This Week’s Events: Vinland Seder, Michele D’Aprix

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — the Local Foods Networking Breakfast is taking place at Local Sprouts, and Vinland is holding a Passover Seder.

Thursday — the Bier Cellar is hosting Foundation Brewing for a tasting and to kick-off the store’s retail growler program, The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing beer from Magic Hat.

Friday — Michele D’Aprix will be the featured guest at a Rosemont’s Bordeaux wine dinner.

Saturday — there will be a salmon and gin tasting at the Sweetgrass retail space on Fore Street, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Urban Farm Fermentory on Anderson Street.

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: Lolita

| Posted in Under Construction

Maine Today has posted an interview with the owners of Lolita, Guy and Stella Hernandez and Neil Reiter, about their new restaurant.

SA: So you’re going to be doing Italian-inspired food?
GUY: I would say Mediterranean more than Italian. Certainly we all have flavor profiles and dishes that we are attracted to and it is only in retrospect that we say, Oh, those are Italian, Oh, you’re really into those oily fish of North Africa and Spain or the Greek cultures of these slow-cooked foods or whatever it is. All of those things are what we like to eat and we secondarily say those are influences. It’s driven by ‘What do you want to eat? Oh, this is what I like .. Great.’ And that makes it easy for us to say ‘Should this be on the menu? Well would you buy it?

The partners hope to open Lolita (facebook, website) in mid-May.

Lifecycle of the American Eel

| Posted in Fisheries

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a feature article on the culinary and commercial ecology of elvers.

The short-term profits for baby eels are sweet – elvers are Maine’s second most lucrative water-based resource after lobster – but the long-term potential of growing those eels out to the more valuable adults here in Maine? Much sweeter, [fisherman Don] Sprague believes. Eel might be low on the list of Mainers’ favorite foods, but that doesn’t mean more of a profit couldn’t be made from other cultures’ love for it, or from the American sushi market. Sprague spells out the equation. “That $2,000 the fisherman got?” he said. “Now you multiply it times six.”

Portland Food by Kate McCarty

| Posted in General News

KMcCartyBookA new book about the Portland food scene, Portland Food: The Culinary Capital of Maine is due out next month.

Portland, Maine’s culinary cache belies its size. The vibrant food scene boasts more than three hundred restaurants, as well as specialty food businesses, farmers’ markets, pop-up dinners and food trucks. Since back-to-the-landers began to arrive in the 1970s, Maine’s abundant natural resources have been feeding local dreams of sustainability and resilience. Portland is uniquely primed for chefs and restaurateurs to draw on local agricultural and marine resources. Gulf of Maine fisheries and the working waterfront bring the freshest seafood to Portland’s palate, while Maine’s rural landscape is fertile ground for local farming.

Portland Food is by Kate McCarty, author of The Blueberry Files blog, and food writer for the Portland Phoenix.

The book ($19.99, 160 pages) is available for pre-order via the publisher on The History Press website.

Hand Pies: Little Bigs, Daigle & MPL

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has reviewed the hand pies from Little Bigs, Daigle Baked Goods and Maine Pie Line,

Daigle Baked Goods (207.331.0167;daiglebakedgoods@gmail.com) sticks to two hand pies — each a fat round of lovely pale golden crust, big enough that you need two hands to hold it. Each is classical in approach. The pork version resembles a traditional shepherd’s pie. The finely ground meat is mildly seasoned, so you can taste the sweet green flavor of the tender peas. The chicken pie featured bigger chunks of tender meat, along with carrot and potato, in a rich, comforting sauce made from its own juices and touched with sage.