This Week’s Events: Elsmere BBQ, Lobster Roll Rumble, Make Mine from Maine

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – Elsmere BBQ is holding the grand opening for their new Portland location; it is located at 476 Stevens Ave and is scheduled to open at 4pm. The East Deering Other Side is holding a wine tasting.

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

Thursday – Bite Into Maine and Bob’s Clam Hut are participating in Tasting Table’s Lobster Roll Rumble taking place in Brooklyn.

Friday – the Maine Distiller’s Guild and Eat Drink Lucky are collaborating on Make Mine from Maine, a Maine spirits tasting event on Thompson’s Point.

Saturday – there will be a wine tasting at LeRoux Kitchen, and the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – Scattaloni Bakery is teaching a baking class.

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.

Reviews: The Front Room, Belleville, The Sinful Kitchen, Little Giant

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed The Front Room,

Comfort food is still the name of the game at The Front Room, the first of Harding Lee Smith’s “Room” restaurants. Open since late 2005, The Front Room continues to serve approachable, hearty dishes like chicken pot pie layered with a criminally flaky duck-fat pastry and house-cured salmon pastrami served on steamed brown bread. Not every dish works well, however.

The Portland Phoenix has reviewed Little Giant,

A mushroom tartine, for example, is actually a toasted slice of good dark bread, schmeared with tart ricotta and piled high with meaty, dark, wild shiitake and a fried egg flopped on top. Around it all is a moat of thick honey spiced with red pepper, a bit of which brightens the rich flavor of the whole dish.

The Press Herald has reviewed Belleville, and

Belleville does three things, mostly, and it does them extraordinarily well: outrageously buttery, crackly laminated pastries; superb baguettes ($3) with heft and chew; and fat squares of inventively flavored and flavorful pizza (fig, rosemary and onion, for one; salami, for another). They offered a delicious-looking banh mi ($9) on a baguette one day and a meatball sub ($10) another.

Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed The Sinful Kitchen.

We thought it to be a great breakfast and with all the interesting items on the menu, I look forward to going back a bunch more and trying some of their other great options. It doesn’t matter whether you like sweet, savory, or spicy, The Sinful Kitchen has something that will certainly please you. I’m so glad I finally got to experience it for myself.

Lio Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Chef Cara Stadler‘s new restaurant, Lio (instagram) had their soft opening last night. The wine bar/restaurant serves ‘modern European food and wine’. The main room features a large side looped counter as well as more traditional tables. Friends and I tried the Tortellini en Brodo (bottom right), Chicken Galantine (upper right) and Strawberry Semifreddo (bottom left).

Lio is waiting to receive their liquor license (expected Wednesday) and in the meantime is BYOB. The restaurant is located in a new restaurant space at the corner of Spring and Cross Streets.

East End Cupcakes Closes Shop

| Posted in Closings

East End Cupcakes has decided to close their retail shop on Fore Street and to focus their business on wholesale and supplying cupcakes  to events.

Over the past 7 years you have allowed us to be a part of your baby showers, gender reveals, birthday celebrations, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and so much more- and it has been the honor of a lifetime!

I want to thank everyone who has supported us throughout the years. This dream would never have been realized without the help of friends, family and this incredible community. You all helped bring cupcakes from my East End apartment to a Downtown Portland storefront!

Under Construction: Independent Ice Co.

| Posted in Under Construction

A new 23-seat “upscale whiskey bar and pub” called the Independent Ice Company is under development and slated for 52 Wharf Street in the space formerly occupied by Mark’s Sports Bar.

Owners Brian Hanson and Larry Constantin plan to “feature a broad array of premium whiskeys, bourbons and scotches combined with a lunch and dinner menu in a comfortable and intimately designed space”.

Independent Ice has included a draft menu (page 179) in their recent liquor license application. Hanson and Constantin plan to open Independent Ice later this Summer.

Under Construction: Pizzarino

| Posted in Under Construction

The new restaurant under construction in the former Zapoteca space by Paciarino co-owner Enrico Barbiero along with Steffano Zurleni and Nauro Stoppani will be named Pizzarino.

Pizzarino will be an Italian pizzeria and bar with pizzas made “daily with a special wholegrain flour, directly imported from Italy”. Pizzarino will also serve “Risotto, Arancini, Gnocchi, and Fresh Salads” along with “original Italian aperitifs, typical Italian cocktails, beers and wines, from Italy and from Maine”. The owners have provided a draft menu (page 123) as part of their liquor license application.

Pizzarino plans to offer guided wine tastings by their “experienced sommelier from Italy”. The owners hope to open Pizzarino later this summer.

Uncle Billy’s Pop-Up Now Open

| Posted in Openings

The Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) Pop-up in the former Abilene space at 539 Deering Ave in Woodford’s Corner opened for business last night.

Uncle Billy’s plans to operate this pop-up restaurant through the end of the Summer while their permanent location 166 Cumberland Ave is under construction.

When I spoke with Uncle Billy’s back in April, the plans were for a scaled back version of the menu that will eventually served on Cumberland Ave.

Under Construction: Austin Street Brewery

| Posted in Under Construction

Austin Street Brewing (facebook, instagram, twitter) has announced plans for a 2nd location.

The close to 9,000 sq ft new brewery will be located in East Bayside in the same build as Rising Tide. They “hope to start production there by October”. They report that the new location will have a 2,000 sq ft larger tasting room and  outdoor area.

Austin Street will be retaining their current space on 1 Industrial Way in addition to this new space.

No Reservations

| Posted in General News

Peggy Grodinsky from the Press Herald explores why some restaurants don’t take reservations.

These restaurant owners and managers gave a similar set of reasons for adopting no-reservations policies, which add up to a blend of ambience, flow and management strains. They explained that, to them, hospitality doesn’t equate to taking a reservation. It means treating customers well – to good food and good service – once they get in the door. And while deep down I still wish everybody would copy proprietor Stella Hernandez at Lolita, who keeps about half the space for walk-ins and the rest for reservations, next time I am dining out in Portland and balk at waiting for a table, I will chew on these reasons, served with a side of understanding…