The folks over at Zagat and Google, their new corporate owners, have sent out an email asking for people across the globe, including Portland to rate local restaurants. It looks like the everyone’s feedback will be compiled at made available on Google Plus.
You can participate in the Portland restaurant survey here.
Three Maine farms recently won awards at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition (via the Edible Obsessions twitter feed):
In separate news, Avery Yale Kamila, who writes the Natural Foodie column for the Press Herald, won an award from the New England Associated Press News Executives Association contest for the quality of her Twitter feed.
The Bangor Daily News reports on the nascent restaurant valet industry in Portland.
“They said, ‘We’ve been driving around for 20 minutes and can’t find a place to park — can we leave the car with you?’,” [Carl] Loomis recalled Thursday.
Loomis, founder of the city’s first valet service, was happy to oblige. And Sebastien’s [sic] welcomed a car load of diners who didn’t have plans to eat there initially.
For those of you interested in offering valet service at your restaurant, the new valet company is called Valet4ME and you can find more info at www.valet4me.net.
Hot Suppa, Micucci’s, Novare Res, The Lobster Shack, Silly’s, Homegrown Herb & Tea, Saltwater Grille, Two Fat Cats and Miyake were all on the agenda when the the Re:Discover series visited Portland. Sarah Richards from Homegrown and Tolef Olson from Ocean Approved were two of the four local hosts for the show.
According to a recent press release VIA, the Portland-based marketing agency, has kicked-off a Facebook campaign to identify an all-American toast.
There’s a front page article in today’s Press Herald exploring how the drought in the rest of the country will be impacting food prices at restaurants and markets here in Maine.
But Tom Barr, one of the owners of Nosh Kitchen Bar and Taco Escobarr in Portland, noted that food prices have already been fluctuating a lot over the past couple of years, for a variety of reasons. He and his partners monitor rising prices, and just charge what they need to in order for the restaurants to survive.
“Basically the philosophy we take is you have to achieve certain margins to keep working,” Barr said, “and as long as we keep putting out quality (food), people keep coming.”
And in the Op/Ed section is a funny (and fictional) piece about the creative economy,
“Do you know that Portland has a higher chefs-to-accountants ratio than any other U.S. city with a population under 160,000? Do you know that 42 percent of the lobstermen who tie up at the docks are also taking Web design classes at SMCC? Do you know –” she started to tremble — “do you know that the Kokomo Tribune said our food carts were second only to Singapore’s and Berlin’s? No, you don’t, do you?!”
Maine-based blog Delicious Musings has posted some details from her recent visit to Eventide.
An article in today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on Ms. Wheelchair America contestant, Sarah Rosenblatt, and the work The Holy Donut is doing to help Rosenblatt raise the funds she needs to participate in the competition.
Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes some advice for servers on getting better tips and the history of tipping.
Interestingly, “the how-to-get-better-tips-tips” do not apply to men. Unless at Mardi Gras or a special event or occasion, I wouldn’t expect to see red lipstick on my friends Jacques or Greg (well, maybe Greg), and the same industry research mentioned above says male servers actually receive nine percent less than their female counterparts if they draw smiley faces on guest checks.
Carmen at the Danforth received 4 stars from today’s review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Carmen at The Danforth offers marvelous Latin-inspired twists on familiar items while introducing ingredients seldom found on Maine menus. The restaurant’s intimate, elegant setting in a historic inn in Portland’s West End makes it hardly a spot you’d expect to find this delicious and fascinating cuisine. But that’s all part of the magic.
Also in today’s paper: