Category: General News

The Press Herald has a report on Vinland chef/owner David Levi’s complaint that Yelp manipulated his restaurant’s reviews on the site when he declined to advertise.

A Portland restaurant owner says Yelp has manipulated reviews of his restaurant after he declined to buy ads, an accusation the online recommendation site has faced before and vigorously denies, saying reviews are ranked by a computer algorithm.

Vinland owner David Levi said he was prompted to speak out Monday after he noticed that Yelp’s local community manager, Steff Deschenes, downgraded her personal review of his restaurant from four stars to three stars a year after posting the review. But Deschenes said she made the change months ago, after reflecting on her experience at Vinland.

There’s a front page report in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram on the serious shortage of qualified cooks to work in the state’s restaurants.

[Troy] Mains, whose kitchen must turn out 150 lunches and 200 dinners a day but is currently four cooks short, said he has interviewed people just out of culinary school who can’t cut an onion or bone a chicken.

“There’s a decline in cooks, not just the amount but the quality,” Mains said. “When I was up and coming in the restaurant business, I can remember a stack of 50 resumes in a folder of people who wanted to work, and now if I hire four cooks, one works out.”

The Bangor Daily News has a report on Mirabelle House Culinary Vacations, a house in Falmouth that is home to a “full immersion into the Portland foodie and culinary scene”.

Daylong and evening classes are expected to attract local participants from Maine and New England. Though bookings have not yet begun, the concept is designed for “people who have a solid foundation in cooking already and want to go to the next level and have a one on one experience with the chefs,” Howland said, adding that kids classes will be added if there is a demand.

Update: The Portland Phoenix has also published an article about the culinary retreat.

An article on Eater Maine earlier this week brought attention to an online advertisement for a “thriving restaurant” in the 04102 area code. Due to the location and building description rumors had begun to spread online and off that Caiola’s was for sale or possibly was going to close.

I talked this morning with Caiola’s co-owner Lisa Vacarro and she cleared up that there are no plans to close the restaurant. However, they are open to selling the restaurant/building and are cautiously considering the possibilities. A couple of local restaurateurs have expressed interest but there’s no firm plans at this time.

In the September issue of Food & Wine you’ll find:

• A step-by-step dumpling tutorial produced in collaboration with chef Cara Stadler from Bao Bao Dumpling House and Tao Yuan. (page 95)
• Oxbow’s newish Portland tasting room gets a plug in an article about artisanal American brewers. (page 40)

Nominations for this year’s Buy Local Indie Biz Awards are now open. You can submit the names of local businesses in any or all of the 9 categories:

• Portland Icon
• Best New Business
• Creative Crusader
• Environmental Hero
• Portland’s Best Kept Secret
• Flavor of Portland
• Out of Sight, Not out of Mind
• Portland Beacon
• Best Neighborhood

Nominations will close on September 2nd and after the final voting takes place the winners will be announced in late October.

To celebrate their 100-year anniversary, Haven’s has created a 418 pound solid chocolate lobster.

The folks at Haven’s unveiled such a lobster, named Shelby, at their Westbrook factory Wednesday. The confectionery crustacean, measuring more than 7½ feet long, was created in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for “largest chocolate sculpture.”

The Forecaster reports that Peaks Island food truck Milly’s Skillet will be moving to Falmouth in September.

[Owner Molly] Ritzo said the Falmouth truck, which will set up at 226 Gray Road, will offer more of a farm-to-table menu, with breakfast items, soups, salads and sandwiches.

“I want to be the morning stop for people,” Ritzo said, adding she will also have prepared meals for customers to take home.

The August issue of Good Housekeeping includes a “snackdown” comparing a short list of venues in Portland, Maine with Portland, Oregon.

• Bite into Maine | Tasty N Sons
• Duckfat | Beast
• Central Provisions | Paley’s Place
• Hunt & Alpine | The Bent Brick