Reviews: Piccolo, LB Kitchen

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the Piccolo, and

The new Piccolo still holds a maximum of 20 diners at a time, but it feels (and is) brighter, more colorful and best of all: more accessible. With the addition of half-portions of pasta to the menu, it is easy to imagine stopping in for a weekday meal of phenomenal Funghi (a stealth salad with a runny egg that creates its own carbonara-like dressing), a plate of pork-sugo-dressed strascinati pasta, and a half-dessert, half-digestif fior di latte gelato slowly melting into a fruity, herbal shot of Pasubio amaro. No special occasion required.

The Bollard has reviewed the LB Kitchen.

It’s definitely possible to make healthier choices than we made — the menu includes several whole-grain bowls, vegetable-heavy sandwiches and the like — but to me, LB Kitchen shines brightest when they put a healthyish spin on traditional breakfast fare. The prices aren’t the lowest in town, but the quality of both the ingredients and their preparation made the cost seem totally reasonable. I can declare without shame that I’ll be back soon.

Speed Rack

| Posted in Events, People

Five bartenders from Portland are competing in the Northeast regional Speed Rack competition:

  • Liz Smith from Lio
  • LyAnna Sanabria from Chaval
  • Sylvi Roy from Hunt & Alpine
  • Kristen Mixter from Hunt & Alpine
  • Charlotte Stanton from Little Giant
Speed Rack is a charity female bartending competition that raises money for breast cancer research. The winner in the Northeast will go on to keep in the national competition in NYC this May.
Tickets for the Northest regional competition taking place March 11 are available online.

Rabelais Books

| Posted in Profiles

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.

Relocations: North Bayou & Ripka

| Posted in Under Construction

A pair of food businesses originally founded elsewhere in New England have relocated to the Portland area:

  • North Bayou Cold Brew has moved from Burlington, Vermont and is now setting up at a location in the Pepperell Mill Campus in Biddeford. North Bayou’s bottled cold brew is for sale at the Little Woodfords coffee shop.
  • Ripka has relocated to Portland from Providence, Rhode Island. Owner Rebecca Volynsky hopes to eventually open her own hybrid Eastern European & Jewish eatery and gallery. In the meantime she’s hosting pop-ups with participating bakeries and restaurants including an upcoming pierogi pop-up at Rose Foods on March 31st.

Under Construction: Dean’s Sweets

| Posted in Under Construction

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.

This Week’s Events: MRW, Chopped, N To Tail, Hi Bar Brunch, TLK Reservations

| Posted in Events

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.