This Week’s Events

Wednesday Wine Revolution, Grace’s wine club is meeting to taste 5 wines from Albarino, a Wine Wise class is taking place at The Wine Bar, and Downeast Beverage is hosting a wine tasting.

Thursday — the next Cultivating Community Twilight Dinner is being held at their farm in Cape Elizabeth, and Maine Beer Company owners/brewers Dan and Dave Kleban will be at The Great Lost Bear for a brewery showcase of Zoe and Spring Peeper Ale.

FridayWine Wise is teaching a class at DiMillo’s, and there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli. First Friday Art Walk is this week and restaurants will be very busy on Friday, be sure to make your reservations early.

SaturdayLeRoux Kitchen is holding a wine tasting.

Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.

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.

Grains to Glass: Dogfish at Novare Res

The What Ales You column in today’s Press Herald writes about last weekend’s Dogfish Head event at Novare Res. Sam Calagione, the breweries founder and president, was on hand for the event.

“From Grains to Glass: Gnarly Meets Barley” was a party on the patio with employees and boards from Grain surfboards, more than 23 beers from Dogfish Head on display, and a crew from Discovery Channel filming a show that is expected to be shown sometime in spring 2011.

And there was one beer that had never been served to the public before.

Breakfast, Menu Creation, Vegan Cooking

Today’s Press Herald includes an article about the business of breakfast,

Breakfast’s flexible pricing is another thing that [Bintliff’s owner Joe] Catoggio thinks makes it successful and “recession-proof.” A full meal could cost only $7 or an extravagant lobster eggs Benedict with a mimosa could cost a lot more. The price range attracts everyone from college students to successful business professionals, he said.

insight into how chefs plan and change their menus,

Some menus change daily. Others change every few weeks or months, following the swell of the seasons or the whims of the kitchen.

Two Maine restaurants, the Salt Exchange in Portland and Natalie’s at the Camden Harbour Inn, recently offered a peek into the process of how they change their menus.

a Natural Foodie article on the upcoming visit to Portland by chef Mark Anthony, a proponent of lowering cholesterol through eating a plant-based diet,

He doesn’t hope you’ll buy the latest food prep gadget. He’s not trying to sign you up for a diet plan with meals shipped straight to your door. He won’t entice you with a shiny stack of cookbooks.

Instead, he’ll let you watch him cook, and then he’ll serve you a full-course meal. For free.

Fish Exchange, Open Farm Day, Packing Salmon

Today’s Press Herald includes a visit to Upper Farm Alpacas in Pownal on Sunday’s Open Farm Day,

Greg and Nicole Carter, owners of Upper Farm Alpacas, said they began their business in 2005 with the intention of getting only a few alpacas for the fiber they yield. She said the more research they did, the quicker they fell in love with alpacas.

a Maine at Work column on prepping and packing Salmon,

Behind Malia, a half-dozen or so people were on the salmon-cutting conveyor belt line. One man chopped off the head and tail, then a fillet machine cut open the fish. More men trimmed the fillets, another machine deboned the fish, then someone else plucked out the peskiest bones using tweezers. The fish was then inspected before being packed.

and an article about a call for aid from the Portland Fish Exchange,

The city last week mailed a letter to the owners of more than 60 groundfishing vessels. The future of the Portland Fish Exchange is now uncertain, the letter says, and it needs increased fish landings to ensure its continued operation.

This Week's Events

Wednesday — a tasting of organic wines at Old Port Wine Merchants and a Wine Wise class at The Wine Bar.
Thursday — the 3rd Annual Sushi & Sake Tasting at Browne Trading and the monthly Latte Art Competition at Bard Coffee.
Saturday — the 8th Annual Festival of Nations in Deering Oaks Park. For more info read the recent articles in the Portland Daily Sun and the Portland Press Herald.
Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.
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.

This Week’s Events

Wednesday — a tasting of organic wines at Old Port Wine Merchants and a Wine Wise class at The Wine Bar.

Thursday — the 3rd Annual Sushi & Sake Tasting at Browne Trading and the monthly Latte Art Competition at Bard Coffee.

Saturday — the 8th Annual Festival of Nations in Deering Oaks Park. For more info read the recent articles in the Portland Daily Sun and the Portland Press Herald.

Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.

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.

This Week's Events

Wednesday — a Wine Wise class at The Wine Bar.
Thursday — Cultivating Community is holding the next in their series of biweekly Twilight Dinners in Cape Elizabeth, and The Great Lost Bear is holding their annual Christmas in July night that features Maine-based holiday beers.
Friday — the 4th Friday Film Series is screening the movie The Garden.
Sunday — Sunday is Open Farm Day in Maine; 12 farms (see page 4) in Cumberland County are participating. Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Brewing, will be at Novare Res where 23 of Dogfish Head beers will be available on tap.
Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.
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.

This Week’s Events

Wednesday — a Wine Wise class at The Wine Bar.

Thursday — Cultivating Community is holding the next in their series of biweekly Twilight Dinners in Cape Elizabeth, and The Great Lost Bear is holding their annual Christmas in July night that features Maine-based holiday beers.

Friday — the 4th Friday Film Series is screening the movie The Garden.

Sunday — Sunday is Open Farm Day in Maine; 12 farms (see page 4) in Cumberland County are participating. Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Brewing, will be at Novare Res where 23 of Dogfish Head beers will be available on tap.

Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.

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.

Evangeline in Alan Richman's Blog

The Mitra’s Clabber-Fed Poularde and Poached Maine Lobster Tail dish at Evangeline appeared in a recent post on GQ food writer Alan Richman’s blog Forked & Corked. Richman wrote about his personal exploration of “ethical eating” and lists the “top ten ethical dishes, some from restaurants, some from homes or farms, all enjoyed earlier this year during my ethical-eating travels through America”.
In separate news, Evangeline’s Tastes of France dinner, a benefit for Share Our Strength, that takes place Wednesday night was written up in today’s Portland Daily Sun,

“After participating in Share our Strength Maine’s ‘Taste of the Nation’ benefit for the first time this year and learning about the positive impact the organization is making in our community, I decided I wanted to do more to help,” Desjarlais said in a press release. “… I wanted to share my love of French food and raise money to benefit Share Our Strength. I hope this becomes an annual event at the restaurant.”