Category: People

Sustainable Seafood, Chris Geer, SMCC, Apples

| Posted in General News, People

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a feature on the efforts by Hannfaord and Whole Foods to determine the sustainability of seafood they sell,

Hannaford is reviewing all of the fresh, frozen and canned seafood it buys to ensure it comes from well-managed fisheries that will not deplete fish stocks over time. Its Sustainable Seafood Sourcing Policy, developed with the help of scientists at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, sets a March 2011 deadline for Hannaford’s suppliers to switch to only sustainable seafood sources.

and an interview and recipe from Cinque Terre sous chef Chris Geer.

After his earning his bachelor’s, Geer went to Asiago, Italy, for three months, where he worked with Riccardo Cunico at Ristorante da Riccardo al Maddarello. He says the experience was “intense.”

Today’s paper also includes a report on SMCC’s expanded program of gourmet meals prepared by students and an article on the John Bunker and the Maine Apple Day taking place this weekend in Unity.

Second Act for Tom Yordprom

| Posted in People

Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes an interview with the owner of Yordprom Coffee.

The coffeeshop is Tom [Yordprom]’s second act. His first was Siam Restaurant, the highly regarded “nouveau” Thai restaurant on Fore Street which he operated for nearly nine years, until the relentless schedule wore him down. It’s been a year since he traded his chef’s knife and wok for an espresso machine and he’s finally succumbed to the insistent requests of customers and friends. His Thai food specialties are now on the menu: Asian Noodle Salad, Thai Spring Rolls, soups and curries.

John "Sonny" Severino, 80

| Posted in People, Uncategorized

John “Sonny” Severino, longtime co-owner of the Sportsman’s Grill, has passed away.

For nearly 50 years, he ran the former Sportsman’s Grill on Congress Street, a popular restaurant where people from all walks of life gathered to watch sports. It was the place to go after events at the Portland Expo Center, and before the annual Portland and Deering high school football game on Thanksgiving Day.

The Sportsman’s Grill operated 1952-1999 on Congress Street near the intersection with Gilman Street. John Severino operated the restaurant with his two brothers and for the last 13 years of its existence with his son Paul.

John “Sonny” Severino, 80

| Posted in People, Uncategorized

John “Sonny” Severino, longtime co-owner of the Sportsman’s Grill, has passed away.

For nearly 50 years, he ran the former Sportsman’s Grill on Congress Street, a popular restaurant where people from all walks of life gathered to watch sports. It was the place to go after events at the Portland Expo Center, and before the annual Portland and Deering high school football game on Thanksgiving Day.

The Sportsman’s Grill operated 1952-1999 on Congress Street near the intersection with Gilman Street. John Severino operated the restaurant with his two brothers and for the last 13 years of its existence with his son Paul.

Lunch Hop on the Chopping Block

| Posted in General News, People, Profiles

The Metro bus service is considering eliminating their free lunch time service known as the Lunch Hop, according to a report in the Portland Daily Sun.

“We need revenue, we need farebox revenue,” explained David Redlefsen, general manager of the Greater Portland Transit District METRO bus service. “We want to eliminate the Lunch Hop.”

and the newspaper has also published a brief profile of the Fishermen’s Grill and it’s owner Tom Hincks.

James Simpkins, Culinary Fellow

| Posted in People

James Simpkins is the inaugural Culinary Fellow at the Quimby Colony Artist in Residence program. Simpkins has been writing about the experience on his blog, The Quimby Gourmand. During his 6-month fellowship he’ll be, “creating meals inspired by  depictions of cookery and hospitality taken from nineteenth-century domestic literature”.

I already know I will not find all recipes that I want/need, and I will undoubtedly error in recreating them; the language is quite apart from contemporary English, I assure you.  Not only are these dinners imbued with historical influence (a perfect recreation being quite impossible), they are also to ascertain current cultural value via interviews with dinner attendees.  Direct table conversation and informal interviews to inquire into symbolic meanings these meals may still impart today.  Alongside the historical and cultural context laid out in the texts, I am hoping to find quite an overlap in the semiotic worth of the meal… [read more]

Interview with Owner of Rising Tide Brewing

| Posted in People, Profiles

Hop Press has published an interview with Nathan Sanborn, owner of Rising Tide Brewing Company.

…When I started brewing again after my son was born I started mulling the idea of opening a brewery. Not in any serious way, but I did a bit of research and was constantly getting pressure from people who tried my beer. Having someone try your beer and say that they like it is one thing; having someone try your beer and ask why you haven’t opened a brewery is a little different. Combining those factors eventually led me to more serious consideration of the possibility of opening a nano-brewery…