Category: General News

According to their liquor license application filed with the city, partners Arlin Smith, Michael Wiley and Andrew Taylor are in the process of buying Hugo’s from the current owners, chef Rob Evans and Nancy Pugh.

Smith, Wiley and Taylor are not new faces at Hugo’s. They’ve served as the general manager, chef-de-cuisine and sous chef at the restaurant for the past 2 years.

A letter filed with their application states,

Today Hugo’s is a restaurant with a firm footing, a national reputation and a loyal following of vacationers and locals alike. With continuity as its primary goal, AMA LLC proudly accepts the responsibility, passed down from Rob and Nancy, to lead Hugo’s into another profitable decade. We are confident that the transition of ownership will be seamless: employees, patrons and our purveyors will continue to enjoy their profitable relationship with Hugo’s.

For additional information, read this article from the Press Herald.

Owners of Union Bagel Company and Gelato Fiasco were interviewed for a story on MPBN Radio about how Maine businesses are using funding sources like Kickstarter to expand and establish their businesses.

Once you’ve got that, you post a video to the Kickstarter website and a pitch, set a minimum funding goal and a timeframe, then spread the word so that people go to the website to make a donation. Union Bagel met its goal of $7,500 in just 18 days, and donations are still coming in.

The Golden Dish has posted a survey of some of Portland’s better known coffee shops.

The Forecaster has published an update on the purchase of Two Fat Cats by Blackbird Baking.

Regular Two Fat Cats customers won’t notice many changes because of the ownership swap. Begin said she has kept all the same employees – 10 bakers total – and will offer the same treats, plus more.

Miyake (#54) and Hugo’s (#60) are included on the Opinionated About Dining 2012 list of the top 100 restaurants in the United States.

The Munjoy Hill News has published a report on the first meeting of Portland’s Food Truck Task Force.

Proximity to restaurants and other businesses in the city was the focus of the discussion . . . Experienced food cart operator Ron Gan tried to assure Dick A. Grotton, President & CEO of Maine Restaurant Association and Steve DiMillo, DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, that they won’t be overun by food trucks. “There is not enough business for all of them out there. It’s too expensive. I understand the concern of the ‘bricks & mortar’ people, but people prefer them. Don’t get too worried that several food trucks will hurt restaurants,” he cautioned them.

Cinque Terre and Vignola have been featured in a National Geographic Traveler article on farm to table restaurants.

 Co-owner and chef Lee Skawinski selects varietals for the farm discovered on trips to Italy, and the kitchen crew helps harvest everything from tomatoes to 3,000 heads of garlic per season. Cinque Terre crafts traditional, multicourse meals inspired by the cuisine of Liguria in northwest Italy. Expect comforting dishes such as zuppa di pesce (fish soup) with potato and fennel, and ravioli with kale and braised lamb. Vignola is its breezy little sister, serving tavern fare: Terrines of Maine rabbit are a specialty. To catch a breeze yourself, take a stroll by the ocean across the street from the restaurants.

The Bring Food Trucks to Portland Facebook page is making the case for broadening the membership of the Food Truck Task Force.

This Task Force may be highly problematic; the members are almost all representative of interest groups who gain by maintaining the status quo. Contacting Councilor Ed Suslovic (edsuslovic@portlandmaine.gov) and suggesting other stakeholders (food bloggers, Buy Local, et al) be included would be helpful. Otherwise, the task force is likely to implement only a very limited vision of what food trucks might be in Portland and make it very difficult for a viable food truck operation to survive…

Today’s Press Herald reports on the opportunity for food carts to operate in city parks this Summer,

The city will accept bids through Tuesday. Dumais said there’s no minimum bid, although a $100 deposit is required. A license for a push cart costs $295 and the application fee is $35.

“We’re hopeful that someone will find a good spot and make a go of it,” Dumais said.

The openings are in Deering Oaks, Lincoln Park, Harbor View Park, Back Cove Trail, the Western Promenade and the Kiwanis Pool.

and an article on school kids learning about food preservation.

Children learned how pickling developed as a method of food preservation long before modern refrigeration, and how it still plays a role in keeping foods edible and tasty.

Kate McCarty, one of the master food preservers, explained how ship captains often served pickled foods, which are high in vitamin C, in part to keep passengers and crews from getting scurvy and dying on long trips across the Atlantic.