The Press Herald reports the Harvest on the Harbor conference has been sold.
The buyers are Stefanie Manning and Gabrielle Garofalo, partners in Portland-based S&G LLC.
Manning is the vice president of marketing and circulation at MaineToday Media and Garofalo owns Gabrielle Garofalo Inc. Consulting & Creative Energy in New York City, where she has worked on the 2012 Billboard Music Awards and New York Magazine’s annual Taste of New York culinary event.
The Maine Brew Bus has announced plans to expand into the Boston market.
In the Greater Boston area there are dozens of small and medium breweries, distilleries, and wineries. Many of these businesses are brand new or not even open yet, and they do not currently have visits from any tour operators.
Over the past three years we have been refining our business with an eye towards offering our popular style of tours in other areas. And Boston is a logical next market for us.
The Beard Foundation will release the list of semi-finalists for this year’s awards program next week. While we wait to find out what Maine chefs and restaurants made the cut, I thought it would be good time to research how the Foundation selects nominees and pick the winners.
Here’s what the process looks like:
October – The Beard Foundation put out an open call for the public to submit their suggestions. In 2014 35,000 entries were received.
End of Year – 250 regional panelists (25 for each of the 10 regions) submit their recommendations.
januaury – the Restaurant and Chefs Awards Committee review submissions from panelists and the public to select the strongest contenders in each category.
Mid-February – The “long list” of semi-final nominees is released.
February/March – regional panelists, former award winners and committee members—about 600 people in all—vote. The top 5 entries in each category are become nominees. Ballots are sent out and votes are tabulated by the independent accounting firm Lutz & Carr.
Mid-March – the “short list” of nominees is released.
March/April – A final ballot is conducted with the same group (panelists, winners, and committee members) to determine the winner in each of the categories.
Early May – the winners are announced at the Beard Awards Gala in Chicago.
There are a total of 21 restaurant and chef awards in 12 categories. Maine chefs and restaurants have been in the running every year for at least the past decade.
For more information visit the Policies and Procedures page on the JBF website.
Today’s Press Herald examined how people’s first date food choices sometimes signal the fate of a relationship,
Carolyn is the sort of person with several small mason jars of excellent and varied loose leaves in her cupboard at any time. She knows how to brew a cup. The prospect of a lifetime of meals and hot beverages with a man who would serve Lipton’s tea (and on a first date, yet, the time one is most striving to impress) – well, suffice it to say, there was no second date.
and an article on the Graziano restaurant exhibit and Roux & Cyr Gallery.
Over Thanksgiving, Graziano and Poland photographer Michael McAllister spent two days in a half-dozen Portland restaurants, taking photos in the kitchen and on the floor. They capped their research with a meal at the Grill Room. Using the photos as source material, Graziano made two dozen oil paintings from his experience. They hang this month at Roux & Cyr International Fine Art Gallery on Free Street in Portland. In March, the gallery will show McAllister’s photos.
An article in the Bangor Daily News explores the role design plays in the success of a restaurant,
In a booming dining city such as Portland, where new restaurants open monthly, restaurateurs need more than a hot chef to keep their rooms full. Intrigue created through lighting, tone, decor — all the elements of design create a subtle theater that seduces diners as they indulge and quaff.
“These days, if everyone is Instagramming their meals and the restaurant space, you know you’re doing something right,” Jim Brady, developer and co-owner of UNION at The Press Hotel, said.
Roustabout, Union, Evo, Grace are all cited in the article.
Pine Pitch Press has put out an open call for submissions for their newest book, a Maine narrative cookbook.
If you want to test the limits of your gluten allergy, or figure out how your mom made that birthday cake, or recreate the first meal you made in college that wasn’t in a hot pot, here’s your chance. We don’t want to just hear your golden-hued memories of Nana’s Thanksgiving stuffing (though we do want that). We want the recipe for the lasagna you can only make, for whatever reason, when you’re sad. We want the special sauce for your third straight loss in the town BBQ championship. We want, above all, to hear not just how you make something but how you make it yours.
The narrative part? Well, that’s up to you. Basically, it’s anything that’s not pure instruction.Tell us how you found the ingredients. Or cut and paste a poem from the back of the Barilla box. Or shoot a photo essay of all the people that pass by your door while you’re waiting on the beef bourguignon. There has to be a recipe that is somewhat make-able and then…something else. We’re ready to be surprised and confused.
Pine Pitch Press is based in Portland. They specialize in “publishing the written, drawn or otherwise printable in small-batch anthologies”.
Today’s Press Herald features a behind the scenes look at restaurant staff meals.
Staff meal, or family meal, is a longstanding restaurant tradition of serving the staff lunch or dinner. Restaurant workers can’t leave their jobs during a shift to grab a sandwich if they get hungry like office workers sometimes do. They are either prepping furiously for service or serving customers. The practice of staff meal varies widely, from elaborate meals where staff gather together around a communal table, to a big discount on anything ordered off the regular menu, to nothing at all. The food is often leftovers, combined with what’s available in the walk-in, and is prepared by the kitchen staff.
Today’s Sunday Telegram includes a feature article on extensive infrastructure built and good works done by the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
A multimillion-dollar food distribution network is expanding in Maine to meet the needs of more than 200,000 residents who otherwise would be hungry, a condition that’s worsening despite an overall improving economy.
Eater Maine announced earlier today that, effective immediately, they plan discontinue their coverage of Maine food news on the site. Editor Adam Callaghan is moving to Washington State take on responsibility for Eater Seattle.
As of today, Eater Maine will discontinue the food and restaurant world coverage that’s been our modus operandi since 2012. As editor, I’m sad to see the site go. It’s been a distinct pleasure for me to play a role in Maine’s growing food scene, which changed so drastically from when I was growing up here to when I returned as an adult five years ago. Come Monday, the site will deliver periodic updates to important maps, but no daily food news. Eater.com and Eater Boston will continue on as news resources for northeastern food culture.
The Press Herald reports that Portland zoning on Industrial Way currently blocks breweries from selling pretzels and other packaged snacks with their beer.
A city zoning administrator has denied the Allagash Brewing Co.’s request to sell prepackaged snacks – such as chips, popcorn and trail mix – to beer tasters at the company’s brewery on Industrial Way, an area that has become a hotbed for beer enthusiasts who flock to its cluster of breweries to sample and buy fresh beer and ale. An Allagash representative will appear Thursday before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to try to have the ruling overturned.
“We’re not trying to expand our business,” said Jill Perry, Allagash’s retail manager. “We’re just trying to be responsible purveyors of alcohol.”