Bloomberg Best Dishes: Mr. Tuna

| Posted in Reviews

Kate Krader from Bloomberg included the Chutoro Hand Roll from Mr. Tuna in her list of the Best Restaurant Dishes of 2018.

Forget lobster and oysters. The local bluefin tuna belly that Jordan Rubin gets in late summer and the fall is the seafood standout in Portland, Maine. In mid-2017, Rubin bought a hot dog cart and started making hand rolls and sushi burritos on the downtown streets. His operation quickly grew into a mini food truck empire that now includes a space in the Portland Public Market. The hand roll’s nori wrapper is notably crisp because Rubin keeps it warmed in an electric toaster before wrapping it around tangy rice and fatty, melt-in-your-mouth chopped fish mixed with sea salt, scallions, and potent fresh wasabi sauce.

Under Construction: Quiero Cafe

| Posted in Under Construction

Owners of Quiero Cafe (website, facebook, instagram) in Saco have announced plans to open a second location in Portland this Spring. Quiero will be located in Bramhall Square at 3 Deering Ave in the space most recently occupied by Trattoria Fanny.

Quiero serves a menu of “Latin American cuisine” featuring “Empanadas, Burritos, and Tamales. We also serve several kinds of coffee, smoothies, and Tropical juices”.

Trading Places

| Posted in Under Construction

Eighteen Twenty Wines and Blue Lobster Lobster Wine Co. will be trading the spaces they currently occupy at 219 Anderson Street. Blue Lobster has shared this comment on the move on instagram,

This move to a larger space will allow us more room to operate as a winery while simultaneously having the tasting room open — meaning more tasting room hours for you! Our plan is to close down our current space at the end of this year. We’ll be making some modest improvements to the new space and hopefully opening the doors around the beginning of March. We are very excited about the move!

This Week’s Events: Hush Hush, Middle East Pop-Up Bakery, NYE List

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – Little Giant Market is kicking-off their monthly late night pop-up bar, Hush Hush.

Thursday – Falafel Mafia is holding a Middle Eastern Pop-up Bakery at Fork Food Lab, and The Great Lost Bear is holding their annual 12 Beers of Christmas event.

Friday – there will be a wine tasting at the West End location of the Other Side Delicatessen (4:30 – 6:30).

Saturday – the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

New Year’s Eve – restaurants have begun announcing their NYE dinner options:

  • Blue Spoon – 4-course dinner with champagne toast, optionan wine pairing $60 per person.
  • Central Provisions – 7-course dinner with pairings, $150 per person. Two seatings at 6 pm and 10 pm.
  • Evo – 6-course dinner, $100 per person with optional $40 wine pairings.
  • Falmouth Country Club – chef Nick Verdisco is serving a New Year’s Eve dinner, $80 per person.
  • Five Fifty-Five – 4-course dinner for $90 per person, 7-course for $125 per person.
  • Grace – 4-course dinner with bubbles for $85 per person.
  • Isa – 3-course dinner for $65 per person.
  • Lolita – 6-course dinner for $110 per person (tax and tip included).
  • North 43 Bistro – 4-course dinner.
  • Petite Jacqueline –  3-course dinner for $55 per person, 5-course dinner for $75 per person.
  • Piccolo – 5-course dinner for $85 per person.
  • Sur Lie – serving both their standard and a special NYE menu.
  • Terlingua – 5-course dinner and champagne toast for $85 per person.
  • The Honey Paw – is serving a dim sum menu all night.
  • Tiqa – 3-course dinner with champagne for $55 per person with seatings at 5, 7, and 9:30.
  • Vinland – 5-course dinner for $95 with optional pairings for $55; two seatings at 6 and 8:30.

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.

Under Construction: Gross Confection Bar

| Posted in Under Construction

Gross Confection Bar (website, facebook, instagram) owner Brant Dadaleares has announced plans to open his new dessert/cocktail bar in the first week of January.

Gross Confection Bar has been under construction for the last few months in the 2,000 sq ft subterranean space in the former location of Christmas Noel at 57 Exchange Street.

Under Construction: Strata

| Posted in Under Construction

Strata (website, instagram) a cutlery retail business and knife sharpening service that launched earlier this year, has leased unit 4  of the The Black Box container building on Washington Ave.

Owner Evan Atwell sells specialty Japanese, French and New England made cutlery, as well as sharpens knives using a traditional Japanese whetstone process. Atwell moved to Portland from California where he worked for the Bi-Rite Market group.

He plans to open the new Strata retail store on February 1st.

Best Beer Bars: Tomaso’s

| Posted in Reviews

Hop Culture has included Tomaso’s on their list of the Best Beer Bars of 2018.

I love that Tomaso’s stocks a handful of uber-fresh, local, craft cans and draft beers at all times (check their IG). However, this place is mostly a local spot for tall boys and wings. They also have a beer + shot menu, which always gets me. So yeah, you probably won’t find proper glassware, but you’ll always find a great time. 

Beer Releases at Oxbow & Rising Tide

| Posted in Events, Beer

Two beer releases are taking place this weekend:

  • Rising Tide will tapping 12 barrel-aged beers on Saturday which will include “several never before released projects” including a “spontaneously fermented ale with raspberries”.
  • Oxbow is releasing a pair beers brewed with Maine honey to celebrate the landmark accomplishments of Karl von Frisch to explain the dancing behavior of bees. Both Dance Language beers blonde farmhouse ales brewed with Maine honey. “To showcase the flavors and aromas of different varieties of honey we brewed a single base saison recipe. The DL: Buckwheat Honey is light gold in color with notes of pepper, dried flowers, fresh baked bread, and honey with a medium body finish. While the DL: Blueberry Honey version has notes of  fresh citrus, dark fruit, and honey with a medium body and dry finish.”

Under Construction: Bird & Co.

| Posted in Under Construction

A new Mexican restaurant called Bird & Co. is under construction at 539 Deering Ave in the space formerly occupied by Abilene.

The cover letter supplied by owners William Dowd and Jared Dinsmore indicates they’ll be serving a menu of “reasonably priced entrees drawing on Mexican and American Southwestern cuisine”. You can see the draft menu supplied with the liquor license application on page 85 of the City Council materials for Monday’s meeting.

Dowd and Dinsmore plan to open Bird & Co. 6 days a week, 11 am to 10 pm for lunch and dinner. They hope to open the restaurant in January.