Category: General News

WGME has aired a piece on the Portland’s Arts and Technology High School culinary class which gives students some of the skills they need on their way to their first kitchen job or to enter culinary school.

“I want them to be able to come in and know how to handle a knife, how to set up a work station, how to show up on time and dress appropriately. All those skills that you didn’t see in a cookbook,” Hannibal said.

That also includes business math, sanitation, marketing, nutrition and one of the most popular parts of the curriculum, how to make some delicious desserts.

Today’s Press Herald reports on the expanded use of canning in favor of bottles, including for beverages like kombucha and cocktails.

“Cans are undoubtedly a more sustainable packaging vehicle,” Emmerich said. “They cost less to make. They cost less to ship. They’re more easily recyclable.” Canning is also faster than bottling. Madden said Lone Pine initially hand-bottled its product at a rate of 10 cases per hour. A canning line can produce 40 cans per minute, he said. “All the beer styles we do right now lend themselves to cans,” Madden said. “They’re made to be consumed soon. Fresher is better, and cans promote that idea.”

Maine’s first craft brewery to go all in with cans was Baxter Brewing back in 2010.

The long awaited lobster emoji has been released. For an Apple phone, the emoji requires upgrading to version 12.1 of the operating system.

For more information, read this article from Mainebiz.

A number of food businesses were honored at this year’s Indie Biz Awards:

• Flavor of Portland – Boda
• Made in Portland – Holy Donut
• Best New Business – Rose Foods
• Portland Icon – Harbor Fish Market
• Local Love – Silly’s
• Hall of Fame – Coffee by Design, Micucci’s, Rosemont

Mainebiz has published a report on the challenges the new owners of Fork Food Lab have to overcome in making the business a success.

Portland magazine makes the case for not forgetting the “old stalwarts” of the city’s restaurant culture while we celebrate the newer establishments in town,

I could, and will, go on: Lolita, the Blue Spoon, and Union have never let me down. When I’m feeling raw and blue, I can always count on the chicken tacos with a side of bacon at the Front Room to cheer me up. The Parisian-feeling outdoor café at the Regency is a nice place for a lunch date on a balmy day. And whenever you get a hankering for top-notch homey German food (and who doesn’t?) there’s nowhere like Schulte & Herr for bratwurst and sauerkraut. As for sushi, no one does it better than Masa Miyake. But Benkay and Yosaku are damned good, too. As for Vietnamese, whether you’re Team Thanh Thanh or Team Saigon, it’s okay—they’re both great.

The Press Herald reports that Fork Food Lab is under new ownership that will enable it to continue in operation.

The owners of the building that houses Fork Food Lab, a shared commercial kitchen at 72 Parris St. in Portland, on Monday confirmed a new partnership with the Sustainability Lab that will ensure the kitchen stays open.

The Press Herald has posted an update on the efforts to save Fork Food Lab,

A group of entrepreneurs and investors is in negotiations to take over the operation of the Portland shared commercial kitchen as a nonprofit on or about Oct. 1, said Bill Seretta, president of The Sustainability Lab in Yarmouth and chair of the Maine Food System Innovation Challenge. He emphasized that the deal is still not done and no papers have been signed, but added that he’s “pretty confident this is going to work out.”

Black Dinah Chocolatiers is kicking off their Chocolatier for a Day sweepstakes today,

The prize is a chocolate lover’s dream come true. The winning chocolatier will work side by side with Kate and her team, receiving one-on-one instruction on how to make ganache (the chocolate-and-cream center of a truffle), cook caramel, enrobe truffles, temper chocolate, and mold bonbons. The winner will also take home a selection of what they make over the course of the day, plus Kate’s award-winning cookbook “Desserted” and their very own Black Dinah Chocolatiers chef’s cap and apron.

For more information and to enter visit the sweepstakes web page.

Sagamore Hill has announced plans to temporarily close while they work out a glitch in the paperwork submitted for their liquor license. Addressing the problem will require them to re-apply and be re-approved for their license.

Update: see this article from the Press Herald for more information.