Category: Events

Five Fifty-Five will be hosting Matthew Delisle, chef de cuisine from L’Espalier in Boston, for a special dinner on September 12. The 7-course meal with wine pairings is $150 per person.

Monday — Giffords, Hannaford, LL Bean and Oakhurst dairy are holding a “consumer event and press conference” to launch the sale of Gifford’s Muddy Bean Boots Ice Cream. The muddy boots flavor honors the 100-year anniversary of L.L. Bean.

Tuesday — Local Sprouts is hosting the monthly Local Foods Networking Breakfast, and it’s Growler Nite at Bunker Brewing.

Wednesday — the Cloak & Dagger is putting on a 21-course Dinner of the Gods, the Bier Cellar is holding a beer tasting featuring Lagunitas Brewing, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — Cultivating Community’s eighth Twilight Dinner of the summer is taking place at their farm in Cape Elizabeth (tickets available online), and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from Slumbrew and Nosh is showcasing beer from Lagunitas.

Saturday — the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — The Well in Cape Elizabeth is holding an Austrian Wine Dinner.

Upcoming Events — registration for Kitchen & Cork’s pie and cupcake baking contest is now open, call 207-885-5727 to enter the contest. Tickets are now on sale for the Common Ground Fair taking place September 21-23 in Unity. There are only 13 seats left for the next Pocket Brunch. Food Day 2012 is taking place October 24, Maine Food Day coordinator Sharon Kitchens is asking that anyone interested in running a Food Day event contact her at kitchens.sharon@gmail.com.

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.

I cam across a Facebook page last night for an organization called Restaurant Day Portland, Maine. It’s part of a larger international effort of Scandinavian origin which encourages people to run one-day pop-up restaurants.

This year’s international Restaurant Day is scheduled for this Sunday, August 19. Unfortunately, word about this event is getting out a little late here in Maine and so there aren’t any Portland locations on the map. However, it seems to be an interesting concept and hopefully by next year there will be some Restaurant Day events taking place in the city.

According to a report from the Associated Press, chef Chris Gould from Boston was the winner of the Shucks Maine Lobster World Series.

The winner of the lobster world series championship in Maine is the chef who created a butter-basted lobster with corn and sweet miso puree, served with roasted fingerling potatoes, cinnamon-and-hay smoked carrots and piquillo pepper sauce.

Chris Gould of Uni Sashimi Restaurant in Boston accepted his golden lobster buoy — and $5,000 — during a ceremony at Portland City Hall on Wednesday.

Press Herald food writer Meredith Goad was on the scene live tweeting and twitpicing the competition. She reports that Gould plans to opening a Portland restaurant in Spring 2013, and her article in Thursday’s paper provides further detail on the competition and the upcoming restaurant.

Gould is a native of Bethel, but until last week he worked for renowned chef Ken Oringer at Uni Sashimi Bar in Boston. He said he plans to open his own restaurant in Portland next spring that will feature “internationally inspired small plates.”

For additional reporting see this piece on WCSH TV.

Monday — Chef Steve Corry is hosting chefs from Europe and Asia for the 1st Annual Shucks Maine Lobster World Series.

Tuesday — the Urban Farm Fermentory is having party/open house in it’s new 5,000 square foot expansion to introduce their plans for the space.

Wednesday — there will be a wine tasting at the Old Port Wine Merchants, it’s the first day when aspiring food truck operators can apply for a food truck license in Portland, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — the Bier Cellar is hosting Rising Tide for a beer tasting, a wine and and cheese tasting is taking place at the Public Market House, Cultivating Community’s seventh Twilight Dinner of the summer is taking place at their farm in Cape Elizabeth (tickets available online), and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from North Coast Brewing.

Friday — there will be a wine tasting at Micucci’s and a beer tasting at the West End Deli, and Novare Res is converting all their taps over to serving beers from Dogfish Head.

Saturday — Pomodoropalooza, a “no-holds-barred celebration of local tomatoes,” is taking place at Rosemont Produce; you can sample tomatoes from 8 local farms as well as Maine-made cheese and Spanish wine. The Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place. On a related note, the grant that funds the credit/debit/SNAP card wooden token program at the market is coming to an end, and the market is looking for donations to help keep it going.

Sunday — The Honey Exchange is having a party to celebrate their 1-year anniversary, and LFK is hosting a 1-year anniversary party for Oxbow.

Upcoming Events — registration for Kitchen & Cork’s pie and cupcake baking contest is now open, call 207-885-5727 to enter the contest. Tickets are now on sale for the Common Ground Fair taking place September 21-23 in Unity. There are still 20 seats left for the next Pocket Brunch. Food Day 2012 is taking place October 24, Maine Food Day coordinator Sharon Kitchens is asking that anyone interested in running a Food Day event contact her at kitchens.sharon@gmail.com.

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.

The Food and Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a preview of the Backyard Locavore Tour taking place this weekend.

This Saturday, participants in the fourth annual Backyard Locavore Tour will have a chance to explore [Jerry] Lord’s homestead and the food-producing backyards of 12 other homeowners in Brunswick, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, North Yarmouth, Portland and Windham. The event is sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and tickets for the self-guided tour cost $10 in advance and $15 the day of the event. Hundreds of people buy tickets to the tour each year.

According to an article from the Examiner, chefs from Asia, Europe and the US are competing in something called the Shucks Maine Lobster World Series.

The Chefs Challenge Grand Finale kicks off with a the three day ‘Maine Lobster Experience” event, established by Shucks Maine Lobster Marketing Director, Caitlin Hathaway, to celebrate and showcase the natural geography that has Portland, Maine gaining international acclaim both in the world of fine food and for its most notable ingredient, Lobster.

 Linda Greenlaw, Ben Conniff and Luke Holden from Luke’s Lobster in NYC and food writer Dez Bartlett are judges for the event.

See this article in the Press Herald for additional details.

Tuesday — stop by Bunker Brewing on Anderson Street for Growler Nite to sample some of their beers and pick-up a growler to go.

Wednesday — there will be a wine tasting at the Bier Cellar, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — Cultivating Community’s sixth Twilight Dinner of the summer is taking place at their farm in Cape Elizabeth (tickets available online), and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing a collection of IPA’s.

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

Saturday — Backyard Locavore Day is taking place in Cumberland County (tickets available online), Rising Tide is having the Grand Opening for their new digs in Bayside, the 87th Annual Saint Peter’s Italian Bazaar is taking place, CRUX is holding a pop-up dinner, Wine Wise is leading a wine walk focusing on sweet whites, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — it’s the last day of the Saint Peter’s Italian Bazaar.

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.

A number of food writers, myself included, were at Grace on Friday night at the invitation of restaurant owner Anne Verrill to experience the restaurant’s new Whole Beast Feast tasting menu prepared by chef Pete Sultenfuss. Also participating in the lambcentric meal were Phillip and Lisa Webster from North Star Sheep Farm where the lamb for our meal was raised.

Edible Obsession and Meredith Goad from the Press Herald have now published their reports on the meal. For me the most memorable parts of the meal were the lamb tartare in the first course, and later on the fresh corn polenta and tempura-fried milkweed pods.

Edible Obsessions

The amuse brought over by the Chef to start the evening was a lamb tartare, The raw lamb was blended with a smokey and spicy harissa paste, sesame seeds and cucumber. The flavor was much more assertive, both because of the harissa and inherent flavor of protein, than your average tartare and I appreciated the spice the harissa lent to the dish.  The flatbread, served to the side, added salt to the main component purposefully and the combination made for a delightful start to the evening.

Maine a la Carte

Next came smoked lamb shoulder served in an individual cast iron pan with the house rigatoni, Castelventrano olives, sungold tomatoes and a touch of ouzo. The dish was topped with a creamy goat’s milk ricotta. This course was paired with a Teira zinfandel.