This Week’s Events: Sur Lie at Beard House, Maine Maple Sunday, Tiki Shake-off

| Posted in Events

Saturday – Sur Lie chef Emil Rivera is preparing a meal at the James Beard House in NYC, Evo chef Hagai Bernstein is serving a supper club dinner at The Inn at English Meadows, Oakleaf is holding a pop-up dinner at Fork Food Lab, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – it’s Maine Maple Sunday, and the Tiki Shake-off competition is taking place at Tiqa.

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.

Andrew Knowlton in Portland

| Posted in People

[Recently former] Bon Appétit editor Andrew Knowlton landed in Portland yesterday and is eating his way around the city. So far he’s visited:

  • Goodfire Brewing where he’s had a roll from Mr. Tuna
  • The Island Creek Oyster Shop on Washington Ave
  • High Roller Lobster on Exchange St
  • Cong Tu Bot
  • Oxbow Blending & Bottling
  • Blyth & Burrows
  • The Francis
  • Rose Foods
  • Ten Ten Piè
  • Speckled Axe
  • J’s Oyster Bar
  • Central Provisions
  • Ruski’s
  • Izakaya Minato
  • Belleville
  • Drifters Wife
  • Little Giant

Little Spruce Baking Co. Launched

| Posted in Openings

Big Tree Hospitality, the restaurant group that includes Eventide, Hugo’s and  The Honey Paw, has launched their newest venture, the Little Spruce Baking Company (instagram).

Baked goods went on sale yesterday at the Saco River Farmers’ Market in Biddeford. The options included a Pizza Croissant (tomato jam, ricotta, peperoni), Moonstruck (egg, maitake mushroom, mustard greens), PB&J Croissant (strawberry jam, peanut glaze, sprinkles) and Sourdough loaves.

Yet another reason to visit Biddeford on top of Rabelais, Palace, Elda, Sweet Cream, 2 distilleries, 2 breweries, etc.

Ten Best Soups

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has put together their list of the Ten Best Soups in Portland.

Suffice to say, Portlanders have it pretty good when it comes to floating nutrition. Soups (and their numerous variations) have long been used to coax comfort out of even the most arduous days. Whether it’s an oncoming cold, the end of a relationship that should’ve worked or anything in-between, few things bring pause to life’s anxieties more readily than a bowl of hot liquid and whatever may have ended up getting added in the process.

What are your favorites, what would you add to the list?

Brickyard Hollow Brewing

| Posted in Under Construction

Mainebiz has published an update on Brickyard Hollow Brewing in Yarmouth.

Brickyard Hollow is owned by Brad Moll and Frank Grondin, both of Yarmouth, and will be the town’s first craft brewery. It will also have a full bar and food and a covered outdoor beer garden. The name comes from early in the village’s history, when a depression in the land was filled and became a town gathering place.

Under Construction: The Cheese Shop

| Posted in Under Construction

A new business called The Cheese Shop of Portland (instagram, facebook) is under development. Owners Mary and Will Sissle plan to locate on Washington Ave with a target opening date in late June.

The Sissles met when the pair worked at Cowgirl Creamery in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently they were on the staff at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge where Will was the international cheese buyer and Mary worked in the shop and handled their media relations. Mary Sissle is a originally from Maine having grown up in Cape Elizabeth. Will Sissle is an ACS Certified Cheese Professional.

The Cheese Shop will be one of the first businesses to be located in Black Box, a retail space slated for the corner of Washington Ave and Marion Street built out of shipping containers. Developer Jed Harris has conceived of Black Box as a start-up space for new retail businesses.

2018 Beard Award Nominee: Alison Pray, Erin French

| Posted in Reviews

The final list of nominees for the 2018 James Beard Foundation awards were released today:

  • Outstanding Baker – Alison Pray, Standard Baking. The Outstanding Baker category recognizes “A chef or baker who prepares breads, pastries, or desserts in a retail bakery, and who serves as a national standard-bearer of excellence. Must have been a baker or pastry chef for at least five years.” Pray has been a semifinalist in 2015 and 2017.
  • Book Awards – Erin French from The Lost Kitchen is a nominee in the American Book category for her cookbook The Lost Kitchen published by Clarkson Potter.

11 Maine semifinalists were announced in February.

The awards ceremony will take place on May 7th in Chicago.

Related information:

Chef Josh Berry, Vegetarian

| Posted in People

The Press Herald has published an article about Union’s chef Josh Berry and the year he spent eating a vegetarian diet,

Berry has long wanted to experiment with his diet so that he could get firsthand experience of what it’s like to live with food restrictions, and could embrace the trend of meatless meals. He figured the exercise would help him improve the menu choices at the restaurant, too.

Having completed a year as a vegetarian, Berry has switched over to a gluten-free diet in 2018.

Quill Book & Beverage Now Open

| Posted in Under Construction

Quill Books & Beverage (facebook, instagram), the new bookstore/bar/coffee shop located at One Westbrook Common in Westbrook is now open and plans to hold a grand opening this Saturday.

Owners Matthew Irving and Allison Krzanowski will be serving cocktails as well as bagels, baked goods, yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast, and sandwiches and salads for lunch, as well as a line-up of toasts, cheeses and charcuterie. The bookstore will stock a “diverse selection of carefully curated gently used books, including many recent titles” and will host “author and poetry readings, book clubs, and a weekly board game night”.