Category: Events

Wednesday – Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez from Chaval will be the first participants in the Duckfat Friteshack guest chef series, Portland Buy Local is holding a 24-hour auction in collaboration with small businesses across the city, and the weekday Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Friday – Niyat Catering is holding an Ethiopian Dinner at Fork Food Lab. Make your reservation for the 5:30 or 7 pm seatings.

Saturday –Portland restaurant Helm (under construction on Thames Street) is holding a pop-up event at Lorne Wine in Biddeford, it’s the first day of the Maine Maple Producers Weekend, the Portland Beer Hub is hosting a pop-up by Rhode Island-based Mexican restaurant Chilangos, and the weekend Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – the 13th Annual Open Creamery Day 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.

Tuesday – Liu Bian Tan is holding a takeout pop-up dinner at Cong Tu Bot.

Wednesday – The weekday Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Saturday – Fork Food Lab is holding a Member Market, Sur Lie is celebrating their 6th Anniversary with a dinner prepared by founding chef Emil Rivera and current chef Jef Wright, a number of Portland area restaurants are taking part in the Equality Maine Gala, the weekend Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – Also in celebration of their anniversary Sur Lie is collaborating with Wine Wise on a virtual wine 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.

To promote and raise funds for the Maine Restaurant Relief Fund, a growing number of Maine’s talented chefs are collaborating to produce a biweekly cooking show called Sunday Supper. The first three shows are all available online:

Episode 1 – Summer Classics features chefs David Turin, David’s Restaurants; Paolo Laboa, Solo Italiano in Portland; Charlie Zorich and Kirk Linder, The Hichborn in Stockton Springs; Ilma Lopez, Chaval in Portland.

Episode 2 – Comfort Food features chefs Daron Goldstein, Provender Kitchen + Bar in Ellsworth; Carter Light of Coda in Southwest Harbor; Casey Harmon of Havana in Bar Harbor; Cameron Prescott of Copita in Northwest Harbor; & Sara Jenkins of Nina June in Rockport.

Episode 3 – Backyard Barbecue features chefs Justin Walker of Walker’s Maine; David Vargas of Ore Nell’s Barbecue; Ben Hasty & Jen Fecteau of Engrain; Becca Poirier of DaVinci’s.

Watch the shows and consider making a donation to the fund.

Episode 4 is slated to air on October 4th.

Here’s some upcoming state food days:

• Maine Apple Sunday is taking place tomorrow. You can see a list of participating orchards on www.maineapples.org.
• Maine Maple Producers Weekend is taking place October 9-11.
• Open Creamery Day is scheduled to take place October 11th.

A Taiwanese food truck under development called Liu Bian Tan (instagram) is holding a take-out pop-up dinner Wednesday night in collaboration with Sichuan Kitchen. The menu for the pop will include:

• Lo Ba Bung – hand chopped braised pork belly/pork floss/cilantro with a fry egg from Old Mill farm on short grain rice
• Yo Mein – stir fried handmade Taiwanese style noodle with dehydrated shrimp/shitake/cabbage with a splash of Taiwanese black vinegar
• Gua Bao – handmade open face bun with slowly braised pork belly with mustard green/peanut powder/cilantro
• Scallion Bomb Bing – shallow fried handmade scallion pancake made with Snell scallion with an egg from Old Mill Farm
• Salt/Crispy Chicken – deep fried sweet potato coated soy marinated chicken cubes with Thai basil, sprinkle with seasoning (hint of spice)

Owner Chung Heng Liu plans to serve a menu of  “old school” Taiwanese street food. Liu had 20 years+ of experience working in the family Chinese restaurant before moving to Portland three years ago. The name of the food truck is a mash up between Lu Bian Tan which means street stalls in Mandarin and Liu’s last name.

Ordering will open up Wednesday and will be through the Sichuan Kitchen website.

Man & Oak, a Maine whiskey education company, is holding a Certified Bourbon Steward training class September 14th at Rigby Yard.

MOFGA is hosting a webinar tomorrow to “discuss racial justice and the Maine agricultural community”.

Are you a farmer that wants to commit to anti-racist practices on your farm and in your community? Join other Maine farmers on July 9th from 5-7 pm to discuss racial justice and the Maine agricultural community. This is not a racial justice training; instead, it is a farmer-to-farmer style conversation to discuss how to move racial justice forward in a committed and sustained way. This online conversation will be facilitated by a skilled team of racial justice facilitators, Arvolyn Hill and Genna Cherichello.

Register online to attend.

30 eateries across Maine are taking part today in Food Industry Action. As part of the program participating businesses are raising money for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund by donating “5% of sales…on behalf of a united food community”.

You can see a full list of participating establishments in Maine and across the country on the Food Industry Action website and adjust your plans accordingly to support the initiative.

Update: A combined outdoor/indoor dining list has been published. This page is no longer being kept up to date.

The Governor’s office has announced that restaurants can resume indoor dining in Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties as of Wednesday.

The Mills Administration announced today that indoor dining in Androscoggin, Cumberland, and York counties can voluntarily resume on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 with added health and safety protocols outlined in the COVID-19 Prevention Checklist. The decision to allow inside dining in these three counties follows a plateauing of new cases in recent weeks, based on the 14-day moving average, as well as the stabilization of hospital rates in the same counties. Previously, only outside dining, takeaway, and delivery services were permitted at restaurants in these three counties. With this change, restaurants statewide will now be open to both inside and outside dining with added health and safety precautions.

Restaurants have started announcing plans to restart indoor dining:

• Blue Spoon – June 19th
• CBG – June 18th
• Evo Kitchen + Bar – June 24th
• Fore Street – June 24th
• Hot Suppa – June 19th
• Knitting Nook – June 18th
• Nura – June 19th
• Old Port Sea Grill – June 18th
• Petite Jacqueline – June 20th
• Rosie’s – June 17th
• Scales – June 17th
• Street & Co – June 22nd
• The Roma Cafe – June 17th
• Three Dollar Deweys – June 17th
• Union – June 19th