Category: General News

Columnist Natalie Ladd at the Portland Daily Sun muses on the impact our own prior expectations have on our enjoyment when eating out.

This is certainly not the case in business as we expect things to meet or exceed our standards based upon experiences tucked away in our “frame of reference” file. In a restaurant for example, we may be disappointed in a perfectly delicious, beautifully prepared, half-pound, medium-rare burger served with a mountain of hand-cut fries for $17, as this price point may seem offensive and unwarranted. Even if the food meets or exceed the standards of quality tastiness, the overall end result becomes null and void by the number of zeros on the meal ticket. I witnessed this very incident while sitting at a bar of a well known, carnivorously-oriented hot spot just last week.

Portland Daily Photo has posted some photos of the recently launched Taco Escobarr and Bam Bam Bakery, as well as Plush which is still under construction.

Food Trucks were on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting of the Creative Portland Corporation and made it on to the front page of today’s Press Herald.

The organization’s directors unanimously endorsed food trucks at their monthly meeting, and will propose an ordinance to the City Council’s Health and Recreation Committee later this year. If the committee endorses the ordinance, it will go to the City Council.

“It seems odd that we would make rules that limit people’s choices,” said Andy Graham, president of Creative Portland. “We just need to come up with policy suggestions that balance everyone’s interests.”

I was at the meeting, as were Andre Polhill and Helen Andreoli who are interested in starting a “food truck in the city with barbecue and Southern comfort food”.

Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd wrote today about the important role the host plays at a restaurant.

To the unindoctrinated, it’s hard to explain why the host position is so difficult to execute and so vitally important to the operational flow of a busy restaurant. There’s the reservation book or list that’s been building, with the names and times often incorrect due to hasty human error that can set off a domino effect of disaster.

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on the Portland Food Co-op and their new space on Hampshire Street.

Each month, the Portland Food Co-op orders $10,000 worth of goods from the Crown O’Maine Organic Cooperative, United Natural Foods, Frontier Natural Products Co-op and individual farmers and food producers.

All of the food is marked up 10 percent from its wholesale price to cover operating expenses, such as property taxes and electrical bills. Most retailers add a 20 percent to 40 percent markup on food products.

Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports that the Creative Portland is “planning to discuss the feasibility of food trucks during its September meeting, potentially paving the way for a broader citywide discussion on the issue.”

“From an economic development point of view, it’s sort of an incubator for young chefs who want to get started. At the same time, it’s a way for existing restaurants to extend their brand,” [Andy] Graham [chair of the Creative Portland board] said. “Think how cool it would be if Fore Street did a food truck, or if Miyake did a food truck.”

For now, food trucks are not allowed under a smattering of overlapping city ordinances. Various city policies enacted over the years further complicate the picture, said Councilor Dave Marshall, a non-voting member who sits on the Creative Portland board.

MPBN interviewed Anthony Barrasso, owner of Anthony’s Italian Kitchen, for a report on Portland’s efforts to fight obesity with a $1.8 million grant from the CDC.

The city’s handiwork is also visible elsewhere–like at Anthony’s Kitchen, an Italian eatery in downtown Portland.

“This is called Anthony’s Lighter Side and this is our low-cal menu,” says restaurant owner Anthony Barrasso (above). “Three choices of wrap, white, wheat or spinach wraps, and then the dinners that we put out are also, as you can see, pretty fair calories, especially with the wheat linguine.”