Category: General News

The Portland Phoenix has published a brief look back at what changes the past decade has brought to Portland’s restaurant landscape.

Just 10 years ago, when there were a handful of “foodie” enclaves, no one could have imagined the proliferation to come. Sam Hayward and Rob Evans would each take home the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northeast. The Commissary and the Portland Public Market would come and go, but more would come: Vignola, 555, Cinque Terre, Hugo’s, Salt Exchange, Grace, Farmer’s Table, Bar Lola, Caiola’s, Blue Spoon, Local 188, Evangeline, Bresca, Miyake .

Mainebiz has published an article on Ocean Approved Co.’s new lease to farm kelp in Casco Bay.

“Kelp aquaculture is a $7 billion a year industry worldwide,” says Paul Dobbins, president of Ocean Approved. “Twenty-eight countries now cultivate kelp, but it’s not happening here in the United States. That’s too bad because this is an aquaculture product that is beneficial to the environment. There is zero discharge, we don’t feed it any fertilizer, and it’s highly nutritious. We see tremendous opportunity for growing vegetables that don’t require freshwater, fertilizer or any arable land.”

Travel and Leisure has included Cinque Terre on their list of Great Farm-to-Table restaurants.

When chef Lee Skawinski travels around Italy each year, he′s not just sourcing recipes. Strains of beans, squash, and lettuce from the area wind up on a five-acre farm in Greene, Maine, then at his Italian restaurant 45 miles from there, in downtown Portland—proving that farm-to-table cooking can have geographic underpinnings an ocean away.

Three more Portland restaurants have joined the OpenTable online reservation service: Bresca, Evangeline and The Salt Exchange. The website enables you to quickly find a table without having to call around to see where’s there’s space available.

The September issue of The Bollard is now out. This month’s newspaper includes articles on where to find free coffee in Portland, a perspective on food stamps, a Breakfast Serial review of local venues that sell breakfast sandwiches, and a new installment from the Land of Forgotten Cocktails series by John Myer.

The Great Wall Super Buffet in South Portland was sued yesterday by nine former employees. MPBN was at the restaurant today and broadcast this story.

One day after a lawsuit filed by nine former workers against the Great Wall Super Buffet in South Portland was made public, the restaurant was closed without explanation today, and Chinese workers staged an angry protest and a press conference to discuss their treatment. They claim they were not paid overtime, forced to work for tips only and required to pay the restaurant owners bi-weekly “kickbacks.” The former workers and their supporters are demanding an investigation and asking customers to join a boycott.