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.
This Week’s Events: Central Guest Chefs, Search for General Tso, Wine and Chocolate, 21st Chowder & Chilli, Owl & Whale, Valentine’s List
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.
- Allagash, Beer Hearts Chocolate beer and chocolate tasting, $15 per person.
- Congress Squared, special menu served on both the 13th and 14th.
- David’s Opus Ten, 9-course dinner with wine pairings for $150 per person.
- Five Fifty-Five, 4-course dinner for $75 per person; with optional pairings and supplements.
- Gelato Fiasco, serving a case of special Valentine’s flavored gelato and sorbetto, February 13-15.
- Novare Res is teaming up with La Crème Chocolat to serve beer and chocolate pairings on the 13th and 14th.
- Petite Jacqueline, 3-course menu for $65 per person; optional wine pairings available.
- Piccolo, 5-course dinner and a glass of rose prosecco, $75 per person; optional wine pairings available.
- Rising Tide, on the 13th Rising Tide Brewing will be releasing Nuit D’Hiver, a “limited rum barrel aged version of D’Hiver, our dark rye saison with winter spices and sweet orange peel” along with D’Hiver, 2013 Cellared D’Hiver, Nuit D’Hiver on tap and chocolates truffles from La Crème Chocolat.
- Sur Lie, serving their regular menu and a special chef’s tasting menu for $65 per person.
- Vinland has a number of options including a 10-course dinner for 4 for $300.
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.
Under Construction: Blue Expanding
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.
Source: North Spore & Wicked Sharp
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.
Review of Walter’s
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.
Top Ten for January 2015
The 10 places readers checked out most often on Portland Food Map in January were:
- Sur Lie (1)
- Bao Bao (2)
- Tiqa (-)
- Ebb & Flow (4)
- Walter’s (>50)
- Dutch’s (10)
- Street & Co. (9)
- Congress Squared (>50)
- Maps Cafe (28)
- Timber (6)
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
Under Construction: Cellardoor Winery (updated)
Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Cellardoor Winery’s plans to open a 5,000 square foot tasting room and retail store at Thompson’s Point.
The satellite location will be known as Cellardoor at the Point and will host wine tastings, dinners, cooking classes, food-and-wine pairings and other special events. It also will have retail space for selling the company’s “Cellardoor at Home” product line, which includes jams and jellies, oils, vinegars, desserts, syrups and other food products.
Cellardoor joins Oxbow and Sweetgrass as Mid-Coast food enterprises that have opened Portland locations to better connect with the Southern Maine locals and tourists to the area.
Update: for additional information see this report from the Urban Eye.
Under Construction: Brunch Cafe & MK Kitchen
Maine a la Carte has posted information on two new restaurants under development:
- Chef Dave Mallari, former owner of Francesco’s Blue House Cafe, plans to open a new cafe at 906 Brighton Ave in the space formerly occupied by La Familia. Mallari will serve brunch Wednesday through Sunday with a focus on gluten-free and Paleo diet options. He hopes to open in March.
- Chef Mitchell Kaldrovitch is opening MK Kitchen(website, facebook) at 2 School Street in Gorham with his wife Lisa. Kaldrovitch has worked for the past 7 years as the executive chef at the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth. The new restaurant will serve “simple handmade food, all from scratch from desserts to pastas”. They hope to open in April.
Reviews: Maps Cafe, Bao Bao
The Press Herald has reviewed Maps Cafe,
But there’s a distinct charm to Maps that will compete with other Portland bars, no matter what. In addition to their on-the-money grilled cheeses, Walker wakes up early most days to bake one of her grandmother’s cake recipes. She’d often bake with her grandma as a girl, and cake at the bar was another European element Walker wanted to play up. The carrot cake has become a customer favorite.
and Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Bao Bao.
After all was said and eaten, were quite pleased. Our food came to 46 bucks with tax and tip. It seemed quite reasonable for 24 dumplings, a slaw, and a glass of wine. I found the Kung Pau the most tasty, but all of our food was very good. I definitely recommend Bao Bao if you love dumplings.
Bugs for Dinner
The American Journal has a report on a new Freeport-based business called Bugs for Dinner.
Bill Broadbent, 54, his family and friends made that point and more last Saturday at the Freeport Community Library, as they invited everyone to snack on cricket cookies, energy bars and chocolate-covered crickets. The occasion was a website launch for BugsForDinner.com, which he created and hopes will lead to an insect-farming operation later this year.