Down East has named Congress Street the Best Street to Eat on in Maine. The July issue of Down East also includes the results of their readership poll. Fore Street was voted Best Dinner, Duckfat Best Lunch, Becky’s Best Breakfast, and Shipyard Best Beer.
Category: General News
Blackstones Responds to Changing Times
An article in today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on how Blackstones is responding to economic and social changes in Portland’s gay community.
“I want to support the magazine and think it’s a great thing, but up until recently, we haven’t had to advertise, especially to the gay community. I’m trying to wrap my head around the way things have changed over the past few years. It’s always been word-of-mouth for us, but now I think I have to look at promotional things we used to do, or come up with some new ones to increase business. I’ve been working here since 1988 and we bought it in 1992 … things are very different now.”
Appearances & Accolades
Several Portland and Maine food purveyors have been getting recognition and accolades recently:
- Sweet Marguerites – is mentioned in the July issue of InStyle magazine in an article on making guest rooms irresistible.
- MDI Ice Cream – Food and Wine magazine named MDI as one of the nation’s 25 best spots for ice cream. (via PPH)
- Spirits of Maine Distillery – according to an article in MaineBiz, SMD “took honors at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition” for both their pear and apple brandy eaux-de-vie.
- Black Dinah Chocolates is the subject of a profile in The Boston Globe.
Po’Boys at the State
Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on Po’Boys new gig operating the food concession at the State Theatre.
Peter Zinn has earned a devoted following since opening Po’ Boys & Pickles New Orleans-style sandwich shop in January 2010 at 1124 Forest Ave. Now, the Cajun eatery has bitten off a different slice of the market: Po’ Boys is serving concessions at the State Theatre.
Cook Book Awards
Maine mycologist Greg Marley has won the Jane Grigson Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals for his book Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms.
AIA Restaurant Design Awards
Architect Dean Bingham is a finalist in the 2011 Restaurant Design Awards for his design of Grace. The winner will be announced June 24. You can see the full list of nominees online.
In addition to his work as an architect Bingham runs Dean’s Sweets on Middle Street.
Barber Foods Acquired
According to The Forecaster, AdvancePierre, an Ohio firm, has bought Barber Foods.
The acquisition is expected to significantly increase AdvancePierre’s retail business along the East Coast and in Canada, while maintaining the Barber Foods brand and local operations.
Bill Toler, AdvancePierre Foods chief executive officer, said in a written statement that the acquisition is part of the company’s strategy of buying high-quality companies that compliment AdvanceFoods’s mission.
For additional reporting see the Press Herald and the Portland Daily Sun.
First Date Dining
Natalie Ladd at the Portland Daily Sun has offered some advice on The Art of Dining on a First Date.
No matter how well planned or thought out they may be, first dates can be painful. They can be excruciating to actually be part of, and after the fact often require a giggle-hiding, sympathetic ear from a close friend who is listening to the train wreck of a recantation. Occasionally, it is just as painful to be an unwilling party to the real-life event as it unfolds by serving the first date couple in a restaurant or bar setting.
Locally Grown Package Foods
The front page of today’s Press Herald Food & Dining section reports on efforts by Marada and Leah Cook to start up Northern Girl. The new firm will process and package Maine-grown vegetables into convenient formats such as baby carrots and frozen broccoli. The article also looks at the state of food packaging in Maine in general.
“How many of us have had a rutabaga in the fridge forever?” Marada asked. “But a bag of peeled, cut root vegetables wouldn’t last more than a week in the fridge.”
The desire to make the bounty of Maine’s vegetable farms more accessible is one of the motivations for this endeavor.
Oysters & Willard Square
Today’s Press Herald includes a profile of two Scarborough River oyster farmers,
[Nate] Perry and Abigail Carroll, another fledgling farmer, are among the first to try oyster aquaculture in the Scarborough River. The location, with its tidal currents and particular nutrients, creates oysters that they try to describe with such adjectives as briny, sweet, creamy and grassy.
“That’s what an oyster is — it’s the taste of the sea where it came from,” Perry said.
and a reprise of the recent activities in Willard Square that led to a 3-month building moratorium and two entrepreneurs reevaluating their plans to open a market in the Square.
Encouraged by the city’s planning office and zoning that calls for up to six more businesses at Willard Square, the partners envisioned a small market that would be built next to Perry’s two-story apartment house.
What they didn’t foresee was the opposition.