This Week’s Events: Flood’s Opening, Street Eats and Beats, Crawfish Boil, Rum Riot Rum, Koji Workshop, Caffeine Crawl

| Posted in Events

Monday – It’s Memorial Day, the informal start of Summer.

Wednesday – the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Friday – Flood’s (website, instagram, facebook) will open its doors to the public, and there will be a wine tasting at the Brighton Ave Rosemont Market.

Saturday – Caffeine Crawl has produced four different tours of Portland coffee shops, the 2019 edition of Street Eats and Beats is taking place, as is the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market.

Sunday – Po’ Boys is holding the 8th Annual Crawfish Boil,  Cong Tu Bot will be on the road for an event at the Oyster River Winegrowers, 3 Portland distillers are releasing their collaboration spirit Rum Riot Rum and raising a toast to the memory of John Robbins, the 22-year-old sailor from Deer Isle who died in the 1855 Portland Rum Riot. Hugo’s and OurCookQuest are collaborating to offer a Koji Workshop.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

Review of Three Dollar Deweys

| Posted in Reviews

The Press Herald has reviewed the Three Dollar Deweys.

The new and improved version of Three Dollar Deweys includes some slight layout changes, nicely renovated bathrooms and a menu revamp that I’ll discuss later, but by far the most exciting development, in my opinion, is that there’s now a specialty cocktail menu featuring 10 drinks ranging from $8 to $13. I went with the $11.50 blood orange martini, one of my drinking companions ordered the $13 Commercial Street (tequila, apricot brandy liqueur, cranberry juice and fresh lime juice), and my other friend chose the $12 Paloma (tequila, grapefruit juice, agave nectar and soda water).

Scott Tyree, MS

| Posted in People

The Press Herald published a profile earlier this week on Scott Tyree, the Freeport resident who recently became the 256th Master Sommelier in the world.

At 8:30 a.m. on April 29, Scott Tyree, wearing a dark navy suit with a lucky stone from a friend tucked into a pocket, entered a suite at the Four Seasons in St. Louis, the city’s acclaimed arch visible in a window behind him. Waiting for Tyree was a panel of four proctors, all master sommeliers, and six glasses of classic wines – three white, three red. He was there to take, for the 10th time in 16 years, the famously rigorous master sommelier exam.

Openings: Floods and Blake Orchard

| Posted in Under Construction

A couple of new openings have been announced:

  • Greg Mitchell is planning to open his new restaurant Flood’s (website, instagram, facebook) to the public on Friday May 31st.  The 50-seat restaurant is located at 747 Congress Street in the West End. Floods will initially be open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner with plans to eventually add lunch and brunch. Here’s a look at the draft menu Mitchell put together back in March. This is Mitchell’s second restaurant, he’s also the co-owner of Palace Diner.
  • Old Port cold press juice and smoothie shop, Blake Orchard is opening their 2nd location on June 12th. The new shop is located near Woodfords Corner at 561 Forest Ave.

Walter’s Closing

| Posted in Closings

Walter’s is closing as of May 31st. A mainstay of the Portland restaurant scene, it will be missed by the many customers who have dined there over decades it’s been in business.

Owners Cheryl and Jeff Buerhaus have shared that they’ve considered this decision for quite some time now and feel that after 30 years in the business the time is right to close and move on with the next phase of their life.

Currently we have no plans for the future but to enjoy our grandchildren. We have thoroughly enjoyed serving the public for the many years we have been in business. To be able to spend time with people celebrating special occasions, date nights, business meetings has been joyful. As all things come to pass so has Walter’s time in the Portland food arena.

Walter’s was originally opened by Walter Loeman and Mark Loring, and was located at 15 Exchange Street.

The Buerhauses built out the current space on Union Street and moved the restaurant in 2009. It was the one of the first restaurants that departed from the then standard exposed brick and beams aesthetic to something more contemporary.

This Week’s Events: Opera Cocktails, Tequila/Mezcal, Pasta with Paolo

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – Solo Italiano chef Paola Laboa will be teaching a pasta-making class.

Wednesday – there will be a Greek wine tasting at RSVP, and the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Friday – Grace is hosting an Opera Cocktail Party, there will be a tequila and mezcal event on Thompson’s Point, and Novare Res will be featuring beer from Stillwater Brewing.

Saturday – the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

New Summer Restaurants

| Posted in Under Construction

The Sunday Telegram has published a rundown of restaurants opening this summer in Southern Maine.

Next weekend marks the unofficial start of the Maine tourist season, and every year new restaurants scramble to open in time for the influx of visitors, hoping to get a big, juicy slice of that economic pie. Open by Memorial Day, the feeling goes among restaurateurs, and hopefully the opening kinks can be worked out by the time the crowds really start to swell in July.

Reviews: David’s, David’s 388, Hot Suppa

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the David’s 388 and David’s, and

Equally, it’s hard not to like David’s 388, which opened in 2005. With a terse menu that stitches together New American, French and Italian bistro influences, he and his team put out rock-solid dishes like soft, pan-fried seafood and sweet potato cakes; boozy pecan tartlettes; and a classic bacon burger he slides into tranches of transverse-cut focaccia.

the West End News has reviewed the Hot Suppa.

For starters Alex had the Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade, perfectly fried and paired well with savory dipping sauce. For me it was an outstanding Chicken & Andouille Sausage Gumbo. Neither of us could get enough of it (especially him, since it was intended for me). I’d wished it was a bowl and served as a main entrée. It was that good!