Category: General News

In the latest installment of the Maine at Work series, Press Herald reported Ray Routhier spends the day at Coffee by Design with Paul Chiles to learn how to blend coffee beans.

SURPRISING FACTS: Coffee beans, before they are roasted, are green. Coffee beans from different countries have different textures — rough or smooth — depending on how they were extracted from the coffee “cherry” they grew in. Coffee By Design roasts about 400,000 pounds of coffee a year.

PERKS: Unlimited cups of coffee, any flavor or blend; for a coffee fan, the satisfaction of helping make a quality product other coffee fans will drink; the aroma of coffee beans and roasting coffee.

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Shipyard Brewing which is expanding their brewing capacity to meet demand.

The new equipment will enable the company to brew 180,000 barrels of beer yearly, up from its current capacity of 140,000 barrels, said Alan Pugsley, Shipyard’s master brewer.

He said Shipyard has been running at full capacity recently and scrambling to fill orders.

The Portland Phoenix Best of Portland Readership Poll results are now available online. There are more than 100 categories, 41 of which are in the Food & Drink section.

A few businesses won in more than one category:

• Portland Lobster Co. was rated the top in three different categories: Best Seafood, Best Patio/Outdoor and Best Lobster Roll.
• Grace won for Best Romantic Restaurant and Best Restaurant Decor.
• Miyake won Best Asian Restaurant and Best Sushi.
• Bayside Bowl won Best New Restaurant, Best Sports Bar and Best Karaoke Venue.

The Cheese Iron is one of only six businesses nationwide to win the 2011 Outstanding Specialty Food Retailer Award from NASFT, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The awards presentation will take place in July at the Summer Fancy Foods Show in Washington DC.

The Portland Daily Sun interviewed Ian Farnsworth for an article about his new restaurant Gogi.

Late-night diners can find a new fusion fix at Gogi, a Korean-Mexican fusion restaurant holding its grand opening today at 653 Congress St.

For owner Ian Farnsworth, who also owns Slainte Wine Bar and Lounge on Preble Street, the later the hours, the better for the Arts District’s newest entry in a varied dining experience.

The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald reports that as vegan diets are becoming more popular, Portland restaurants are responding to the need by adding more vegan options to their menus.

When the swanky Grace Restaurant opened almost two years ago in Portland, its menu was populated by meat and seafood-based entrees. But six months ago, the popular eatery did something unusual in Portland’s top-tier restaurant scene: It added a vegan entree to its regular menu.

“Why we have the dish started with demand,” general manager Kate Tozier said. “We saw more and more people requesting vegan.”

Tomorrow is opening day at Hadlock Field and the Portland Daily Sun has published part 3 of their series on the food and food service staff at the Sea Dogs home stadium,

The Portland Sea Dogs are intensely proud of their local food and beer vendor relationships. The mutually beneficial support of Binga’s Winga’s (owner Alec Altman and former partner JD Way were aboard from day one when Binga’s started the on-going tradition of feeding both teams after home games), Greg Shane from Shane’s of Maine, former stand hawker Luke Livingston of Baxter Beer, Oakhurst Dairy, Pineland Farms, and others all add to the philosophy the team tries to embody.

Iacuessa states, “It’s vital to us to support the community and buy as locally as possible. It’s the right thing to do and we’re always looking for ways to tie in local vendors.”

Today’s Press Herald also includes a look at the food options at Hadlock Field,

Along with the usual steak-and-cheese sandwiches, pizza, fries, popcorn, fried dough and Sea Dogs Biscuits, you’ll find better-tasting burgers that are now made from Pineland Meats. Drivas said the staff was impressed by how much better the local meat was compared with the generic frozen patties they usually serve at Hadlock. (The Pineland burgers are actually processed in Massachusetts, then shipped back up to Maine.)

“We tried them and fell in love with them,” Drivas said.

A couple news notes from Meredith Goad:

• Chef Lee Farrington has reportedly made it to the 2nd round of auditions for the TV show Chopped and a “camera crew will be filming there in April.”
• Andrew Zimmern host of the Travel Chanel show Bizarre Foods has been in town and has posted a few photos of his visit on Twitpic.

Live Work Portland has pulled together an overview of some of the upcoming and recent changes to the Asian food scene in Portland.

There’s always a lot going on in the restaurant scene in Portland, but this spring a few news items combined with some developments since the fall all add up to a significant upgrade in our Asian food infrastructure. When people from away think about Maine, Asian food is not what first comes to mind, yet Portland has a considerable South East Asian population and a sizable Korean community as well.

In addition, I’d add that Shanghai Tokyo opened on Congress Street in February and that two additional Asian restaurants are under construction: China Taste on Washington Ave and Top Thai on Saint John Street.