Category: Profiles

Spicelines has posted a write-up on her recent visit to Rabelais Books.

Rabelais is a different sort of “clean, well-lighted” place: a tranquil but cheerful gathering spot for food-obsessed souls in a food-obsessed town. And what a location: It’s in Portland’s burgeoning East End, next door to Hugo’s (chef Rob Evans won the 2009 James Beard award for Best Chef Northeast) and within walking distance of half a dozen great restaurants, including Bresca, Duckfat and Fore Street. There’s something irresistible about a destination cookbook shop just a couple of blocks from the world’s best Belgian frites and Tahitian vanilla milkshakes.

Maine Mead Works was the focus of a video profile put together by the Channel 6 news team. You can see the piece online at the Blog About Beer website.

Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes a profile of the Captain Mowatt’s line of hot sauces which are produced here in Portland.

Jolly Roger is one of the 20-odd sauces from the Captain Mowatt line that Stevens brews up in his East End munitions factory. A former Casco Bay Line ferry captain, Stevens was introduced to the wild world of hot peppers during a stint in the Gulf of Mexico some 15 years ago. Upon his return to Maine, he found slim pickings in the heat department: only Frank’s Hot Sauce and Tabasco so he began mixing up his own sauces.

Captain Mowatt’s sauces and its owner Dan Stevens were also written up in the latest issue of Portland magazine (not available online).

The new issue of The Maine Switch includes a profile of Lucky Catch Lobster. Lucky Catch provides tourist with the opportunity to try out lobstering in Casco Bay.

That’s the way it works at Lucky Catch Cruises on Long Wharf in Portland. Make a reservation for the lobster boat tour and you’ll have the opportunity to pull lobster traps with the captain, complete with handling bait, measuring the catch, banding the claws and then taking your prize pounders with you when you leave.

My niece and nephew recently visited for the weekend, and when we took them aboard a Lucky Catch cruise with Captain Dave Laliberte and First Mate Brian Rapp it didn’t take long for expressions of awe to take over their faces. At one point we heard: “This is the best thing I’ve done in my whole life” from the soon-to-be 9-year-old.

The latest issue of Sherman’s Travel magazine profiles Portland calling it “a gutsy little city baits visitors with a second wave of pioneering chefs and a clutch of cool designers”. Fore Street, Hugo’s and Five Fifty-Five are all mentioned. The article also draws attention to what it calls “a second, equally compelling wave of smaller, less-polished restaurants”  Caiola’s, Paciarino, Bresca and Evangeline.

Portland in a Snap has published an update on Fit to Eat. The Old Port eatery was recently bought by Mike Mastronardi who resume includes stints at Five Fifty-Five and the Haraseeket Inn.

“Five Fifty-Five really taught me how to cook,” Mike says of the fine dining restaurant, where he still works Sunday brunch.

Recently he was offered the opportunity to take over the reigns at Fit to Eat, and he jumped at it. He re-opened the shop two weeks ago with a pared down menu and scratch made breads.

Portland in a Snap has published a profile of The Corner Room.

The kitchen staff was hard at work in the open kitchen prepping for tonight’s dinner. The menu includes a la carte antipasti choices of meat, seafood, vegetables and cheeses plus a robust selection of salads, pizzas, paninis and pasta. Everything is priced at $15 or under. Look for a list of Italian wines to round out your meal.

Portland in a Snap has published a brief profile of Otto Pizza.

The Maine Switch has published a profile of The Salt Exchange.

Instead she characterizes the food as new New England cuisine. This mean such offerings as Pemaquid oysters under lemon celeriac cream & hazelnut ($7/$12), Wolfe’s Neck Farm steak & tellagio on sourdough with sweet and sour onion & spicy roast tomato mayonnaise ($10), spiced Maine coast cioppino with Casco Bay fish, shellfish & grilled sourdough crostini ($12) and pea risotto with butter poached clams & fresh morel mushrooms ($9).