Category: Maine

Nezinscot Farm: America’s Classic Award

| Posted in Reviews, Maine


Congratulations to Nezinscot Farm (website, instagram) for being named a James Beard America’s Classics Award winner.

Today’s announcement from the James Beard Foundation includes this description of the farm:

When Gloria married Gregg Varney, she insisted that they open a café on the farm in Turner, Maine that has been in the Varney family for more than a hundred years. The first organic dairy farm in Maine, Nezinscot Farm takes its name, shared by a nearby river, from the Abenaki word signifying a place to gather. The Abenaki name is seemingly also a mission for the Varneys. In 1987, Nezinscot opened its Café and Coffee shop, and Gloria’s original vision has since expanded to include a bakery, a fromagerie, and charcuterie. The Café has something beautiful and exciting on every shelf—cases of homemade cheeses and meats, bagels, freshly baked pies, and perfect breads rolling out the kitchen, topped with farm eggs and homemade sausage and cheeses. The energy behind it all feels directed at building community, with delicious homemade everything (even the teas, even the crackers) serving as the vital instrument of creating and sustaining that gathering. The Varneys feed the community in many ways, significantly providing a warm space to gather around food on a farm in the middle of Maine.

The America’s Classics Awards are given to “locally owned restaurants that have timeless appeal and are beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community.” Maine has celebrated two prior award winners in this category: Waterman’s Beach Lobster in South Thomaston in 2001, and Bagaduce Lunch in Penobscot in 2008.

The Varneys will receive their award at the Beard Awards Gala taking place on June 5th at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Additionally, 11 Maine restaurants and chefs have been named semifinalists and are in contention for the 2023 awards. The final list of nominees are due out on March 29th with the award winners also being announced in Chicago on June 5th.

Caballeras in Brunswick

| Posted in Under Construction, Maine

Nikaline Iacono, the owner of Vessel & Vine in Brunswick, is launching a new bar. Named Caballeras (instagram) the menu will focus exclusively on oxidized and aromatized wines like vermouth, sherry, rancio, madeira and apertivos which Iacono refers to as her “true loves”. She hopes to launch Caballeras in April.

The 14-seat bar will be located within the Vessel And Vine shop with additional outdoor seating during the warmer months of the year. In addition to the bar program Caballeras will serve tapas-style snacks. Charley Zimmerman will be heading up the bar with Iacono working on the wine list and food.

Wander at LongWoods in Cumberland

| Posted in Under Construction, Maine

A new restaurant call Wander at LongWoods (instagram) is under construction in the town of Cumberland. The overall venture—which will include an on-site farm—is a collaboration between chefs Mike Allen and Rich Maggi, farmers Molly and Jordan McDuffie, and general manager Joe Atwood. The team hope to launch Wander by early June.

The farm will be an integral part of Wander at LongWoods providing food for the restaurant, an experiential component to the property and a farm store selling Longwoods products as well as those from other farms and food producers. The McDuffies plan to operate a small scale farm employing regenerative farming techniques raising pigs, chickens and cows in addition to the market garden.

Chefs Allen and Maggi will draw as many of the menu ingredients from the LongWoods farm as well as from other nearby farms to serve a seasonal elevated farm-to-table menu. While emphasizing local sourcing they expect to still utilize ingredients (e.g. citrus) that aren’t grown in Maine. The beverage program will feature wine, 6-8 taps of local beer, and cocktails produced in collaboration with Portland area distilleries. In addition to a dining room that will seat 70+, Wander will also have a terrace with outdoor seating, and a communal area extending out into the farm field with picnic tables, fire pits, Adirondack chairs.

Wander at LongWoods will be located at the LongWoods Preserve (instagram) which is being developed as a multi-use (restaurant, recreation, farm, etc) resource for the area. The 55 acre preserve is in land conservation through a collaboration between the Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust and the Maine Farmland Trust. The project was initiated and envisioned by land owner by Alex Timpson who spearheaded the conservation efforts on the property.

The building (shown above) that will house Wander was designed by Paul Designs Project. LongWoods Preserve is located at 76 Longwoods Road in Cumberland Center.

2023 Beard Awards Semifinalists

| Posted in Reviews, Maine

This year’s list of restaurant and chef semifinalists for the James Beard Foundation Awards was just released. There are 11 semifinal nominees from Maine:

Additionally, chef David Vargas is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Chef category for his restaurant Vida Cantina in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Vargas also owns Ore Nell’s BBQ which is located on Badger Island in Kittery, Maine.

The final list of nominees will be released March 29th, and the awards ceremony will take place on Monday June 5th in Chicago.

Related information:

BiziBuns Food Truck in Brunswick

| Posted in Under Construction, Maine

Chef Bijan Eslami is planning to launch a food truck called BiziBuns (instagram) in Brunswick this spring.

Eslami will be serving a menu of buns and rice bowls. Options will include dishes like a lamb bun with sumac, onions and tahini, and rice bowls such as Persian green curry (ghorme sabzi) and a sour chicken with barberries and pickled sour grapes.

Eslami is currently the chef at Jing Yan where his cooking helped earn the restaurant 4 stars from Maine Sunday Telegram restaurant critic Andrew Ross. Watch the Jing Yan instagram account for word of a BiziBuns pop-up which will take place in February.

Eslami plans to locate BiziBuns on the Main Street Mall in Brunswick and be open through dinner hours closing at 10 pm.