This week’s meeting of the Portland City Council resulted in the passage of an ordinance to permit Portlanders to raise chickens, denial of a liquor license for Cactus Club (which will stay open pending an appeal), and passage of liquor licenses for two new establishments, Pearl and The Farmer’s Table.
Category: General News
Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors
This week’s edition of The Maine Switch includes an article on the Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors program recently launched by Margo Mallar.
When Margo Mallar volunteered at last fall’s Harvest on the Harbor festival, she realized Maine is filled with enthusiastic food lovers, but few have formal culinary training. So she’s decided to do something about it. The result is a brand new program called the Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors, which kicks off at the beginning of March with a series of classes exploring Maine-made cheeses.
Chickens, Pearls, etc
The Portland City Council is scheduled to meet Wendnesday night. Urban chickens are on the agenda (link is to a large PDF) as is a liquor license for Pearl, a bar that’s proposed for the former location of Onyx, revisiting the vote on the Cactus Club, as well as liquor licenses for The Farmer’s Table and Typerwriter Tavern. Paperwork submitted to the city confirms that Jeff Landry is behind The Farmer’s Table and includes a draft menu (see page 120 of the agenda).
Chickens and Waterfront Zoning
This week’s issue of The Forecaster has a couple food-related articles. There’s a report on the proposal before the City Council to allow raising domesticated chickens in the city,
Residents like Elaine McGillicuddy are excited about the prospect. McGillicuddy said she heard about the proposal and immediately began educating herself about chickens and sending e-mails to friends encouraging them to support the urban chicken movement.
and news on the struggle over the appropriate use of waterfront property along Commercial Street,
The owner of the Comedy Connection and Porthole restaurant wants to reopen the former Boone’s Restaurant space on Custom House Wharf, but is meeting resistance from the city in a new challenge to waterfront zoning rules.
A Call to Raise
Tracy Allen from the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Maine has called for raising the minimum wage for tipped workers in a guest editorial that appeared in today’s Press Herald.
Despite the fact that they make up such a huge portion of the workforce, many restaurant workers are paid the tipped minimum wage, which is less than the overall minimum wage.
Federally, that means tipped workers are paid just $2.13 per hour plus tips.
The tipped minimum wage has been frozen at just $2.13 per hour since 1991 — that’s 18 years! With the passing of each year, tipped workers effectively earn less and less, and many struggle to make ends meet.
Alcohol Sting Operation
According to a report in today’s Portland Daily Sun, several local business were caught up in a sting operation for selling alcohol to underage customers.
Lt. Michael Sauschuck said three summons were issued Jan. 23 and six more were issued on Jan. 24 during a compliance check that used a civilian decoy “between the ages of 18 and 20” who attempted to purchase alcohol without identification. Sauschuck said the 31 locations chosen for the sting were randomly-generated and part of an “ongoing operation” by the department to curb sales to minors.
Colucci’s, Vespucci’s and La Bodega Latina were among those “cited by Portland Police for underage alcohol sales”.
Cheap Eats
There’s an article in today’s Press Herald providing advice on how to eat more frugally. For another viewpoint check out this post by Accidental Vegetables published after last week’s newspaper article on a similar theme.
Kosher Grand Opening at Little Lad’s
There’s been an addition to this weekend’s calendar. Little Lad’s is having a grand opening Sunday morning at 10 am to celebrate their newly established status as a kosher restaurant.
Cactus Club
The Bollard has a report on the tie vote by the City Council last night to renew the Cactus Club’s liquor license. The article also details a history of owner Tom Manning past establishments in Portland.
The police department recommended denial of the bar’s liquor license last fall due to the high number of fights and other disturbances inside and outside Cactus Club. Between December 2007 and last November, cops documented 64 calls to the bar or the area outside its front door.
Vegetarian School Lunch
There’s an article in today’s Press Herald about the vegetarian meal options offered by Portland school cafeterias. According to a report cited in the article, there’s “an estimated 367,000 U.S. children who avoid eating meat”.