Category: General News

Portland Phoenix food columnist Brian Duff has published his look forward to what we can expect to be eating in 2013.

It also might finally be the year you can find some dim sum in this town, or at least something dim-summy. Encouraging developments include new brunch service at two restaurants adept at Asian flavors and techniques: Pai Men Miyake and Eventide Oyster Company. The terrific Tao in Brunswick is rumored to have been offering dim-sum dishes as bar snacks and appetizers. The new year will bring a dim sum pop-up restaurant called CHINESE LAUNDRY which promises to show up in “galleries, coffee shops, residences, First Fridays, and street corners.”

Bangor Daily News food columnist Emily Burnham has included Otto, Sonny’s and The Holy Donut in  her list of the “ten favorite things I’ve eaten this year”.

The Press Herald has launched a new food blog called The Root.It’s written by Sharon Kitchens, a columnist for the Huffington Post, author of Delicious Musings and self-described neo-homesteader.

In The Root Sharon plans to write “profiles farm families, reports on farm-based education and internships, conducts Q&A’s with master beekeepers, offers tips on picking a CSA, and much more.”

So far she’s published a pair of posts about the Maine Poultry Coop Contest and about giving CSA shares for Christmas.

We’ve reached that point in the year when it feels natural to look back and see the big picture of what’s happened over the last 12 months.

The first of the 2012 crop of  year-in-food wrap-up articles comes courtesy of Brian Duff and the Portland Phoenix.

For four years those Maine restaurants that flourished have done so against a relentless tug of economic gloom, and some good ones perished because of it. But in 2012, we could feel the forces shifting. Those restaurants that established themselves this year might be fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to benefit from an improved economy and mood for food.

The January issue of Down East magazine includes an article on the specialty coffee industry in Maine, a directory of 19 Maine roasters, advice on brewing at home, and tasting notes on coffees from Tandem, Bard, Speckled Ax and 44 North.

Bob Garver talks nonstop about coffee. At first you attribute it to the enormous intake of caffeine the man must absorb as the proprietor of wholesale coffee roaster Wicked Joe, the co-owner of Portland’s Bard Coffee and a certified head judge at the World Barista Championships. But no, he just loves the stuff that much.

According to an article in Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun, the Exchange Street Cafe plans to start serving breakfast.

Manager Cynthia Tubbs-Maier, 56, is a proven fixture on the Portland food scene having started Black Tie Catering in 1987 with then business partner, Chris Webber. Selling her ownership in 1995, and parting amicably. Tubbs-Maier went on to the Whip ‘N Spoon as the General Manager and Directer of the cooking school, a concept just ahead of its time. Moving on to other ventures such as being the general manager of The Portland Club and overseeing things at The Danforth Inn, Tubbs-Maier has brought her skill set to spearhead breakfast at Exchange Street Cafe. Located at 7 Exchange, Tubbs-Maier has also brought along Patrice Keating, her right hand from past ventures.

The Bangor Daily News published the results of a Portland donut tour,

I believe it was the venerable philosopher Homer Simpson who waxed so eloquently on the subject of this week’s Foodie Files: “Mmm. Doughnuts.”

His sentiments are exactly mine, especially when it comes to freshly made doughnuts from a locally-owned bakery. Two weeks ago, I decided to take a doughnut tour of the Portland area, with the help of BDN Portland bureau chief Seth Koenig, and my husband and self-taught doughnut connoisseur Zachary Robbins…

And word spread yesterday that The Holy Donut will be featured on an upcoming edition of the Anderson Cooper Show.

Chef David Levi was mentioned in the 2013 food trends article in the new issue of Food & Wine.

Sea Foraging
In their quest for wild sea ingredients, chefs are sourcing more than just seafood from the ocean—for instance, Portland Maine’s David Levi cooks with sea buckthorn while Joshua Skenes at Saison in San Francisco uses seaweed to bundle fish fillets.

Earlier this year Levi, along with Gather chef Chad Conley, were hosting. Levi’s now seeking a location for a new restaurant he’s calling Vinland.

The city is training a second person to perform restaurant inspections.

City Hall Spokeswoman Nicole Clegg said Michael Russell, who works as the environmental health and safety manager for the city’s Public Health Division, is in the process of being certified as a second health inspector.

According to a report in the Press Herald, Maine’s congressional representatives are asking Five Guys to use Maine potatoes.

Sen. Olympia Snowe and and Maine Reps. Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud have written to the owners of Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchises in New England, asking them to use Maine potatoes in their Maine restaurants.