Bird & Co. (instagram), the new Mexican restaurant that’s been under construction in Woodfords Corner, has announced plans to open on Tuesday, with the Grand Opening for the restaurant scheduled for Tuesday March 19th.
Bird & Co. is located at 539 Deering Ave in the space formerly occupied by Abilene.
Five bartenders from Portland are competing in the Northeast regional Speed Rack competition:
Rosemont Butcher Elise Miller beat out the competition to become a Chopped Champion this week, reports the Press Herald.
Both The Blueberry Files and Mainebiz have published reports on the new Maine Beer Company tasting room in Freeport.
Fortunately, the tasting room expansion is complete, with a 6,000 sq. ft. light-filled space with a wood-fired pizza oven and a water fountain. The new space is open to the public now, but the official grand opening is Saturday, March 9th.
Life & Thyme has published a profile of Rabelais Books and its owner Don Lindgren.
For Don Lindgren of Rabelais, an antiquarian bookshop in Biddeford, Maine, these culinary texts serve a purpose even more expansive than the preservation of recipes. Widely considered a leading buyer and seller of antiquarian cookbooks and culinary ephemera, his work consists not just in seeking out rare material, but in helping others understand the role those books played in the lives of both their individual owners and society at large.
A pair of food businesses originally founded elsewhere in New England have relocated to the Portland area:
The Press Herald is seeking nominees for this year’s Source Sustainability Awards. Past year’s winners have included butchers, grocers, aqua-cultivators. If you know of a person or organization (or are one yourself) that are “contributing to the state’s environmental well-being” then take a moment to nominate them for consideration.
Dean’s Sweets (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) is planning to open a second location at 54 Cove Street in East Bayside. The new location will provide additional production space and a retail shop. They hope to open the new location in late Spring.
54 Cove Street is adjacent to the building that will house Extrava and just around the corner from little Tandem.
Dean’s was founded 15 years ago by co-owners Dean and Kristin Bingham. Dean’s will continue to produce and sell their nut-free chocolates at 475 Fore Street as well.
Monday – Maine Restaurant Week continues.
Tuesday – Elise Miller, a butcher at Rosemont, will be competing on Chopped at 9 pm.
Wednesday – the 1st floor of N To Tail will open. The downstairs space opened as a Korean BBQ and sake/soju bar in December. The final renovations are now complete and the first floor will serve a “unique Korean Fusion menu with popular dishes such as Bibimbap and Poke”.
Thursday – there will be a wine tasting at Maine & Loire.
Friday – Vignola is holding a wine dinner featuring wines from Corte alla Flora, and there will be a wine tasting at the Brighton Ave Rosemont.
Saturday – Hi Bar Bakery is holding a brunch pop-up at Fork Food Lab, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Sunday – The Lost Kitchen will be announcing their method for accepting reservation requests for the 2019 season; check back here on Sunday and I’ll publish the details. Maine Restaurant Week is holding their (sold out) Spirit Quest event.
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.
I’m sad to report that Ten Ten Pié has gone out of business. The news was announced on instagram with this message:
I regret to inform you that Ten Ten Pié is closing.
You, customers and community, have made this such a wonderful and rewarding experience. I am grateful for your support these last 4 ½ years.
I prepare for new projects and look forward to seeing you down the road.
Keep doing what you’re doing to help local food, local business, and local community flourish.
Thank you for letting me be part of your journey.
Markos
Ten Ten opened on August 16, 2014 as a much loved bakery, cafe and neighborhood market. They’ve received some national press, especially during the last year.