Category: People

Bernard Larson, co-owner of Moran’s Market for more 6 decades, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88.

Bernie began his career at Moran’s Market on outer Forest Avenue in the early 1950s; he and Dorothy purchased the market in 1956. He dedicated his entire life to the market and was well-known by many people in the neighborhood.

When times were tough for families, Bernie was known to extend credit to customers in order for them to make sure their family was fed. He loved his many customers, whom he considered his extended family. Bernie and Dot were well-known for hosting many of the Portland firefighters from across the driveway, to join them for holiday meals.

Andrew Taylor, Mike Wiley and Arlin Smith from Big Tree Hospitality (Hugo’s, Eventide, The Honey Paw, Eventide Fenway) have hired The Lisa Ekus Group to be their literary agent.

The three are working with Boston Globe correspondent Sam Hiersteiner on a proposal for an Eventide cookbook.

Founders Jenny Siler and Keith James Dunlap have sold Black Cat Coffee to Ben Graffius and Mike Mwenedata from Rawanda Bean/White Cap Coffee.

Dear friends and neighbors, for 5 years you have graciously welcomed us into this community and your lives. Today we are saying goodbye. As some of you already know, our family has been dealing with a cancer diagnosis for some time now. Given the difficulties we are facing, we have made the decision to find new ownership for Black Cat Coffee.

CNN has published an interview with Vena’s Fizz House owners, Steve and Johanna Corman.

“I had this whole vision,” she said. “A bar with bartenders, and they’re mixing and muddling and shaking. But there’s no alcohol. It’s seltzer-based, but they’re using really good, healthy ingredients.

“I love old fashioned ingredients, like bitters and tonics and shrubs and syrups. I just could see the whole thing in my brain.”

Troy Mains from the Harraseeket Inn has been named the 2018 Chef of the Year by the Maine Restaurant Association.

Beer Advocate magazine has published a profile of Craig Dilger, co-founder of Foulmouthed Brewing.

Craig Dilger and his wife, Julia, spent the better part of a decade honing the plans for Foulmouthed Brewing. They placed the things Dilger loves about homebrewing—the creativity, the variety, the limitless experimentation—at the core of their business plan. Foulmouthed, the brewpub the couple launched in June 2016 out of an old automotive garage in South Portland, Maine, hews closely to that vision, eschewing flagships and long-range production calendars for an eclectic and ever-evolving tap list. And while going pro involves a lot more squeegee-pushing and business management than his days racking carboys in a kitchen, the payoff comes in the opportunity to offer underappreciated styles in an IPA-heavy market. “People will come in specifically to get our German-style Black Ale. They’re happy we have a Brown on tap,” Dilger says, “even if malts aren’t that sexy anymore.”

Today’s Press Herald reports on some of the former New Yorkers making a new life and a living in Portland, and helping develop the restaurant scene in the process.

Restaurateurs who have moved here from New York say the customers are different, too. Sansonetti says that Mainers, curiously, appear to be more adventurous eaters than New Yorkers. When he worked at Bar Boulud, Sansonetti put Mediterranean sardines and Maine herring on the menu, but they were tough sells. When he opened Piccolo, he served sardines “and we couldn’t keep them on the menu.”

Immigrant Kitchens author Lindsay Sterling is a finalist for the New York Times 52 Places travel writer position. More than 13,000 applied for the job which will send the person selected for the role to all 52 spots on the NYT Places to Go List.

After 28 years in business founder Helen Budri has sold the European Bakery in Falmouth.

“It was a hard decision because our customers are our family and we love our work,” Budri said this week. But she decided to sell, she said, because “after 28 years we wanted more time with family. It was (just) time.”