First Look at East Ender

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has posted a first look review of the new East Ender.

At my next lunch I had to have the burger, made famous at Small Axe, a thick patty of local beef cold smoked and charred on the grill just right.  This version did not disappoint.  Though at $14 it’s pricey.   It comes lobbed with a shield of melted Stilton and a scrim of caramelized onions–mahogany-hued sweet onions slowly sautéed in balsamic and a touch of red wine.  The burger is accompanied by excellent batter-dipped onion rings.

Under Construction: Full Belly Deli

| Posted in Under Construction

Chris Busby reports that the new Full Belly Deli will be located in the Old Port at the corner of Fore and Market Streets.

Speaking of delis, Portlanders were stunned when Full Belly Deli abruptly closed its location on outer Brighton Avenue this winter. Now comes word that Full Belly’s mile-high pastrami sandwiches and other indulgences will reappear at the corner of Market and Fore streets, in a space most recently occupied by a failed link in the Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt chain, according to landlord Joe Soley, who has an avowed taste for tongue. Soley also said the deli may apply for a license to serve beer and wine.

Interview with Standard Baking Co.

| Posted in People, Uncategorized

The Press Herald has published an interview with Alison Pray and Matt James, co-owners of Standard Baking Company.

Q: I run into bakers and pastry chefs all the time with Standard Baking on their resume. Is mentoring important to you?
PRAY: Mentoring is huge. That is the beauty of baking and bread especially. You can’t learn it from a book. You have to learn by having your hands in the dough. And you have to learn from master bakers, or just bakers better than you. Watching what they do, trying to duplicate their movements, watching as they make adjustments to the dough. You learn from every batch that you make. It’s a constant work in progress to try to make good bread consistently.

Update: MPBN has also posted a profile of Alison Pray and Matt James.

New Blog: A Women’s Guide to Butchering

| Posted in People

Kathleen Lomen, a former vegetarian current staff member at The Farm Stand, has launched A Women’s Guide to Butchering, a blog on her chosen career path as a butcher.

I needed to find a way to BE the butcher and own my space. And it’s not just me. I’ve seen the women coming out of the wood work giving a go at breaking into this field and that’s who this website is for. Part anecdotal and part instructional, i want this to be a place for people to see a woman at work and also one who is still in her early beginnings of becoming a seasoned butcher.

Scott Tyree

| Posted in People, Wine

Congratulations to Scott Tyree who recently passed the Theory Exam as part of his efforts to complete his certification as a Master Sommelier. Of the 120 Advanced Sommeliers who took the exam a scant 20 passed this very demanding exam.

Tyree and the others will be in Aspen this May for the final step in the process, the blind tasting and services tests. For the blind tasting candidates will need to successfully identify the “grape varieties, country of origin, district and appellation of origin, and vintages” of 6 different wines within 25 minutes.

There are currently 140 Master Sommeliers in all of North America.

Under Construction: LemonCycle

| Posted in Under Construction

A Cape Elizabeth high school sophmore named Nat Jordan has launched a $2,500 Kickstarter campaign to help fund lemonade food cart called LemonCycle(twitter, facebook).

LemonCycle will operate out of a modified cargo tricycle-based this summer on the streets of Portland.

LemonCycle blends two of my favorite summertime passions together; biking and lemonade. More importantly, it provides the people of Portland, Maine, with an eco-friendly, refreshing way to cool off during the sweltering months of June, July and August.

What we are is a lemonade cart on the frame of a cargo tricycle. Cargo tricyles are an up-and-coming form of delivery, food vending and everyday travel.

First Look: East Ender

| Posted in Uncategorized

The Blueberry Files has published a first look report from the East Ender.

We sampled a few of the bar snacks – fried vegetables in a Bagna Cauda sauce ($8) and the chicken liver croquettes topped with pickled onion jam ($9). They were both outstanding. The happy hour menu (served 3:30-5:30 Monday through Sunday) also had a selection of cheeses, mussels, a BLT, and the infamous cold-smoked burger. It’s back! Hooray! If at any point, you can’t find me between 3:30 and 5:30, I’ll be at East Ender, taking a burger and $2 Miller High Lifes to the head. 

2015 Phoenix Best of Portland Poll

| Posted in General News

The Portland Phoenix has kicked-off their 2015 Best of Portland readership poll. The Phoenix readership poll is a 2 step process:

  • Step 1 which just started, we nominate entries that are an especially strong candidates in any or all of the categories
  • Step 2, later this month the Phoenix will publish a ballot summarizing the top nominees from each category for us all to vote on

There are a plethora of food and drink categories (Food Truck, Chef, Brunch Location, New Restaurant, Bakery, etc) to make nominations in there’s even one for Best Food Blog/Column.

Bar of Chocolate Cafe Review

| Posted in Reviews

Drink Up and Get Happy has reviewed the Bar of Chocolate Cafe.

We showed up at Bar of Chocolate around 4:30 on a Friday evening. It was very quiet but we were soon joined by more patrons as the evening wore on. We decided to sample some of the martini offerings. It’s not often that I can resist a good espresso martini and the one at Bar of Chocolate stands out among some of the best.  It’s not overly creamy but smooth and delicious all the same.

Maine Craft Distilling Crowdfunding Campaign

| Posted in General News

Maine Craft Distilling has kicked off a $20,000 Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. They plan to use the funds to “outfit the kitchen and install the plumbing” for the 2nd floor of the building that houses their Freeport tasting room.

The Mallet Building is a 2 story, brick building located in downtown Freeport, Maine. The first floor of the building has already been outfitted as a tasting room but we will be expanding to the second floor to provide more local craft spirits, more local craft beer and also small plates from our small “Pop-Up” kitchen. We envision a full Maine Craft experience with local foods, music and of course….beverage. We plan on creating a kitchen where various Maine culinary establishments can expand and share their passion of food from food truck vendors, taquerias, to area chefs and beyond.  We want to make a place where Maine chefs can come and combine their passion with ours and those of local area brewers (which we will have on tap), local area vintner products and other local craft distillers.