Category: Events

Monday — The Holy Donut will be featured on Anderson Cooper Live.

Tuesday — it’s Christmas.

Wednesday — Wine Wise is holding their 3rd Annual Sparkling Wine Primer.

Thursday — there will a sparkling wine tasting at the Public Market House.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

New Year’s Eve
Here’s a list of restaurants that will be open on New Year’s Eve. Many are planning special prix fixe dinners and a few will be open with their standard menu. If you know of any other options, post a comment with the details and I’ll add them to the list.

Everyone and their cousin wants to go out on New Year’s Eve so reservations are essential. I’d recommend you call soon before all the good spots get booked up.

• Back Bay Grill, $88 4-course dinner
• Bar Lola, $55 5-course dinner
• Bibo’s Madd Apple Cafe, $50 4-course dinner
• Bresca, $85 5-course Venetian-inspired meal with optional wine pairings for $35
• Carmen at the Danforth will offer 2 seatings. The early seating is $80 for a 4-course dinner, the later seating is $125 for a 5-course dinner with live music.
• East Ender, $58 for a 4-course dinner
• Five Fifty-Five, 1920s prohibition theme $75 3-course dinner in the bar, $100 5-course dinner in the restaurant
• Grace will be serving their regular dinner menu. A cover charge of $10 will get you into the late night party which comes with complementary champagne toast at midnight.
• Hugo’s, $80 7-course dinner
• Local Sprouts will be open until midnight serving their standard menu
• Maria’s, $45, 3-course dinner
• Nosh Kitchen Bar, tickets are $20
• Old Port Tavern is serving a special New Year’s Eve menu
• Pai Men Miyake will be offering a special New Year’s Eve menu and cocktail list
• Sea Glass at Inn by the Sea, $75 4-course menu, $100 with wine pairings
• Sebago Brewing is serving dinner with a special New Year’s Eve menu
• Petite Jacqueline, $60 4-course dinner
• The Good Table, will be serving a special New Year’s Eve menu
• The Frog and Turtle, $45 for a 3-courses early seating, $65 for 5-course plus extras later seating
• The Salt Exchange is serving a special menu for New Year’s Eve
• Vignola will be serving a speecial NYE menu, details are still TBD
• Walter’s is serving their full menu and a pair of specials
• Zackery’s, has a New Year’s Eve menu
• Zapoteca, $55 5-course dinner.

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.

Tuesday — a Local Foods Networking Breakfast is taking place at Local Sprouts.

Wednesday — the December edition of Cloak & Dagger is serving a Scandinavian Christmas Dinner.

Thursday — there will be a wine tasting at Aurora Provisions.

Friday — Rosemont Market is holding their annual Big Italian Lovefest wine tasting and there will be a beer tasting at the West End Deli.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

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.

Edible Obsessions, The Blueberry Files and Vrai-lean-uh (source of excerpt shown below) have all written up reports from last Friday’s Obscure Holiday Cocktail Tasting. The tasting is an annual event among some of the food bloggers in Portland.

This year somehow the holiday celebrated ended up being Pearl Harbor Day rather than Christmas. The evening involved a discussion of five-star WWII generals and Emperor Hirohito. And yet it was still festive! A good cocktail-and-cheese duo elevates any holiday.

The drinks this year were also all really good.* They weren’t particularly “obscure holiday cocktails” so much as cocktails that one could drink on a holiday that are maybe unfamiliar or new. I think the lesson might be that most obscure holiday cocktails are obscure for a reason.

My contribution was a drink I’m calling the Cider House Rules:

3 oz   Northern Spy Barrel Aged Eden Ice Cider

1 oz   Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel

1/2 oz   Kyoto Ice Extracted Tower Shot from Speckled Axe

2 dashes Walnut Bitters

Served with an orange twist

The Press Herald has published a list of restaurant that offering “special events and menus” on New Year’s Eve.

Two additional options not on the list are:

• Hugo’s – 7-course tasting menu, $80 per person, for reservations call (207) 774-8538
• Back Bay Grill – 4-course, $88 per person, for reservations call (207)772-8833

Monday — Veranda Asian Market is holding their grand opening at noon. Read this article from Maine a la Carte to learn more. In the evening Bar Lola is hosting a sold out cocktail event featuring New England Distilling.

Tuesday — natural wine expert Zev Rovine will be at the Bier Cellar for a tasting organized by Ned Swain from Devenish Wines.

Wednesday — Zev Rovine will be the special guest for a natural wines dinner at Bresca.

Thursday — The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing Andrews Brewing, Nosh will be showcasing beers from Chimay, and there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House.

Friday — a wine tasting is taking place at Rosemont Market and a cocktail tasting/open house at Portland Trading Company.

Saturday —there will be a wine tasting at Browne Trading, it’s the first day of a pork butchering workshop, Rosemont Produce is hosting their Holiday Hulabaloo, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — a sold out Pocket Brunch featuring guest chef Joe Ricchio is taking place, the Portland Food Co-op is holding a food swap, and Rabelais in conjunction with SPACE Gallery are screening the movie Step up to the Plate.

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.

In this week’s column in the Sun columnist Natalie Ladd writes about the annual Preble Street Resource Center Holiday Party.

“As long as we’ve been operating as a soup kitchen, or in that capacity, about 20 years now, we’ve held a holiday party for our clients,” said development coordinator, Melanie McKean. “We’ve always been blessed with very generous donors and supporters and have over 100 different entities who turn this event into a community project.”

The event is going to take place today at 11:30 am.

The Portland Phoenix has published a field report from the November edition of Pocket Brunch.

When greasy poutine with cranberry ketchup is the salad course, you know you’re in for a raucous meal. But Pocket Brunch pop-ups in secret locations around Portland only one Sunday a month, so it’s worth indulging. The hardest-to-come-by seat in town is the brainchild of Katie and Josh Schier-Potocki, co-owners of South Portland’s 158 Pickett Street Café. Last month, a select sixty-five sat at red gingham-clad tables, dining on five French-Canadian courses, served on paper plates. The “Bienvenue” fête filled an industrial space the couple, expanding their catering and bakery operations, now shares with their friends at the SoPo Wine Co.

Tuesday — Figa is holding a Champagne Dinner, Hood’s soup food truck, Soup Boutique, will be making a stop in downtown Portland at 215 Commercial St.

Thursday — Gritty’s is hosting a beer dinner, there will be a UFF cider and kombucha tasting at Aurora Provisions, and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from Unibroue.

Friday — baker Ciril Hitz will give a lecture about his life and career, there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli and Wine Wise is leading a Bordeaux class. It’s the First Friday Art Walk this week, restaurants will be packed Friday night so the smart move is to make your restaurant reservations now.

Saturday —Sea Change is teaching a gluten-free Baking class, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

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.

Monday — Cloak & Dagger is serving a tapas dinner, to welcome a group of Italian students visiting Maine, Slow Food Portland is holding a potluck lunch and a dinner at The Farmer’s Table.

Wednesday — The American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem, a 2-day science symposium is taking place.

Thursday — the author of Hoosh: Roast Penguins, Scurvy Day, and Other Stories of Antarctic Cuisine will be at Longfellow for a book signing, Vignola/Cinque Terre is holding an Italian Beer Dinner, The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing Christmas Beers, and it’s the 2nd day of the lobster symposium.

Friday — there will be wine tasting at Rosemont on Brighton.

Saturday —the first Winter Farmers Market of the season is taking place, Novare Res will be one of only 17 bars in North America to be selling Cantillon Zwanze this year, and there will be wine tastings at Browne Trading and LeRoux Kitchen.

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.