Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

All Week – The 6th annual Maine Seaweed Week continues through Sunday.

Wednesday – Mrs. Gee Free Living and Gather in Yarmouth are collaboration on a gluten-free dinner.

Thursday – Palette + Palate, a food event that mixes food and abstract art, is taking place, and Dara Bistro in Cumberland is holding an Argentinian wine dinner.

Friday – It’s the grand re-opening of B + B Bakery which recently relocated from Fore Street to 327 Ocean House Road in Cape Elizabeth.

Saturday – Swell Nitro Coffee (instagram) is opening in Saco, and Portland Chowderfest is taking place.

Sunday – The Casco Bay Chef’s Association is holding their 2024 annual dinner.

April 29 – The Good Food Awards winners will be announced. Eight Maine food producers are finalists in the 2024 Good Food awards program.

May 4 – Author Eric Kim will be at Tandem Coffee for “The Eric Kim & Briana Holt Happy Hour“. Chaval will be holding their annual May the Fourth Star Wars dinner.

May 11 – CiderFeast, an “all-inclusive tasting event celebrates craft ciders from some of the top cider makers in New England and beyond” is taking place.

May 18 – The Maine Wild Wine Fest is taking place in Freeport.

May 19 – Fork Food Lab and Mayo Street Arts are collaborating to hold the Taste of Nations Food Festival.

June 10-16 – Portland Wine Week is taking place.

June 17 – The 3rd Annual ChopTails Competition will be taking place at Batson River.

June 22 – The Great Falls Brewfest is taking place in Lewiston.

June 26 – Secret Supper (instagram) is holding a dinner in the Portland area.

June 29 – The 3rd Annual Mast Landing Wavy Days Festival is taking place.

July 25/26 – The Kneading Conference is taking place in Skowhegan.

August 30 – September 1 – Maine Apple Camp is taking place.

September 20-22 – The Common Ground Fair will be taking place.

Michael Bergin at the Black Point Inn

| Posted in People

Mainebiz has published a profile of Michael Bergin, the new executive chef at the Black Point Inn.

After honing his culinary skills at Johnson & Wales University, Bergin moved to Washington, D.C., to cook at Kafe Leopold. In 2007, he was named executive sous chef at Sel de la Terre in Boston, followed by a post there as sous chef of L’Espalier — both famed, old-school French restaurants that have since closed.

Noble Pizzeria & Barbecue

| Posted in Under Construction

Ryan Carey has purchased the former Elsmere BBQ building at 476 Stevens Ave in Deering Center where he plans to open Noble Pizzeria & Barbecue. The new restaurant will serve the barbecue menu his restaurant Noble Barbecue (instagram) has become known for, and will expand the offerings to include New York-style pizza and milkshakes.

Carey intends to do some light renovations to the building before opening in July. The Noble BBQ restaurant on outer Forest will remain in business until shortly before the new restaurant is ready to open. In addition to Noble BBQ, Carey also operates the Fire & Co. (instagram) catering company.

A New Bakery on Spring Street

| Posted in Under Construction

The former Stars and Stripes tasting room space at 3 Spring Street has been leased and is slated to become a new bakery called Yuri’s Desserts (instagram). The owners hope to launch Yuri’s in September.

The menu at Yuri’s will include items like whipped cream cakes, fruit tarts, macarons, cookies, and milk shaved ice as well as croissants and donuts with a variety of cream and fruit toppings.

Daewon Kim and his wife Eunjee Park will operate Yuri’s along with bakers Yuri Kim and Gunsang Park who have a combined 34 years of baking experience including work for Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours in South Korea and in the US.

3 Spring Street was most recently the home of a tasting room for Stars & Stripes Brewing, and prior to that was the location of Cara and Cecile Stadler’s restaurant Lio.

Maine Food & Dining News: Biddeford, Rockland, Richmond, Houlton, Rockport, Lewiston, Kittery

| Posted in Maine

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know:

  • Bay Bowls (instagram) is opening a location in Biddeford. Owners Sal and Soraia Matari hope to have the new shop open in May. Bay Bowls opened their Portland location in 2022 and the business is originally from Brunswick.
  • The Courrier-Gazette reports that a new kitchen store called Mis en Place is under construction at 425 Main Street in Rockland. According to the article owner Eileen Gaughan hopes to open the store in May.
  • The owners of Ruby Thailand in South Portland, Chonlathis Songprasert and Pavinee Ruangron, have opened a business named Sumrub Thai Cookery (website) in Richmond.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that the Shire Ale House in Houlton is closing.
  • Cookbook author Nancy Harmon Jenkins be delivery a presentation entitled “The Extra Virgins: How to Choose Them, How to Use Them” at the Rockport Public Library on May 1st.
  • South Portland’s El Rodeo has leased 2,898 square feet of retail space at 736 Sabattus St in Lewiston where the Lewiston Sun Journal reports they plan to open a restaurant.
  • A branch of the NH/Massachusetts company Ohana Market is opening a new shop in the former location of the gluten-free sandwich cafe Toast in Kittery. Toast closed earlier this month.

Best New Bar: Papi

| Posted in Reviews

Congratulations to beverage director LyAnna Sanabria and the entire team at Papi on being named one of Top Ten honorees in the of Best New Cocktail Bars – East category in this year’s Spirited Awards.

The awards program is run by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation which organizes the annual Tales of the Cocktail conference. A short list of honorees will come out in late May, and a winner will be announced at the conference in July.

Papi opened for business in March 2023. The Maine Sunday Telegram gave the bar and restaurant 4 stars when they reviewed it in September.

Allagash Kernza

| Posted in Beer

Allagash is releasing a new beer this weekend. Kernza Lager is being produced with a perennial grain called Kernza and is a collaboration with Patagonia Provisions. The beer is dry-hopped with Organic Chinook, Organic Aroostook Cascade, Organic Centennial, Organic Chinook hops.

Want to try some perennial grain that’s also perennially delicious? Try our Kernza® Lager collab with @patagoniaprovisions, releasing this Sat. April 20th at 11am. This can and draft release stars organic ingredients and Regenerative Organic Certified® Kernza® – a deeply-rooted regenerative grain that has numerous environmental benefits, namely drawing down and storing more carbon in the soil than annual grains and requiring minimal tilling.

Stop by Allagash at 50 Industrial Way at 11 am on Saturday to try the beer on tap and/or buy some in cans.

Smoked Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Smoked BBQ & Neighborhood Pub (website, facebook, instagram) is now open. They’re located in the former Maelily Ryleigh’s building at 951 Forest Ave. Smoked will be open 11am – 11pm daily.

The menu includes wings, burgers, sandwiches/wraps, apps and more. Shown here are the Smoked Dirty Wings coated in their Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub, a glass of Allagash White and a plate of beef sliders and fries in the background.

The redesigned space has a long bar along the left side of the dining room, with table seating up front, booths along the right wall and high top table towards the back of the room.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Monday – Magnus on Water and Matchbook Distilling are collaborating on a spirits/cocktail event.

Tuesday – Award-winning chef and restaurant owner Marilou Ranta from The Quarry in Monson will be taking part in a Maine Voices Live interview at One Longfellow Square. Tickets are now on sale.

Wednesday – Wayside Tavern is holding an Alpine Food & Wine Dinner.

Friday – It’s the first day of the 6th annual Maine Seaweed Week.

Saturday – Flash BBQ, the new business being launched by Judy Gibson chef Chris Wilcox, will be popping up at Lorne. It’s the first day of the summer session of the Portland Farmers’ Market. The market will be in Deering Oaks Park on Wednesdays and Saturdays (7 am – 1 pm).

April 25 – Palette + Palate, a food event that mixes food and abstract art, is taking place.

April 27 – Portland Chowderfest is taking place.

April 28 – The Casco Bay Chef’s Association is holding their 2024 annual dinner.

April 29 – The Good Food Awards winners will be announced. Eight Maine food producers are finalists in the 2024 Good Food awards program.

May 11 – CiderFeast, an “all-inclusive tasting event celebrates craft ciders from some of the top cider makers in New England and beyond” is taking place.

May 18 – The Maine Wild Wine Fest is taking place in Freeport.

May 19 – Fork Food Lab and Mayo Street Arts are collaborating to hold the Taste of Nations Food Festival.

June 10-16 – Portland Wine Week is taking place.

June 17 – The 3rd Annual ChopTails Competition will be taking place at Batson River.

June 22 – The Great Falls Brewfest is taking place in Lewiston.

June 26 – Secret Supper (instagram) is holding a dinner in the Portland area.

June 29 – The 3rd Annual Mast Landing Wavy Days Festival is taking place.

July 25/26 – The Kneading Conference is taking place in Skowhegan.

August 30 – September 1 – Maine Apple Camp is taking place.

September 20-22 – The Common Ground Fair will be taking place.