RestaurantWeekME is in full swing this week. In addition to the prix fixe menus as 30+ Portland restaurants there are also special events on the schedule for RestaurantWeekME on Tuesday and Thursday. Also of special note this week are the Whole Hog Dinner taking place at Vignola on Thursday, the 2nd Annual Eco Appetito at Cinque Terre on Sunday afternoon and the first showing of the Food Film Series Sunday evening. The biweekly Winter Farmers’ Market is scheduled for Wednesday. Piatto per Tutti is holding a cooking class on Monday and Black Tie Bistro is holding one on Wednesday. The Maine Food & Drink Institute’s cheese class starts Tueday night. Both the West End Grocery and Leroux Kitchen are holding wine tastings this week. If that all wasn’t enough to keep you busy this week, First Friday Art Walk is also taking place this week. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
February’s Stats
The 10 restaurants looked up most often during the month of February were:
- Emilitsa (4)
- Evangeline (5)
- Bresca (3)
- Paciarino (2)
- Blue Spoon (15)
- The Grill Room (19)
- Five Fifty-Five (6)
- The Frog and Turtle (20)
- Caiola’s (8)
- Bar Lola (24)
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
Loco Pollo Review
Loco Pollo received 3 stars from this week’s Taste & Tell column in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
The arrival of a new menu in town is always something to be celebrated, and at Loco Pollo, the flavors of the Yucutan presented in soups and tamales are very good indeed – even if you might wish for a little more of them.
MeRA Chef of the Year
Chef Christian Gordon from the The Inn on Peaks Island has been named 2009 Chef of the Year by the Maine Restaurant Association.
Price Fixing?
An article in the latest issue of Working Waterfront reports on the belief by some that the recent fluctuations in lobster price are the result of price fixing.
Some fishermen think dealers and poundkeepers cheat them and have “since time immemorial,” to quote one, as a matter of course, and nothing will disabuse them of this notion. But fishermen and dealers from both sides of the border, this time, were sure someone-and by that they meant one of the big dealers or perhaps one of the big Canadian processors-must have been manipulating the price. There could be no other reason for the price to jump so high so fast.
Over Grow Organic Cafe
Portland Psst! is reporting on a new cafe and “juice joint” called Over Grow Organic Cafe going in at 437 Congress St.
Freaky Beans Closes 2 Locations (updated)
According to the Westbrook Diarist, two of Freaky Bean’s locations have closed. Both the store in the Cabela’s mall, and the store on Main Street in Westbrook (which houses their roasting operation) were closed “due to ‘unforeseen circumstances'”. This comes just a few months after Maine Roasters Coffee demerged from Freaky Bean and resumed operation as a separate business.
The Bollard has also published a report on the closings at Freaky Bean and confirms that the location in South Portland and Scarborough are still open.
The Grill Room Review
The Portsmouth Herald has reviewed The Grill Room.
The Grill Room is comfort writ large. Great steaks and specialty dishes, inventive sauces, sides like grandma used to make but you know, your hip grandma, and all in a warm, inviting space that soothes.
Walter's Review
Down East has reviewed Walter’s.
Walter’s seafood-heavy menu hopscotches across cuisines, sometimes within one dish. The grilled fish tacos, for example, consist of haddock over shredded greens, with cheddar and pico de gallo — as well as a sriracha mango tartar sauce and a Fuji apple and jicama slaw. That’s a lot of flavor for one dish.
Coffee Shop Burglaries
According to a report from the Portland Daily Sun, “A Portland man is charged with burglarizing one Coffee by Design store and attempting to break into another one early Wednesday”.