Category: People

Hunt & Alpine bar manager Trey Hughes has been selected to participate in a competitive apprenticeship program at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail conference. Hughes was successful in competing against 600 bartenders from over 13 countries to fill one of the 40 open positions.

Forty accomplished bartenders from around the world were selected to learn alongside some of the world’s most respected bartenders and cocktail experts as they work the seminars and large-scale events at Tales of the Cocktail^® 2016. These first-time apprentices will be joined by an experienced group of managers, assistant managers and leaders who will use their apprentice experience in leading this year’s program.

Photo Credit: Meredith Perdue

The Press Herald has published the first installment of a 3-part series authored by Black Dinah owner Kate Shaffer  on the experience of moving her business to Westbrook.

I know that it will be over in the next couple of weeks and ultimately that the construction will bring us more business. And in a funny way, the earth-shaking demolition and re-building is an apt metaphor for my own life: I feel blasted from my own foundations, blown away by how much things have changed in the last 10 months.

The Press Herald spoke with 3 vegan chefs who work in non-vegan kitchens about how they balance their job responsibilities and personal diet.

I tracked down and spoke with three vegan chefs who are working in Portland to ask them how they manage it. (A fourth who was on extended holiday in London eluded me.) Among the challenges they face: Needing to taste animal products before they send dishes out of their kitchens, career limitations and the contradictions between strongly held personal beliefs and professional ambitions.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about former chefs who have found success in new careers,

Food magazines are chock-full of stories about talented young chefs yearning to show their chops in the kitchen and work their way up to executive chef. Maybe they’ll even own their own restaurant one day. But sometimes, though we don’t hear about it as much, life happens in the reverse. Talented chefs walk away from their stations, sometimes with scarcely a look back. And, like Durham, they end up in a completely – or at least somewhat – different place.

and an interview with mother and daughter duo Nancy Harmon Jenkins and Sara Jenkins,

Mom is a 13th-generation Mainer and an expert on the cooking of the Mediterranean, with eight cookbooks (and two non-food books) to her name. Daughter is the chef of two beloved Manhattan eateries – the sandwich shop Porchetta and the pasta-centric Porsena – and is set to move to Maine next month with her husband and 9-year-old son to open a Mediterranean restaurant in Rockport.

The Press Herald has published interviews with Maine’s four 2016 James Beard award  nominees:  Mike Wiley, Andrew Taylor, Brian Hill and Rob Tod.

Maine will be well represented at the 2016 James Beard Awards ceremony Monday in Chicago, with three chefs and one craft brewer up for the coveted medals.

Both the Press Herald and Bangor Daily News has posted reports on the new chef at Tempo Dulu.

Michael MacDonnell, former sous chef at Natalie’s, the restaurant at the Camden Harbour Inn, has been named executive chef at Tempo Dulu, the swanky Southeast Asian restaurant located in the Danforth Inn on the West End.

The Maine Sunday Telegram has hired Andrew Ross to serve as the paper’s new restaurant critic.

Ross was selected by the Sunday Telegram for the job from a pool of more than 70 applicants, and along with other finalists for the position was asked to write a sample review. Editor Peggy Grodinsky tells me that “Andrew was the clear winner among the lot, and we’re very pleased to have him.”

Ross moved to Maine last year, but has had ties to Maine since childhood. He is the former editor of a now defunct website called NYCnosh.

Be sure to pick-up a copy of this weekend’s Maine Sunday Telegram to checkout his first restaurant review.

Portland Magazine has published an interview with Ralph Hersom, the former sommelier at Le Cirque and now Portland resident working for Hannaford managing the wines, beer and spirits products at their supermarkets.

Hannaford shoppers have benefited from the updated and more sophisticated food selections available there in recent years. Is your job to do the same for beverages?
Exactly. I’ve been hired by Hannaford to help improve upon the selection of wine, beer, and spirits they currently carry. I’m fortunate that past [decisions] have established a great foundation for me to build upon. I’ll use my fine-wine, craft beer, and specialty spirits background to bring some excitement to the center-store aisles, helping to elevate it to the next level.

I had the chance to meet Hersom last month at the Piccolo truffle dinner and am looking forward to seeing his selection make an impact on the Hannaford wine shelves.