Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram offers some Do’s and Don’t of Takeout and makes some suggestion for (takeout) dinner and a movie.
Arabica Closes Commercial Street
Arabica Coffee has permanently closed their location on Commercial Street. They are relocating their bakery to their Free Street coffee shop which is scheduled to re-open on June 1st.
Arabica is also in the process of leasing a new space for their roastery which will also include a new coffee bar. Additional details on the new location will be released later.
Portland Farmers’ Market
Today’s Press Herald reports on how Farmers’ Markets are adapting their procedures to balance food distribution with public health.
Group Advocates Earlier Opening Date for Restaurants
The Press Herald reports that an organization called the Restaurant Workers of Maine sent a letter to the Governor sharing concerns that “the industry could collapse if restaurants are not allowed to operate at full capacity by July 1”.
The group, which says it has 5,000 members since forming in 2017, wants the state to allow the industry to reopen in mid-May rather than having to go an entire month with curbside pickup only and entering June not knowing what levels of customer capacity will be allowed inside eating establishments. The letter asks the governor to evaluate COVID-19 activity levels every two weeks and to make adjustments accordingly, rather than her phased reopening that goes month by month.
Maine Chopped Success
The Boston Globe has published an article about the participation by Maine chefs in the television show Chopped and identifies some of the roots of Maine chef’s success on the show.
Maine’s numerous “Chopped” champions include chefs Matt Ginn of Evo Kitchen + Bar and Chebeague Island Inn, Christian Hayes of Dandelion Catering Co. and The Garrison, Rob Evans of Duckfat, Natalie DiBenedetto of Figgy’s Takeout and Catering, butcher Elise Miller, then of Duckfat and now at Rosemont Market & Bakery, and Melissa (“Missy”) Corey, who won in 2012 when working as a cook at Duckfat and has since moved out of state. Native Mainer Rachel Legloahec also won “Chopped” when she was a chef in Las Vegas. She now owns Weft and Warp, a shop that crafts leather knife rolls for chefs, in Freeport.
Many other Maine chefs have participated — and received plenty of positive feedback, but in the end, didn’t escape the Chopping Block.
Starter Curbside Cocktail List
As reported earlier this week, Maine restaurants and bars can now move ahead with curbside cocktail takeout. Businesses are in the process of figuring out their plans and menus. No doubt many more venues will jump on board over the next week.
For right now here are the first few out of the gate with cocktails ready to order:
- Arcadia National Bar
- Baharat
- Bao Bao
- Black Cow
- Boda
- Central Provisions
- Chaval
- Cocktail Mary
- DiMillo’s
- Drifters Wife
- Lazzari
- Liquid Riot
- Portland Hunt and Alpine Club
- Quiero Cafe
- Sagamore Hill
- Shay’s
- Stroudwater Distillery
- Taco Escobarr
- The North Point
- Tipo
- Woodford F & B. To order call (207) 200-8503.
Local 188 plans to have cocktails ready for their Sunday brunch takeout on May 3rd.
Ferry Village Market Opens May 1st
June 1st Set for Restaurants to Re-Open
Governor Mills has unveiled her phased approach to re-opening the Maine economy. On point for the food community are stages 2 and 3:
- Stage 2 begins on June 1st. It allows for the re-opening of restaurants and for gathering of up to 50 people.
- Stage 3 begins on July 1st and anticipates the re-opening of bars.
I’m counting down the days—all 33 of them—until I can go to a Portland restaurant for a meal. In the meantime some takeout and a haircut (barbers and salons get the green light in stage 1) will fill the gap.
JBF Nominee List Goes Live May 4th
The list of final nominees for this year’s James Beard Foundation awards had been set to be released March 25th but the announcement was delayed due to the pandemic. Now the Beard Foundation now plans to release the nominee list on Monday on May 4th at 4 pm.
To refresh your memory, here’s a link to the 2020 list of JBF award semifinalists from Maine which was published in February.
Cocktails To Go
State regulations regarding bars and restaurant selling food and drinks to go have been revised to allow for takeout cocktails effective immediately.
To participate in the new program establishments have to comply with some new guidelines which include:
- Cocktails must be part of a food order
- Drinks can’t be larger than 4.5 ounces of spirits
- Cocktails must be in a “tamper evident container”
- The containers have to be labelled with the name of establishment with date and time of production and the contents of cocktail including the proof the spirits used.