Melissa Kelly has won the 2013 award for Best Chef Northeast from the James Beard Foundation for her work as the chef/owner of Primo in Rockland.
Kelly’s win brings Maine’s total up to 4 or 5 depending on how you count it:
Kelly was also won Best Chef Northeast in 1999 when she was at the Old Chatham in New York.
Dispatch writer Holly Irwin and her coworkers have put together their list of the Top Ten Server Pet Peeves. The list starts off with,
1. Verbal tipping. We love compliments; however a compliment does not equal a tip. Please don’t go on and on about how good of a server I am or what a great meal you had unless you plan to reflect that in your tip. Compliments don’t pay the bills.
Dispatch reports that Marcy’s reopened earlier this week after a 3-month renovation.
It’s been well worth the wait, though, because the renovations look incredible. They’ve gone and spiffed up the already classic diner look they already had. Everything looks fresh and new, even if it wasn’t completely replaced.
Maine was ranked 2nd in the nation for access to local food in the Stroll’s Locavore Index.
Using recent indicator data from multiple sources, the Index incorporates farmers markets, consumer-supported agriculture operations (CSAs) and food hubs in its per-capita comparison of consumers’ interest in eating locally-sourced foods — also known as locavorism.
The top five states for locavorism, according to the Index, in order, are Vermont (first), Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Iowa, while the bottom five are Texas (last), Florida, Louisiana, Arizona and Nevada.
Local 188/Sonny’s is asking for your suggestions for the name of the new bakery they have under construction in the West End. A $100 gift certificate to Local or Sonny’s goes to the person who suggests the name they use for the bakery.
Miyake has announced a change in concept for their flagship location on Fore Street. Starting in June,
Chef Masa Miyake will be restructuring the menu to combine the Japanese knowledge of food for which he is so well known with a variety of international cuisines from his extensive culinary background. The plan is to better utilize ingredients from Miyake Farm and from valued vendors both local and international. Ensuring quality ingredients and a unique dining experience for the restaurants’ patrons has always been a priority for Miyake. These changes will allow for some new creativity.
The email announcing the change also states,
Miyake on Fore Street will be closing Sundays starting in June to give the staff the option to host events and special dinners to showcase some of the new Miyake Farm products. These will include Mangalitsa pig, American Guinea hog, and the first farm-hatched quail, chicken and duck.
Pocket Brunch is mentioned in this month’s Food & Wine talentspotting column.
Selling out in less than 2 hours, Pocket Brunch’s monthly pop-up events are Portland’s hardest reservation. Guest chefs like Rob Evans, a F&W Best New Chef 2004, provide the food, while the Pocket Brunch crew creates a unique theme for each party…
Today’s Press Herald Food & Dining section includes an article on the new Good Shepherd Food Bank food truck.
The food bank will probably spend the entire next year testing out ideas for how best to use its truck, said Kristen Miale, president of the organization. First and foremost, she said, the truck will be tagging along with Good Shepherd’s food mobile, which is a kind of roving food pantry that distributes fresh produce and other foods to underserved areas of the state and neighborhoods with low-income housing.
The food truck recently had it’s debut at the GSFB annual gala with a chefs Rob Evans, Wilfred Beriau and Karl Deuben cooking up “cheeseburger hand pies and other appetizers”.
According to an article in the Press Herald, the b.good burger franchise is moving into the old Walter’s space at 15 Exchange Street,
The new restaurant, located at 15 Exchange St., is expected to open in June and will serve fast food-style burgers and fries made with local ingredients – or, as the chain’s motto puts it, “food made by people, not factories.”
Bite into Maine is running a Kickstarter campaign to help raise the funds they need to compete in the Lobster Roll Rumble, the olympics of lobster roll competitions. Their hope is that they can raise $5,500 to help defray the cost for their small business to produce 1,300 lobster rolls for the competition.