Category: Openings

A new company, Maine Beer Tours, is offering tours of Maine breweries on Friday and Saturday each week. MBT is run by Mark and Nichole Stevens.

Mark and Nichole have been dreaming of getting into the beer scene for years, and finally decided there was no time like the present.  They love craft beer, and know there are many people just like them.  Mark started homebrewing back in 1998, as a freshman in college, with his first batch brewed through his Mr. Coffee.  While it may have been pretty horrible, the love affair with all things beer was born…

The Friday tours visit Shipyard, Sebago, Maine Beer Company and Bull Jager. The Saturday tours go to Allagash, Urban Farm Fermentory, Rising Tide and a 4th stop which is TBD. Tickets are available online.

Portland, Maine Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes From Casco Bay, a new book by  Margaret Hathaway & Karl Schatz is now available. The book includes profiles and recipes from 48 Portland restaurants. Everyone from Artemesia and Aurora Provisions through to Vinalnnd and Zapoteca (see entire list) are included in the book.

Hathaway and Schatz are the owners of Ten Apple Farm in Gray, Maine. Their first book The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese, tells the story of how these folks from NYC ended up owning a farm in Maine.

 

On my way to Grace for a Whole Beast Feast tasting dinner (watch the local food press for more details) I spotted the Top Hat Coffee Company cart in Monument Square. As it turns out Friday was their first day in operation. They serve cold brew iced coffee, pour overs using beans from Bard and Others, Thai Ice Tea, and more.

Flores Restaurant is now operating out of the space adjacent to La Bodega Latina on Congress Street. They serve Salvadoran food. I first noticed them this week but I’m not sure exactly when they opened.

The Loft Burger House had their Grand Opening on Sunday at 865 Forest Ave. There menu has 30+ different burger options including #16 the Donut Burger which is made with a Tony’s glazed donut instead of a traditional bun.

 

Josh Potocki from 158 Pickett Street Cafe let me know yesterday about a new project he and some friends are working on called Pocket Brunch. It’s a public underground traveling restaurant which specializes in multi-course Sunday brunches.

Two dates are scheduled so far:

• a 5-course brunch this Sunday (July 29) with guest chef Rocco Salvatore Talarico
• another 5-course brunch on September 2.

Tickets are available online via the website pocketbrunch.com. To add to the mystery the exact destination of each dinner is kept secret and is sent out to ticket holders in advance of each date.

K & A Street Meats has been added to the Food Map list of food carts operating in Portland. K & A is usually located out on Brighton. They serve a standard line-up of hot dogs, chili dogs, sausage sandwiches, chips and soda.

 

A food blog called The Orexiad has been added to the Food Map. It’s written by “a man obsessed with cooking in, dining out and eating well [who] moves from the most ethnically diverse county (Queens, NY) to the whitest state in the nation (Maine), yet discovers new culinary worlds awaiting him.”

The most recent post on Orexiad is a review of  Tandoor Bakery.

We also had falafel, which came with the ful, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and onions and that wonderful tenur as part of a plate for one that would have been enough for three. Texturally perfect, and its flavored married beautifully with the ful and vegetables to form a perfect sandwich.

Three businesses are newly added to the Food Map:

• Jay’s Philly Snacks is a food cart that sells pretzels and Italian ice in Congress Square (intersection of High and Congress Streets).
• The Portland Hot Dog Company is a food cart I spotted on Commercial Street
• Curly Cones is an ice cream shop that operates out of Casco Variety on Commercial Street

Hugo’s new companion eatery, Eventide Oyster Company, is now open for business.

The oyster menu is the most extensive in the city with 9 varieties of Maine oysters and another 9 from away (see menu below). Winterpoints, my favorite Maine oysters, are on the menu except these are Winterpoint Selects, which at least for now, are exclusively available at Eventide. In addition to the raw bar, Eventide serves a range of raw and cooked appetizers, as well as a small set of entrees and desserts.

I had the pleasure of attending their open house for friends and family earlier this week, (see photos below) and aside from when I dropped and broke a wine glass, it all went very smoothly. I’m looking forward to a return trip very soon to start making my way through the rest of the oyster list. I wonder if there will be a “mug club” for anyone who tries them all?

Eventide is located immediately adjacent to Hugo’s on Middle Street in the space formerly occupied by Rabelais.