This Week’s Events: Oxbowzakya, Absinthe Tasting, Drifter’s Wife, Wild Beer Round-up, GMRI Lecture

| Posted in Events

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Tuesday — the monthly local foods networking breakfast is taking place, Flatbread is holding a benefit for the Wayside Food Program, the annual Oxbow tap takeover at Pai Men (Oxbowzakya) is taking place, the Portland Spirits Society is holding a women’s Absinthe tasting at Vena’s and The Honey Paw will be serving a collaboration dinner with Anju/The Wallingford.

Wednesday — Woodford Food & Beverage is opening at 5pm.

Thursday — there will be a Two Roads beer tasting at the Bier Cellar , a wine tasting at C Salt, and a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, it’s the opening night of the Ice Bar, a lecture on Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail is taking place at GMRI, and The Great Lost Bear showcasing beer from Foolproof Brewing.

Friday — Maine & Loire will be taking over the bar at Oxbow for the night to preview their new natural wine bar the Drifter’s Wife(instagram, website).

Saturday — Allagash is holding a Wild Beer Round-up (release of Helena, sales of Farm to Face, Cuvee d’industrial, Resurgam, Coolship Red, and Golden Brett), and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday — Rosemont is kicking off their monthly Cabin Fever family-style dinner series.

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.

Review of Ramen Suzukiya

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Ramen Suzukiya.

Suzukiya is a tiny, family-owned Japanese noodle shop with enormously satisfying ramen bowls filled with house-made noodles, slices of pork or tofu, and fresh vegetables. The menu may be limited (you can order one of four noodle bowls and two accompanying mini-rice bowls) but the flavors are impressive and those noodles profoundly comforting…

Interview with Luci Benedict

| Posted in People

Great Beer Adventure has posted an audio interview with Luci Benedict. Professor Benedict teaches a class on fermentation at the University of Southern Maine.

Many of us first discovered beer; especially our love for drinking beer in college. But what if you could take a class about beer? Luci Benedict, a Chemistry Professor at the University of Southern Maine, does just that. Her students love the class on Fermentation and the science behind everyone’s beloved brews. We got out of the rain and met up with Luci at the Thirsty Pig in Portland where she told us more about the science of beer warming up over pints of Bissell Brothers Angels with Filthy Souls: an American Porter with maple syrup perfect for a rainy cold day.

6 Maine Winners at Good Food Awards

| Posted in Events

Congratulations to the 6 Maine food producers won awards last night at the 2016 Good Food Awards ceremony:

Here’s some background on the Good Food Awards program,

The Good Food Awards were created to redefine ‘good food’ as being tasty, authentic and responsible. We aim to set criteria for entry that are realistic and inclusive of food and drink producers who have demonstrated a commitment to be part of building a tasty, authentic and responsible food system, going far above and beyond the status quo for their industry, while not making them so strict that eligible participants are limited to a small handful of products.

Woodford F&B to Open Wednesday

| Posted in Openings

Woodford Food & Beverage (facebook, twitter, instagram, website) has announced plans to open on Wednesday January 20th at 5pm.The 85-seat restaurant is located in the center of Woodfords Corner, 660 Forest Ave, at the location of the original Valle’s Steakhouse.

Chef Courtney Loreg with owners Birch Shambaugh and Fayth Preyer have had as their goal to create a “classic neighborhood eatery where you can count on having a reasonable, simple meal or, when you feel like it, something a bit more special”.

Here’s and advance look at the opening night menu (click to enlarge). There’s a daily rotating list of specials (I’m looking forward to Friday’s braised lamb shanks) along with a mix of classic neighborhood restaurant dishes like roast chicken,  strip steak, brussels sprouts, mussels and roast beet salad. The menu’s accompanied by a food friendly list of wine and beer and a short list of cocktails.

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Woodford Food & Beverage will be open dinner 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays). They plan to start serving Sunday brunch (10-3) on January 31st.

Interview with Piccolo & Chef Life Balance

| Posted in People

The Portland Phoenix has published an interview with the owners of Piccolo, Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez,

Can you tell me a little bit about your background? What made you get into the restaurant business, and what made you stay?

Ilma Lopez: I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I studied to work in medicine, but was also drawn to the techniques and specifics of the kitchen and baking. The people and the ingredients (kept me in the business).

Damian Sansonetti: Growing up in a big Italian family in Pittsburgh, Penn., you are always around food and cooking. My father was in the business, but I never thought it would be a career path until when I was in my university chem and bio classes and all I was thinking about was food. (I love) the adrenaline rush of service and the way you get to connect to guests with the food and service. It’s awesome when you trigger a food memory or emotionally move people with what your team can do.

and an article on how two chefs are finding work/life balance once they became mothers.

The funny thing about work/life balance, though, is that for most people the balance is truly key. Too much work can be a bad thing, and so can too little. Now, separately, [Krista Kern] Desjarlais and [Lee] Farrington have turned to breakfast and lunch service, with occasional evening engagements on their own terms, as a way to equalize work and life.