This year’s Maine Start-up Create & Week has a entire track devoted to starting and running food business. The 5-day program has talks ranging from distribution and marketing to incubators and from craft spirits to sustainability.
Check out the full schedule at mainestartupandcreateweek.com, check out this interview with co-founder Jess Knox.
The 10 places readers looked up most often last month were:
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
David Buchanan’s new cider company, Portersfield Cider is set to launch this later this month. Buchanan will be selling the Portersfield line of farmhouse-style hard cider from his stand in the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market. David has a pair or ciders in the works:
[The] first release blends over a dozen apple varieties, including Baldwin, Northern Spy, and Golden Russet, while a second will include aronia berries and elderberries.
He plans for the Portersfield farm winery in Pownal to be,
a production space and conservation center, focused on preserving and evaluating rare American cider fruits. In Buchanan’s sixth year of collecting fruit trees, his orchard now has over 250 varieties of apples and cider pears, including many in danger of extinction.
In addition to launching Portersfield Cider, David is the author of Taste, Memory and for the past few years has operated the Old Ocean House Farms stand at the Saturday farmers’ market.
You can get a chance to try Portersfield Cider at the Maine Fare Hard Cider Revival taking place this Thursday.
Monday — Piccolo is hosting a Chartreuse Dinner, 14 restaurants are collaborating on a fundraisers for Nepal, and Lolita is celebrating their 1-year anniversary.
Tuesday — Figgy’s Takeout is opening, and Bier Cellar is celebrating their 3rd anniversary with an Austin Street tasting.
Wednesday — there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, and The Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Thursday — 7 Maine cider companies will be pouring at Maine Fare’s Hard Cider Revival, and Bite Into Maine will be in NYC to compete the 2015 Lobster Roll Rumble.
Friday — there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli. It’s also First Friday Art Walk, restaurants will be busy so be sure to make your reservations now.
Saturday — the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.
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.
A new food cart called High Roller Lobster Company(instagram) is under development. Owners Andy Gerry and Baxter Key will be serving lobster and crab roll on Commercial Street this summer. They hope to be open by mid-June.
Soakology(website, facebook) has a new larger location under construction at 511 Congress Street next to Golden Lotus. The new digs will provide the space to expand the tea house and foot spa sides of their business with dedicated areas for both.
They hope to have the new Soakology open sometime in July.
The Forecaster has published an article on Figgy’s Takeout.
When Natalie DiBenedetto looked out her window on Walker Street last year, she didn’t just see a parking lot. She saw an opportunity.
Now, a year later, DiBenedetto is set to open a business in the once-empty lot that she believes will fill one of the city’s last foodie niches: up-scale comfort food and skillet fried chicken to go.
Figgy’s is scheduled to open on Tuesday at 11am.
The 207 Foodie has reviewed lunch at Lolita,
If you’re looking for a quiet lunch (available every single day except Tuesday’s) then the East End’s Lolita is a perfect spot. Sit inside and get a taste of how the busy kitchen works, or sit outside and enjoy the beautiful summers that Maine is so well known for.
and the Press Herald has posted a bar review of The Corner Room,
The Corner Room is one of restaurateur and executive chef Harding Lee Smith’s four restaurants in Portland. In its sixth year, The Corner Room is going strong, with a vibrant crowd every night, especially during happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. The cocktail list is unique and a collaborative effort with the bartenders and chefs. This is the perfect place to visit for an after-work drink with a friend or two, and certainly a reliably good place to grab a bite at the bar.
and a review of Artemisia Cafe.
The Pollock delivered on its unspoken promise of perfection by being many things at once: succulent, gooey, savory, multi-dimensional and immensely satisfying. The plan was to eat half now and save the rest for dinner. But you know what they say about the best laid plans. It was served with coleslaw that I didn’t love because it was on the sour side; perhaps it was the choice of cabbage? Or vinegar? Either way, no love lost, I didn’t go there for the slaw.
The Press Herald has published an article about Standard Baking. The bakery is celebrating their 20th anniversary.
On April 25, 1995, when the bakery was in its original location on Wharf Street in the Old Port, it had no sign outside and no cash register inside. There were no business hours and no locks on the door. Alison Pray and Matt James, the owners and partners in work and life, didn’t even know on that first day that they would end up with a retail business.
Standard is holding a 20th anniversary celebration this Saturday, 11 – 2.
