Maine Foodie Tours owner, Pamela Laskey won the 2018 Award for Innovation & Creativity at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.
”With Maine Foodie Tours, Pamela Laskey has created an exceptional visitor experience that promotes Maine’s culinary scene to a niche travel audience, and helps to strengthen an industry sector that is one of Maine primary tourism pillars,” said Steve Lyons, director of the Maine Office of Tourism.
Boston.com has published an interview with Alison Pray from Standard Baking about her Beard Awards nomination for Outstanding Baker.
Pray described herself as “stunned” that her bakery, which specializes in old world-style breads, rolls, and pastries, is still on the Foundation’s radar. Bakeries, Pray said, are places that do “behind-the-scenes work — it’s not as glamorous as the restaurant world.” At Standard Baking Co., she strives to serve the repeat customer, the person who comes in every morning to buy their “daily bread.”
Mainebiz has published an article about Gaetano Ascione, the new chef at Tiqa.
The native of Naples, Italy, has led kitchens in Germany, France, Singapore, and has also prepared meals for Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. He’s now bringing his “good food” approach to the three-year-old Mediterranean-themed restaurant at 327 Commercial St., replacing Bo Byrne, who left in January.
The inaugural issue of Incomer magazine includes articles on Ameera Bread (page 10) and Maiz (page 14).
Chef Christian Hayes beat out the other contestants on Chopped last night to win $10,000 and become a Chopped Champion. Hayes is the chef/owner of Dandelion Catering Company in Yarmouth.
Portland is the focus of a new episode of Andrew Zimmern’s TV show The Zimmern List set to air tonight at 9:30 on the Travel Channel.
But when a Portland-centric episode of his new show, “The Zimmern List,” airs Tuesday night, it’ll be largely about his dad.
“The whole episode is really an homage to him. I went to places that he first turned me on to,” Zimmern, 56, said Monday from his home in Minnesota. “It was a very poignant and personal episode for me. I think it’s one of the better pieces I’ve done for television.”
[Recently former] Bon Appétit editor Andrew Knowlton landed in Portland yesterday and is eating his way around the city. So far he’s visited:
The Press Herald has published an article about Union’s chef Josh Berry and the year he spent eating a vegetarian diet,
Berry has long wanted to experiment with his diet so that he could get firsthand experience of what it’s like to live with food restrictions, and could embrace the trend of meatless meals. He figured the exercise would help him improve the menu choices at the restaurant, too.
Having completed a year as a vegetarian, Berry has switched over to a gluten-free diet in 2018.
Brocavore has published an interview with Sarah and Karl Sutton from Bite Into Maine.
B: What aspect of running a food truck do you find most personally satisfying, and why?
S: First and most important would be the direct contact with our customers. In restaurants, a lot of chefs are behind the scenes. In a food truck, not only can customers seeing you preparing their food, but you can watch them enjoy it and they give you direct feedback.
It has been incredible to interact with locals who have been coming to us since the beginning, or visitors who come once a year on vacation. We get to experience people telling us how excited they are for their food each and every day. It is an honor to make people happy.
But honestly, I really really like people telling us that we are THE BEST. It is something that I aspire to each day.
Brocavore is a new blog writing about “dope-ass street food for the home cook” written by ‘Wich Please and From Away creator Malcolm Bedell.
Maine Beer Company has hired Steve Mills to be the CEO for the Freeport-based brewery, reports Brewbound.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Maine Beer Company,” Mills wrote to Brewbound. “I’ve known David and Dan since almost the beginning. They had such awesome vision for what they wanted Maine Beer to be: people focused, exceptional quality and supporting 1 percent For The Planet. And look at what they’ve built! It’s all about doing what’s right. I’m looking forward to contributing wherever I can.”
Mills is moving to Maine from Utah where he was the CEO of Uinta Brewing.