Category: Profiles

Scott DeSimon and Long Grain

| Posted in Profiles

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal published an article by Nancy Harmon Jenkins about Long Grain in Camden,

If I told you that one of the most captivating Asian restaurants in the country is a hole-in-the-wall in a pretty little town on the coast of Maine, would you believe me? Forget lobster rolls, I tell skeptics; you’re going to love the kao klug kapi. And the always come away from Long Grain, in Camden, with a one-word reaction: “Wow.”

and the Lewiston Sun Journal has published an interview with A-list food writer and editor, and Maine native Scott DeSimon. He will be a judge at the Down East lobster roll competition in early July.

It’s your first time judging a lobster roll competition. What will make the winner stand out? For me, the ideal roll is all about the perfect mix of mayo to perfectly cooked meat, with very little in the way of other ingredients or seasonings. And the bun needs to be hot and buttery, with a touch of crispness from the flat top. Simple, but so many people screw it up. Of course, if someone does some brilliant take on a lobster banh mi, I could be swayed.

Coffee Me Up

| Posted in People, Profiles

The Portland Phoenix has published an article about Coffee Me Up and its owners Alba Zakja and Mateo Hodo.

What sets this gem apart are three things: First, the owners, Alba Zakja and Mateo Hodo are two of the most beautiful humans I have encountered. Their smiles are warm, welcoming and real. Second, their pastry offerings are homemade and Albanian; Albania is their birthplace, although they have both become American citizens. Two of their pastries are especially delicious: Byrek is a traditional phyllo savory pastry. It’s light, unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else in Portland, and you can rely on seeing it at Coffee ME Up seven days a week. The other is Alba’s mother Simina’s Baklava.

Pho Co. & Chau Du

| Posted in People, Profiles

The Press Herald has published a feature article on Pho Co. and its owner Chau Du.

By 9:15 a.m., the broths are all simmering, chicken, beef and vegetarian just barely at a bubble. Chau Du is preparing for what she expects will be an average lunch at Pho Co. in Portland, a prediction based mostly on the weather. It’s not raining, it’s not particularly cold and so she is making merely enormous, rather than gigantic, vats of broth in a trio of approximately 30-quart stockpots. They already smell good, with notes of cinnamon and star anise rising up. In the beef broth, a couple big chunks of ginger root bob at the surface, floating alongside five long bones.

Bugs, They’re Whats for Dinner

| Posted in Profiles

The Press Herald has published an article about Entosense, a local firm that sells edible insects.

The Broadbents are the team behind Entosense, home of a large online marketplace at edibleinsects.com for people who like to chow down on crickets, grasshoppers, ants, beetles, scorpions, tarantulas and other critters with lots of legs and plenty of crunch. They even sell (may your gag reflex forgive us) housefly pupae.

Visit entosense.com to learn more, and edibleinsects.com to buy their products.

Bubbe & Bestemor

| Posted in Profiles

The Forecaster has published an article about Bubbe & Bestemor, a new bakery founded by Audrey Farber that weaves together Jewish and Nordic baking traditions.

An Ashkenazic Jew is one whose ancestors came from eastern Europe. Farber is also of Nordic descent and said mixing the two baking traditions seemed to make perfect sense.

“As I began to work on recipes and researching the baking and culinary traditions of both communities, a lot of similarities started to unfold,” she said, including the “ubiquity of rye, rolled and filled sweet breads for holidays and special occasions, heavy use of almonds and lots of other things.”

Visit bubbeandbestemor.com for more information about the bakery.

Botto’s Bakery

| Posted in Profiles, Farming

The Portland Phoenix has published an article on Botto’s Bakery,

“A lot of people know we do bread. They come in and say, ‘I didn’t know you made pastries,’” Jessica said. Their Washington Avenue location sees a lot of foot traffic from the neighborhood and the morning commute. The storefront business, with a quaint design and a couple of tables and chairs, has tripled since they expanded and upgraded their equipment in 2002, she added. They now bake everything in-house, switching from offering a few frozen items.

and a report on organic farming.

The general impression, from casual conversations with farmer’s market foodies, is that buying organic produce comes with certain expectations: the food will be safer, healthier, tastier and less of a strain on the environment. It’s the “you are what you eat,” kind of mentality and firm believers are willing to pay extra money to adhere to it.

Botto’s Bakery Going Strong After 67 Years

| Posted in Profiles

The Bangor Daily News has published a article about Botto’s Bakery,

Overseeing the process that plays out night after night is Stephen Mathews, the second-generation owner of the family-run bakery founded in 1949. Chances are if you’ve had a lobster roll or hamburger, sandwich or sub in southern Maine, you’ve tried Botto’s. It supplies rolls to 20 clam shacks, but delis and sandwich shops are its bread and butter.