Reviews: Portland Meatball Co, Izakaya Minato, Big Fin Poke

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the Portland Meatball Company,

The salads, like nearly everything I ate at Portland Meatball Company, seemed to have been rushed out of the kitchen, unexamined and, more importantly, untasted. Yet rather than focus on badly needed quality control for the restaurant’s few remaining customers, the kitchen staff wandered distractedly in and out of the desolate dining room throughout both of my visits, until inevitably declaring the restaurant closed more than an hour early.

The golden Dish has reviewed Izakaya Minato,

When we arrived two local restaurateurs I know were leaving and both recommended the pork belly. Spot on. What came out was a hearty bowl of braised pork belly ( buta no kakuni) stewed in mirin and soy—a pan-regional stew of this texturally unctuous meat: sweet, fatty, tender.

and both The Blueberry Files and Peter Peter Portland Eater have reviewed Big Fin Poké.

I often complain about going to Westbrook, not for any particular reason other than Portland-centrism and that I always manage to get lost whenever I attempt to navigate to or through our neighboring city to the west. But add Big Fin Poké to the small, but growing, list of things I’ll happily (ok, begrudgingly) travel to Westbrook for.

Under Construction: A & C Grocery

Urban Eye has posted an update on the A & C Grocery under construction on Washington Ave.

After nine years in the grocery business — he worked at Rosemont Market and was a founding partner at The Farm Stand in South Portland — he is ready to go out on his own with A & C Grocery. “I’ve been thinking about this concept for years,” said Fournier, who plans to open in two and a half weeks.

A & C Grocery (website, facebook), a “neighborhood one-stop grocery shop” is under construction at 131 Washington Ave.

Under Construction: YOBO

A new Korean restaurant called YOBO is under construction at 23 Forest Ave in the space formerly occupied by BiBo’s Madd Apple Cafe. Yobo will serve “refined Asian comfort food with a rustic appeal” and feature wonderful boutique wines from small vineyards.” Owners Sunny Chung and Kim Lully plan to create an atmosphere that is “intimate and casual, with all the comforts of dining with good friends.”

Chung and Lully formerly operated a farm to table restaurant in Concord, New Hampshire called Sunny’s Table. They hope to open Yobo in the April/May time frame.

Izakaya Minato Opens Today

Izakaya Minato (facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open today. The 36-seat Japanese restaurant is located at 54 Washington Ave next to Terlingua.

Owners Elaine Alden and Thomas Takashi Cooke moved to Portland from San Francisco where Cooke had been the head chef at Tsunami, a sushi restaurant. The couple also spent 3 months in Japan where he staged at an izakaya in Tokyo also called Tsumamina.

Here’s a look at the menu:

2nd Other Side Delicatessen Opens Today

A second Other Side Delicatessen (website, facebook, twitter, instagram) is set to open this morning  in the West End at 235 Vaughan Street in the space formerly occupied by the Vaughan Street Variety.

As at the original Veranda Street location, the West End Other Side will be a combination butcher shop and deli selling sandwiches and deli meats and charcuterie by the pound as well as “prepared meals to go, hand made pastas and other sundries to round out a full meal to take home.”

The West End location will be open MondayFriday 8-7 and Saturday 8-6.

This Week’s Events: Minato, Bitter’s Workshop, Mast Landing Dinner, Corn Tortilla Workshop

Monday – there will be a press conference about the Portland Food Council at 4pm.

TuesdayIzakaya Minato is scheduled to open, and Vena’s is teaching a bitters workshop.

Wednesday – Terlingua is holding a Mast Landing beer dinner.

Saturday – a corn tortilla workshop is taking place at SMCC as is the Winter Farmers’ Market and there will be an Allagash tap takeover at Central Provisions.

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.

Portland Food Council

A new organization called the Portland Food Council launches on Monday with a press conference at Fork Food Lab, 4-4:30pm, followed by an open house

According to the press release,

The Portland Food Council aims to foster a healthy community by advancing the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the food system that supports Portland. Evolving from the Mayor’s Initiative for a Healthy and Sustainable Food System started in 2012, the Portland Food Council works to shape food policy that will create resiliency, sustainability, and vibrancy in Portland’s food system. The council brings together community members, Portland government, food producers, and other businesses to collaborate on and shape laws and policies that affect our food system.