Category: People

Maine Home + Design has posted the profile of Bob and Laura Butler, owners of Rachels L’Osteria, that appeared in the September issue of the magazine.

While the lovingly selected menu is based on Laura’s passion for food, the carefully considered wine list remains Bob’s forte. The trips to Italy have helped fine-tune his growing love for Italian wine, and for the last five years Wine Spectator has recognized Rachel’s 250-label list. While the emphasis is on Italian wines and some older vintages of California Cabernets, small boutique wines also have their place on the list. Whether it’s the $130 bottle or the $23 bottle, Bob has a photographic recall when it comes to wine. “I can’t remember what Laura said five minutes ago, and yet I can remember a bottle of wine people came in and ordered six months ago,” he says.

Portland Food Heads has posted a video interview with Guy and Stella Hernandez, co-owners of Bar Lola.

Dona Hachey was interviewed for the ShopTalk column in today’s Press Herald. Hachey is the current owner of Ernie’s Pool, Darts & Ping Pong on Forest Ave.

Q. Who’s Ernie?

A. The one who owned it before I did. Ernie Rouleau, a good Frenchman. It was Timothy’s Sports Bar before, and originally called the Forest Avenue Tavern, or Fats. Like Minnesota Fats. I think way back it used to be a car dealership of some sort.

Portland Food Heads has posted a video interview with Rob Sullivan. Sullivan’s work Minumentals: Gastronomique is currently on exhibit at Rabelais Books.

Down East has published an extended profile of John Myers, the Dean of Portland bartenders and an acknowledged expert in classic cocktails.

Myers is large and a bit shambling, and has something almost architectural occurring as regards to facial hair. One would be forgiven for thinking him the offspring of Grendel’s mother and Wyatt Earp. (In describing his appearance on stage last year during a national cocktail competition against well-groomed twentysomething bartenders, the Wall Street Journal’s Eric Felten wrote that Myers cultivated “a dour glower in keeping with his Wild Bill Hickok whiskers and locks. His demeanor also appeared to reflect some culture-clash discomfort, the awkwardness Leon Redbone might feel sharing the stage with Moby.”)

Portland Food Heads has published a video interview with North Star co-owner Anna Maria Tocci. The interview is the first of a new series from Portland Food Heads called Vidappetit.

Portland Psst! uncovered this interesting NPR interview with Chef Sam Hayward from Fore Street.

Because of the recession, top restaurants across the country are trying to cut costs without compromising quality…But in Portland, Maine, Chef Sam Hayward, a winner of the James Beard award in 2004, says one way he’s keeping business up is by offering lower-priced entrees that still feel special.

The piece includes Fore Street’s recipes for Haddock Cakes as well as their Beans with Caramelized Onions.