Category: People

Donation to Fight Food Insecurity, Vegan Options

| Posted in People, General News

The Food & Dining section in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes an article about Kevin Ly and his company’s donation to Full Plates Full Potential. Ly grew up in Portland poor and hungry. Knowing the impact of food insecurity first-hand he’s donated the profits from the first year of his business Golden Wat Cognac to help fight food insecurity in Maine.

But as a child in Portland’s Riverton Park, a low-rent public housing community, Ly grew up hungry. He was the eldest of four siblings living in a three-room apartment with their young, single mother, who had recently immigrated from Cambodia.

“We had a kitchen with absolutely nothing in the cabinets but some ketchup packages,” Ly said. “And we didn’t even have it as bad as some families I know.”

Today’s paper also includes a wrap-up of vegan food options in Maine.

Spring remains weeks away, yet vegan and vegetarian ventures keep popping up across the state. Here’s a look at the latest in Maine veg news.

Interview with Sam Hayward

| Posted in People

News Center Maine has aired a really nice Rob Caldwell interview with Sam Hayward.

“Like playing rock-and-roll and jazz, which I was really familiar with, there was an improvisational aspect to [cooking] that really caught me, that really grabbed me,” he said. “I still love being handed a basket of ingredients and figuring out how to put them together and what to do with them.”

New Owners at Yosaku

| Posted in People

Yosaku (instagram) has changed hands and is now owned and operated by Rattanak Tray and Hope MacVane-Tray. Rattanak Tray has been a sushi chef at Yosaku since it opened for business 19 years ago.

The couple are happy to have the opportunity to build on the legacy established by retiring owners Takahiro and Susan Sato who founded Yosaku in 2003.

The Trays plan to make some changes including adding 20 new sakes and 6 Japanese whiskeys, a Japanese gin and a Japanese vodka to the bar menu—Yosaku now offer daily special $10 sake flights. They are planning on bringing back some old favorites to the menu and some changes to the interior design including a larger bar for both indoor dining and to better support take out order pick-up.

Tim Cebula Joins Press Herald

| Posted in People

The Press Herald has hired Tim Cebula (linkedin, instagram) as their new food and dining reporter. Cebula will be backfilling the position long held by Meredith Goad who retired late last year.

Cebula grew up in Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College and a master’s in magazine journalism from Boston University. After college he worked as a reporter for the Berkshire Eagle, a food editor for Berkshire magazine and wrote freelance food and feature articles for The Boston Globe.

Cebula has also worked in the restaurant industry, and was the sous chef for The Old Inn on the Green in New Marlboro.

From the mid-2000s until 2018 he was on staff at Cooking Light as a writer and senior editor. He now lives in Old Orchard Beach where he’s pursued a consulting and freelance writing career while working on a novel.

An Oral History of Beetle’s Lunch with Cheryl Lewis & Norine Kotts

| Posted in History, People

Back before they moved to Portland and opened Cafe Always and went on to found Aurora Provisions and help launch El Rayo, Cheryl Lewis and Norine Kotts were part of the team that opened the Beetle’s Lunch in Allston. Professor Janice Irvine at University of Massachusetts has recorded and published this oral history interview with Kotts and Lewis about those early days.

But first there was Beetle’s Lunch! Before moving to Portland, Lewis and Kotts were two of the four lesbian co-founders of Beetle’s Lunch in 1982, a café in Allston, Massachusetts. Known as a queer-punk space also welcoming of locals, Beetle’s was named the”1983 Best Punk Restaurant” by Boston magazine. I lived a block away from Beetle’s during that time, while a graduate student at Brandeis University, and frequented the café several times. Almost four decades later, I moved to Portland from Massachusetts. Serendipitously, I met Cheryl and Norine at a dinner party. We immediately discovered, and bonded over, our shared history at Beetle’s. As a sociologist, I knew their stories would be those of a radical generation reimagining work, politics, and food. In this oral history, they recount Beetle’s origin story, and the daily pleasures and challenges of launching and running a restaurant (while in their 20s!). More broadly, their stories capture that dynamic historical moment of feminist and queer politics, a nascent food revolution, the emergence of alternative community spaces, and early ‘80s experiments in establishing collective workplaces. This oral history covers the period ca. 1981-83.

Q&A with CarHop’s Thomas Brems

| Posted in People

Mainebiz has published an interview with CarHop founder Thomas Brems.

MB: How does your business model work?
TB: We have an app and a website we collect requests through. We purchase everything from the restaurant or retailer at full retail price. There’s no contractual relationship with any restaurant or retailer. One thing that’s important to us is that we don’t work with a company that doesn’t want to be listed through us. We respect their consent.

The 2021 Year In Review: Pandemic, Food Trucks, Openings, Closings, Etc.

| Posted in Under Construction, Year in Review, People, Openings, Events, Reviews

It’s been another busy and challenging year. Here’s an attempt to provide a high level overview of the 2021 year in food:

  • Covid-19 – the pandemic continued to have a big impact on all our lives. With surge in cases that bookended the year in Maine and a peak in the spring Covid-19 continued to have a ripple effect across the industry from outdoor dining in the depths of winter to supply chain issues to a challenging labor market. Vaccines improved conditions during the summer but the delta and omicron variants have driven up case numbers and hospitalizations resulting in customers becoming more cautious and less numerous as we head into winter. A small number of restaurants have implemented their own proof of vaccination policies and in late December a petition is began circulating among Portland restaurants that calls on the City Council to make that a city-wide approach for indoor dining. Despite all the headwinds, new food business projects continue to get launched—a sign that food entrepreneurs feel a sense  of hope and optimism about what’s to come in 2022.
  • Food Truck Boom – Food truck launches continued to surge in 2021. The Press Herald, Mainebiz, Maine Public, Bangor Daily News all wrote and discussed this trend. At one point this past summer there were almost 50 trucks on the streets or under development in Portland. Over the past decade, many businesses that started as food trucks have transitioned into brick and mortar businesses. It will be interesting to see if that’s also the case with this new set of mobile food entrepreneurs.
  • Knightville – There always seems to be some section of town which is a focal point for new restaurant development. In 2021 that new bright spot has been the Knightville neighborhood in South Portland. SoPo Seafood, BenReuben’s Knishery, Cafe Louis opened and Taco Trio moved to new digs. They all joined the Knightville veterans like Smaha’s Legion square Market, The Bridgeway, The Snow Squall, Verbena’s, Cia Coffee and relatively recent opening by Solo Cucina, Judy Gibson, and Foulmouthed Brewing. The former Taco Trio space is now vacant and there are other store fronts that may come on the market so we’re likely to see more growth here into 2022.
  • John Woods – John Woods passed away at the age of 57. Woods was a co-founder of Full Plates Full Potential and was tireless fighter in the battle against childhood hunger in Maine. His work touched the lives of so many people and made Maine a better place. In his memory Full Plates established the John T. Woods Innovation Fund.
  • Upcoming in 2022 – For the full list of new food businesses under development see PFM Under Construction list. Here are some of the current highlights:
    • Bread and Friends – a brick and mortar bakery/cafe being launched by a pair of couples who moved here from the Bay Area. In 2021 they started selling wholesale and at some local farmers’ markets. B&F will be located at 505 Fore Street and is slated to open in late summer.
    • Dila’s Kitchen – a Turkish eatery located on the second floor of the Public Market House. Watch for them to launch in early 2022.
    • Hi-Fidelity Beer – a low ABV brewery  and community space in East Bayside.
    • Lenora – a taco bar focusing on Mexican-inspired street food being launched by partners from from Lone Star Taco Bar and Deep Ellum in Boston. Watch for them to launch in early summer.
    • Twelve – located in the reconstructed Pattern Storehouse from the Portland Company Complex, Twelve will feature the culinary talents of Matt Ginn and Colin Wyatt.
    • TBD – Gin & Luck (the parent company of Death & Co.) is opening an as yet unnamed restaurant and bar in the Danforth Street location formerly occupied by Little Giant.
    • Wicked Fresco – a food truck that was originally slated to open this past summer. Wicked Fresco co-owners Camila Sohm and Eric Mendoza plan to tap into their Colombian and Salvadoran food cultures and Maine seasonal ingredients to serve a menu of sweet and savory salads as well as sides and hand-crafted sodas.
    • Zu Baker – a neighborhood boulangerie in the West End being launched by Barak Olins this spring.

There are also several other exciting new projects that are currently under wraps but will go public soon. Check back later this year for details.

Top 10 Articles

The most popular articles published on Portland Food Map in the past year.

  1. Valentine’s Day List (February 6th)
  2. Vy Banh Mi food truck (January 20th)
  3. Stacks Pancake Company (April 19th)
  4. Lucky Pigeon gluten-free brewery (January 21st)
  5. Apres in East Bayside (April 19th)
  6. Luna and Salt Yard (March 11th)
  7. Jackrabbit Cafe (March 31st)
  8. BenReuben’s Knishery (March 11th)
  9. Wayside Tavern (April 22nd)
  10. Launch of Truckalico (March 14th)

Notable Events of 2021

Passings

For additional perspectives on the past year in food see the Maine Sunday Telegram A to Z annual round-up, and their restaurant critic’s list of the Best of 2021.

This is the 12th year running that Portland Food Map has published a year in review article. Take a walk down memory lane by checking out these past editions that covered 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.

Mimi Weissenborn at Sur Lie

| Posted in People

Mimi Weissenborn (instagram) has joined the Sur Lie team as their new executive chef. According to the press release,

A native Maryland crab, Shef studied at L’Academie de Cuisine and promptly decided to pursue a culinary career in New York City as a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community. Working her way up the line she finally chose to settle with Vinateria, the beloved Spanish and Italian influenced Harlem eatery, as their Creative Director and later on Executive Chef. There she received a Michelin recommendation, participated in multiple chef collaborations such as New York City Food & Wine Festival, Harlem Eat Up and a gamut of James Beard Foundation dinners headlining and selling out one of her very own; most recently collaborating on an International Women’s Day Dinner. Energized by her new found sense of community she was inspired to honor her own by hosting a female collaboration dinner series highlighting a local cast of Harlem hitters!

With the addition of Weissenborn to the Sur Lie team, the restaurant has led by an all-female management team.

My Kitchen Their Table: Jake and Raquel Stevens

| Posted in My Kitchen Their Table, People

Welcome to the December edition of My Kitchen, Their Table, an interview series with the chefs and culinary professionals who work hard to satisfy our small city’s big appetite. This month we’re featuring an interview with Jake and Raquel Stevens from Leeward. Photos and videos will continue to expand on the story throughout the rest of the month on instagram, so stay tuned.

In their early teen years, Jake and Raquel Stevens began working in restaurants on opposite sides of the country. Jake washed dishes, bussed tables, and ran food at The Spaghetti Factory in Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, Raquel poured soda at her godparent’s clam shack in New London, Connecticut. “I was very good at telling the subtle difference between Diet Coke, Coke, and root beer by sight alone,” she jokes.

Raquel fell hard for the adrenaline of the restaurant industry while bouncing from one buzzing clam shack to another, always working front-of-the-house. Jake took a liking to back-of-the-house when he filled in for a no-show line cook. He enjoyed cooking so much that he dropped out of college and transferred to the former Scottsdale Culinary Institute, now closed.

After a stint in the Caribbean and roaming California with a band, Raquel moved to Portland, Oregon, where she and Jake’s fates aligned. The two met while working at Chef Jenn Louis’ nationally recognized restaurant, Lincoln, now closed. “That was the first restaurant I worked at where I realized restaurants could be beautiful, serious, and create lovely food,” Raquel explains.

The duo then moved to Los Angeles and worked at The Tasting Kitchen, where Raquel learned about obscure wine varietals and Jake discovered a passion for handmade pasta. Eventually, they returned to Portland, Oregon, where Jake served as chef de cuisine at Beast, now Ripe Cooperative, and Raquel refined her knowledge of classic French wines at Laurelhurst Market.

In July 2017, Jake and Raquel left one Portland for another. Maine reminded them of their favorite parts of the Pacific Northwest. The Forest City offered a slower pace of life and a better opportunity to open a restaurant. Their transition to restaurant owners was slow and strategic. For three years, Raquel expanded her wine education at Drifters Wife, and Jake gained experience with East coast seafood as the sous chef at Eventide. “We felt it was important to engrain ourselves into the food culture here and get to know people in the industry. We didn’t want to just come in and railroad our own concept,” Jake explains.

Leeward debuted in September 2018 when the Stevens held their first pop-up dinner at The Honey Paw.  After three more successful pop-ups, they leased space on a stretch of Free Street that is notoriously windy. (Ironically, leeward means “sheltered from the wind” in its nautical context). On March 12, 2020, Jake and Raquel opened the doors to 85 Free Street but announced the closure of their dining room in response to COVID-19 later that week.

Leeward weathered the pandemic like so many others by offering creative takeout options and outdoor dining on a freshly built patio during the warmer months. Finally, in summer 2021, Jake and Raquel welcomed guests once again to dine indoors. Leeward’s outstanding handmade pasta and intriguing wine list have received well-deserved praise from locals and tourists alike and others in the industry, such as Cara Stadler, Brain Catapang, and Kelly Nelson.

Continue reading to find out which pasta dish Jake “can’t take off the menu,” which wine region Raquel is loving most right now, their favorite takeout spots in Portland, and who they believe makes the “best pizza in Maine.”

THE INTERVIEW

AA: Why do you think Portland, Maine is such a fantastic restaurant city?
JS: Its proximity to bigger cities easily allows for the exchange of ideas and talented industry professionals from larger markets. That coupled with access to amazing local produce and proteins creates a food city that punches above its weight class.

AA: Who has played a vital role in your journey to restaurant ownership?
JS: Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley from Eventide helped us out a lot. I got hired there even though they knew we had the intention of opening our own restaurant. They allowed us to do our pop-ups at The Honey Paw on Tuesdays when they were closed. They were also an invaluable resource and would answer any of our questions regarding business ownership, permitting, paperwork, and taxes. Andrew is still on speed dial for when I need unpaid restaurant consultation.

Our sous chef, Colin Kennedy, and pastry chef, Kate Hamm, have been with us since the beginning. We also had an opening sous chef, Jake Robins, who was here for a few months before returning home. He was hugely helpful in getting this place open — everything from recipe testing to driving to New Hampshire with me to pick up used kitchen equipment. And, of course, everyone that came to our pop-ups and contributed to our Kickstarter.

AA: Raquel, who has had the biggest impact on your wine career?
RS: Kristen Koors, the wine director at Laurelhurst Market, was really instrumental in teaching me about lower intervention wines and a lot of the classics from France. She took me under her wing and helped set me on the path I am on now. Also, Peter and Orenda Hale from Maine & Loire were huge in helping me learn about the natural wine world.

AA: What are your favorite dishes at Leeward?
JS: Our menu changes all the time. In the summertime, I was really excited about the fresh corn polenta. We use Pineland Farms corn and box grate it. We saute all the juices and chunks in butter and add corn cob stock. The starches start to gel, and it sets up like polenta. Then we put a slab of Taleggio cheese on top and melt it in the oven.

The mafaldine is a customer favorite. It’s the one pasta that doesn’t come off the menu. We extrude the mafaldine in-house. For the bolognese, we use grass-fed beef that is ground in house, cured pork, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, Chile de Árbol, bay leaf, housemade tomato paste, pork stock, white wine, and milk that is steeped with Parmigiano Reggiano rinds. Then we toss it all together with some sort of bitter green, like dandelion or escarole, and finish it with a little butter and Parmigiano Reggiano.

AA: What are your favorite wines at Leeward?
RS: Lately, I’ve been captivated by Italy in general, but Piemonte especially. It was a region I wrote off for a long time, but the more I delve into it, the more I learn about producers that are making beautiful, honest, and sometimes unexpected expressions of native grapes in the region.

G.D. Vajra Claré J.C. Langhe Nebbiolo 2020 – This wine is made in a way that harkens back to a time before Barolo was a known region. It’s a lighter expression, partially carbonic, and very chillable, but it still has the floral quality and pencil shavings of Nebbiolo. It’s not what you think of when you think of Nebbiolo, but not so esoteric that you can’t enjoy it.

Scarpa Pelaverga Verduno 2020 – This is also from the Barolo region. It’s the producer’s first vintage of Pelaverga. Peleverga is a native grape, and very little is planted. It’s often planted in between rows and, I believe, used to pacify winemakers as they’re waiting for the Barolo to mature. It’s a light-bodied red with a ton of aromatics similar to amaro. It sort of smells like the forest on a hot day.

Giulia Negri La Tartufaia Barolo 2016 – This wine is made by a brazen young woman who took over her father’s estate. She’s known as “Barolo Girl.” It has the most finesse I’ve ever tasted in a Barolo. She does a long and slow maceration and fermentation, so she’s getting the power from the grape, but in a controlled manner. She’s tempered the boldness.

AA: What are some of your favorite dishes in Portland?
JS: Crispy Gai fried chicken is awesome. I like his crispy waterfall salad too.
RS: They’ve toed this line where it’s really fun and approachable, but it doesn’t feel kitschy.
JS: We also like the drinks at Cocktail Mary and the lamb tartare at Judy Gibson.

AA: What are some of your favorites outside of Portland?
JS: We really love the pizza at Oxbow Beer Garden in Oxford. I think it’s the best pizza in Maine. The ‘Nduja pizza is awesome.
RS: We eat that a lot in winter. We cross country ski then hang out in the beer garden. We waited an hour for that pizza one day, and it was worth it. The fried artichokes are really good too.
JS: Also, the cheese balls at Lorne Wine in Biddeford. They’re like the cheese balls you buy at Staples in the big round tub.
RS: Cheese balls pair remarkably well with nearly any kind of wine. Lorne also serves North Haven Oysters by Adam Campbell. We got to visit his oyster beds a couple of years ago. It looks like they’re just growing in their natural habitat. He doesn’t use cages. The oysters are bottom-cultured.

AA: What do you think is one of the most underrated restaurants in Portland?
JS: I like Bahn Appetit a lot. I wouldn’t say they are underrated but maybe overlooked.
RS: Everyone should go there and try a Bahn mi sandwich. It’s the perfect baguette, and the bread to filling ratio is just right.

AA: What do you recommend for takeout?
JS: The shrimp lettuce wraps at Mr. Tuna.
RS: And Ben Rueben’s Knishery is tasty. His knishes are creative, and the rugelach is excellent. We usually sit on the sidewalk, cover ourselves in crumbs, and then go back inside for more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

A few notes on the restaurants mentioned in this article: Drifters Wife went out of business in July 2020, Eventide, Crispy Gai, Mr. Tuna, Cocktail Mary, Maine & Loire, Judy Gibson, Lorne Wine and The Honey Paw are open for indoor drinking and/or dining,  Oxbow Beer Garden has outdoor seating, Bahn Appetite and Ben Reuben’s Knishery are open for takeout.

Previous editions of My Kitchen Their Table have featured Courtney Loreg, Chad Conley  Atsuko Fujimoto, Matt Ginn, Jordan Rubin, Cara Stadler, Thomas Takashi Cooke, Ilma Lopez, Bowman Brown, Brian Catapang, Kelly Nelson, and Lee Farrington & Bryna Gootkind.

The My Kitchen Their Table series is brought to life through the talent and hard work of food writer Angela Andre, and the generous sponsorship by Evergreen Credit Union and The Boulos Company.

Photo Credit: Nicole Wolf Photography

Wiley Departs Big Tree

| Posted in People

The Press Herald has a report on partner Mike Wiley‘s departure from Big Tree Hospitality.

Wiley, who will leave Big Tree at the end of the year, said he has not yet planned his next move, although he does not expect to run a restaurant. Andrew Taylor and Arlin Smith, the remaining Big Tree founding partners, will continue to operate the company, and Taylor said that while Wiley will be greatly missed, customers will not notice any major changes.