Strata & Vegan Cakes

| Posted in General News, Profiles

The Food & Dining section in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes articles on the Strata cutlery shop on Washington Ave,

Strata, which opened Feb. 1, is located in one of the shipping containers that entrepreneurs are renting for retail space on Portland’s East End, a busy neighborhood of restaurants and bars. Knife shopping there is an education and an experience unlike anything you’ll get at Williams-Sonoma or other big stores that sell knives by the block. Atwell trades in artisanal Japanese and French knives, but also knives crafted here in Maine – beautiful handmade pieces that look as if they belong in a museum. “I try to stay away from machine-built stuff as much as possible,” he said.

and one on the availability of vegan cakes in Maine.

But vegan cakes aren’t just a Portland thing. They are coming out of the oven at bakeries across the state. It’s a trend fueled by two factors: more people eating vegan, and more people avoiding dairy products and eggs due to allergies and intolerances. This availability of vegan cakes is a marked change from even a few years ago.

Under Construction: 2nd Po’ Boys

| Posted in Under Construction

Po’ Boys & Pickles on Forest Ave is opening a 2nd “on the peninsula” – owner Chris Bettera is keeping the exact address under wraps until he finalizes the lease.

Bettera tells me that the new space is smaller than the current Po’ Boys and as a result he’ll initially be dialing back the menu a bit and focusing on take-out. He plans to apply for a liquor license for the new location and will be adding beer to the menu.

Pending signing the lease and renovations proceeding on schedule, Bettera hopes to open in May.

The original was Po’ Boys & Pickles opened in February 2010 by Peter Zinn, and Chris Bettera bought the restaurant from Zinn in 2015. Bettera is a 3rd generation restaurateur. His grandfather owned 5 restaurants in the Hartford Connecticut area, and his parents ran La Trattoria Restaurant in Canton, CT for over 40 years.

Under Construction: Grippy Tannins

| Posted in Under Construction

A new wine “shop and tasting lounge” called Grippy Tannins (website, facebook, instagram) is under construction at 16 Middle Street.

Grippy Tannins’ mission is to make wine more approachable by creating a space to learn about and taste small production wines from all over the world before taking them home to enjoy.

Through a beautifully curated selection of wine, we hope to introduce you to exciting new wines and passionate emerging winemakers that keep you curious and wanting to taste more.

Owner Lindsey Murray hopes to open Grippy Tannins this Spring.

This Week’s Events: Hen of the Woods, Bird & Co, Palace Diner, Beer & Cake, Mamaleh’s, Pop-ups

| Posted in Events

Monday – Maine Restaurant Week continues through Tuesday.

Tuesday – Bird & Co. plans to open with a Grand Opening scheduled for March 19th, and the March edition of Hush Hush is taking place at Giant on Clark Street.

Wednesday – There will be a wine tasting at the Old Port Wine Merchants.

Thursday – Vermont restaurant Hen of the Woods will be at Hugo’s for a collaboration dinner, and Noble BBQ is holding a Detroit Pizza Pop-up.

Friday – there will be a wine tastings at the Congress Street Rosemont Market and at Maine & Loire. Black Tie is holding a Graze farm to table dinner in Yarmouth.

Saturday – Palace Diner will be open 30 hours straight starting at 8 am to celebrate their 5-year anniversary, you’ll have the chance to try beer and cake pairings at Goodfire Brewing, RSVP is holding a beer tasting, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Saturday – Cambridge delicatessen Mamaleh’s will be bringing some of their signature products to Rose Foods for the day.

Upcoming Pop-ups – two very interesting pop-up dinners are taking place in the next few weeks:

    • Túramali, a pop-up Mexican restaurant, is holding their first dinner at Belleville on April 1st. As of Sunday both seatings were nearly all sold out. Turamali is the creation of Carlos Duarte, a baker at Belleville who formerly worked as sous chef at Five Fifty-Five.
    • Lil’ Deb’s Oasis from Hudson NY will be staging a kitchen takeeover of Cong Tu Bot March 24th and 25th. Both restaurants are semifinalists in the Best Chef Northeast category in this year’s James Beard Awards. The event is on a walk-in basis only.

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.