Category: Events

Tuesday — Bar Lola is holding a wine dinner featuring West Coast wines.

Wednesday — there will be a wine tasting at RSVP and a cooking class at Black Tie.

Thursday — There will be a dramatic reading of the play Of Farms and Fables at SPACE Gallery for the opening night of Food+Farm 2011. The Great Lost Bear will feature Sebago Brewing for their weekly Thursday night showcase, and LeRoux Kitchen will have a baking demonstration.

Friday — Food+Farm continues with a talk by Anna Lappé from the Small Planet Institute. A beer tasting is taking place at West End Deli.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Irish Heritage Center. Food+Farm moves out to Cape Elizabeth in the morning to “wake up” the Cultivating Community farm and in the evening back at SPACE there will be a screening of The Greenhorns followed by a discussion with the director. Sweet Marguerites will be offering tastes of their excellent chocolate at whole Foods.

Sunday — Food+Farm wraps up on Sunday with a pair of workshops on urban farming at the Urban Farm Fermentory.

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.

Here’s a couple more events for you to consider for your weekend calendar:

Saturday, 4-6 pm at Freeport Cheese & Wine – Ned Swain from Devenish Wines will be pouring a set of wines from Oregon and Washington state. The wines were imported by Wayne Clark, a former resident of Southern Maine who started Orwa Wines to bring wines from the Northwest to his former home state.

Sunday 7-10 pm – SPACE Galley is hosting Soup which is billed as a “collaborative public dinner event and democratic experiment in micro-funding for creative projects in Portland.” If you go, don’t forget to bring a bowl, a spoon, $5 and your 5 minute presentation. 10 people will get selected at random to present their idea and everyone present gets to vote on which proposal wins all the entrance proceeds for the night. The food “donated by Scratch Bakery, 50 Local, home, Aurora Provisions and Local Sprouts”.

Monday’s Press Herald reports on the 25th Annual Chocolate Lovers Fling. The article includes a full list of award winners.

Then again, Kyle Pouliot, 26, of Scarborough confessed a hankering for the messy chocolate burrito from Federal Jack’s brew pub. High marks also went to “the raspberry thing” from Southern Maine Community College and the Oreo truffle from York County Community College.

    3 of the judges conferring before making the final announcement.

A boisterous standing-room only crowd assembled at Nosh on Sunday for a Taco Smackdown between 12 Maine restaurants: 158 Pickett St Cafe, East Ender, El Camino, El Rayo, Havana South, Hugo’s, Novare Res, Rosemont Market, Taco Esco Bar, The Cheese Iron, Verbena, and Vignola.

158 Pickett St Cafe took home the trophy and bragging rights, with The Cheese Iron in 2nd place and Hugo’s in 3rd. As the winner, 158’s owner Josh Potocki got to select the the theme for May’s smackdown. Next month the crew will get together to see who can make the best fried chicken.

Starting in May, a limited number of tickets to the event will be available to the general public with proceeds donated to the Good Shepherd Food Bank.

Tuesday — release day for Vrienden a collaboration between Allagash and New Belgium Brewing. Vrienden is brewed with dandelions and elderberry and described by Allagash as “tart, fruity, earthy”.

Wednesday — Grace will be comparing wines from the Rhone Valley and Paso Robles for the April edition of their wine club.

Thursday —Boston Beer Company will be featured at this week at The Great Lost Bear.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Irish Heritage Center.

Sunday — Wine Wise the Chadwick Bed & Breakfast are collaborating to offer a 5-course cooking class, brunch with wine education event.

Food+Farm — the 2011 Food+Farm is taking place April 14-17. It starts on Thursday with a dramatic reading of the the play Of Farms and Fables, continues on Friday with an appearance by Anna Lappé from the Small Planet Institute. On Saturday morning F+F moves out to Cape Elizabeth to “wake up” the Cultivating Community farm and that evening they’ll be a screening of The Greenhorns followed by a discussion with the director. Food+Farm wraps up on Sunday with a pair of workshops on urban farming at the Urban Farm Fermentory. Visit the SPACE Gallery website for more information and to buy tickets.

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.

Dean’s Sweets is “offering a free chocolate to anyone that comes into their store between now and Tax Day”.

Today’s Press Herald includes an article about the 25th Annual Chocolate Lover’s Fling which is taking place on Sunday.

Local chocolatiers bring in their most decadent creations, vying for one of several prizes bestowed by both the public and a panel of judges. For $20 in advance ($25 at the door; free for kids with adults), chocolate lovers can wander the room and sample anything they want, happily embracing their inner 5-year-old.

Wednesday — Black Tie Bistro is teaching a cooking class.

Thursday — Bard Coffee is hosting a Latte Art Throwdown, The Cheese Iron is teaching an Intro to Cheese Making class, Cinque Terre is serving a 5-course Italian dinner at The Portland Company, there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from Switchback Brewing.

Friday — West End Deli is holding a wine tasting. This Friday is also First Friday Art Walk and restaurants will be busy so make your reservations early.

Saturday — Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland will be hosting Eli Rogosa from the Heritage Wheat Conservancy for a lunch and pair of discussions about grain celebrations and growing heritage grains, the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Irish Heritage Center and there will be a wine tasting at LeRoux Kitchen.

Sunday — the 25th Annual Chocolate Lovers Fling will take place at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, and Eli Rogosa from the Heritage Wheat Conservancy will be teaching a baking class using Emmer and Einkorn flour.

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.

Staff from Wicked Whoopies were at the Maine Mall today assembling a 1067 lbs whoopie pie. As you can see from the photos the event attracted quite a crowd. According to organizers the largest whoopie pie ever baked Pennsylvania topped out at about 250 lbs.

 

For additional reporting see: WMTW, a video report on WGME, and an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram.