Eater Maine has published a report on The Treehouse, the renamed and recently reopened new incarnation of The Cafe at Pat’s.
After years away from The Cafe, the neighborhood spot he built at 484 Stevens Avenue, owner/chef Greg Gilman has returned. He reopened The Cafe as The Treehouse on January 23, offering a similar menu and even staffed with a similar team, for those who pine for the way things used to be.
Today’s Press Herald takes a look at the growing population of food writers and expanding coverage of food in Maine and asks if
All the media coverage around food – blogs, new publications, the renewed commitment from established outlets – is it too much for Maine?
The Bollard has reviewed Bramhall.
Disappointments aside, we couldn’t honestly say we weren’t sated and happy by the end of the meal. Maybe it was the candlelight, or the whiskey’s warm glow, but we promised ourselves we’d return.
Pete Sueltenfuss is planning to open his new market in East Deering, the Otherside Delicatessen(facebook), this Thursday. The Otherside will sell house butchered and cured meats, sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, prepared meals to go as well as market staples.
Hours at the Otherside will be: Monday – Friday 8 -7, Saturday 9 – 6 and closed on Sunday.
Since moving to to Maine from Massachusetts, Sueltenfuss has worked for Fore Street, Miyake, Rosemont and helped launch District. For two years until early 2014 he was the executive chef at Grace.
The new brunch cafe under development by chef David Mallari at 906 Brighton Ave is slated to be named The Sinful Kitchen(facebook).
The Food Network has published an eating guide to Portland. Included are: Bite into Maine, Blue Rooster, Duckfat, Emilitsa, Eventide, Five Fifty-Five, Lolita, Pai Men Miyake, Small Axe, The Well.
Wednesday — Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy will be the guest chefs at Central Provisions for CP’s 1-year anniversary.
Thursday — Rising Tide and Ebb & Flow are collaborating on a 5-course beer dinner, the Brighton Ave Rosemont is holding a cider tasting (with ciders from Vermont, New Hampshire, Spain, France, Chile) and Bao Bao is hosting a Hitachino tap takeover.
Friday — there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli.
Saturday — Space Gallery is screening the movie The Search for General Tso followed by a talk with the director, Maine & Loire is holding a sparkling wine tasting, Dobra is teaching a class on the six classes of tea, Rosemont and Piccolo are working together on a cooking class, Wine Wise is leading a wine and chocolate walk, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Sunday — the 21st Annual Chowder and Chilli Challenge is taking place, and Owl & Whale (facebook, website) will be at Maine Craft Distilling’s Freeport tasting room for a product demo.
Valentine’s Day — restaurants have started announcing their plans for Valentine’s Day. I’ll be adding to this list and reposting it on a weekly basis now through then.
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.
Blue owner Terez Fraser has leased the space at 652 Congress with plans to expand her bar and live music venue. Fraser will be adding 50% more seating capacity as well as a stage and has applied for a revised liquor license that will enable Blue to add spirits to the their current menu of wine and beer.
This week’s edition of Source includes profiles of Wicked Sharp,
A sharp knife helps you work quickly, with precision, says David Oberton, cabinetmaker turned knife sharpener, who runs his business, Wicked Sharp, out of the South Portland home he shares with his wife, Sara (www.wickedsharpknives.com). He learned to sharpen knives while working in restaurants in Germany in the 1970s, continued the practice for friends and family, honed his skills under the tutelage of a master sharpener, and eventually hung his own shingle.
and the mushroom CSA North Spore.
Meet Eliah Thanhauser, a Maine native who, along with his friends and fellow College of the Atlantic graduates Jon Carver and Matt McInnis, started Maine’s first winter CSA (community supported agriculture) for mushrooms. Their Portland-based North Spore mushroom company also sells on the wholesale market and offers teas and tinctures made from foraged wild, medicinal mushrooms. We called Thanhauser up to talk about the company’s origins, its unique relationship with Amato’s and how often he eats mushrooms.
The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Walter’s.
Walter’s may be tucked into the first floor of a nondescript office building, but chef Jeff Buerhaus’ cuisine – incorporating recipes and techniques from Asia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean – is highly creative and intensely flavorful. Don’t miss the Crispy Wild Oysters – among the finest in town – or the saffron-laced bouillabaisse that often appears as an appetizer special. Or try any of the Asian-inspired dishes that the chef likes to cook, from a steak bulgogi bowl reminiscent of Korean bibimbap to salmon with a Thai curry coconut sauce; like many of the dishes here, they are beautifully seasoned and deeply satisfying.