Category: People

Maine Ahead magazine has published a profile of Eric Simeon.

When you realized you really were a chef: I would never call myself a chef until I was the actual leader of the kitchen, which happened in Philadelphia in 2004. My dad, however, started introducing me as a chef to whoever would listen (especially waitstaff when we were out to dinner) way back in the ’90s.

The founder of Dyer’s Variety on Portland Street, Frederick P. Dyer, passed away on Saturday at the age of 90.

“He was great at making Italian sandwiches. He was know for his Italians and his meatballs,” Kaplan said. “Back then, they sold a sandwich for 50 cents. He would spend seven days a week in that store.”

The Locavore column in Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun is about Angela Fagin and her company Angela Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats.

Growing up in Nanjing, Angela used to eat dumplings made with whole wheat flour. It’s what her mother could afford; “dark flour” was much cheaper and not rationed like refined white flour. Naturally when her mother came to visit her at her new home in Maine, she was astonished that the dumplings that were the core of her daughter’s successful American business were not only made of whole wheat but that they sold at a premium because of it.

Also this week from the Sun is a continuation of Natalie Ladd’s reporting on the food stands at Hadlock Field.

A man of action and few words, he is surprised that people are remotely interested in what goes on behind the rolling metal gate that separates Stand D from the general concourse where fans roam; seeing and smelling their food and beverage options. With eight short days left until the first ceremonial pitch is tossed, the three-man, in-house, professional food service team is as busy as they will be all season.

South Portland baker and business owner John Palanza passed away last week. Palanza owned the Uncle Andy’s Bakery in South Portland for 45 years, from 1951 to 1996.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Palanza was hired by Fred Nanney, the original owner of Uncle Andy’s, to run the doughnut shop. In 1951, Mr. Palanza acquired Uncle Andy’s, growing it from a doughnut shop to a full-service bakery.

For more than 40 years, he produced breads, cakes, pies, doughnuts and assorted pastries for hundreds of loyal customers, many of whom would wait in line outside the bakery on busy weekend mornings and on holidays. The police department assigned a traffic cop to direct traffic past the shop during its busy times.