, wow!…These things don’t happen a lot in life, so we really tried to slow down and take it in for the moment. It was great.
Congratulations for Evans have rolled in all day on the web: Rabelais, Travels with Hilary, Accidental Vegetables, Plating Up, Type A Diversions.
Here’s a report from the Press Herald on Rob Evans win in the Best Chef Northeast category at last night’s James Beard Awards.
“I think we’ve got a good scene happening in Portland,” Evans said, minutes after receiving the award – one of the most coveted in the food service industry. “It’s not only good for me, but it’s good for Portland. It solidifies Portland’s standing as a strong food town.”
Mother’s Day is this Sunday and a number of Portland venues are offering special menus for what is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants. Here are the ones I’ve heard about so far:
and there’s always the regular Sunday Brunch List to choose from as well.