Independent Restaurateur has published an interview with Peter Zinn, owner of Po’Boys & Pickles on Forest Ave.
Peter Zinn of Portland, Maine, never started out to own a restaurant, but these days, you’ll find him hard at work behind the counter of Po’ Boys & Pickles, his Louisiana-style sandwich shop.
Travel + Leisure has named Piccolo one of America’s Best New Romantic Restaurants.
Husband-and-wife team—and Daniel Boulud alumni—Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez uprooted their illustrious Manhattan careers to move to Maine, bringing their love of central Italian fare to a 20-seat sprite of a spot nestled in the city’s charming Old Port neighborhood.
The Blueberry Files has posted her first impressions based on last night’s opening at Central Provisions.
Peggy Grodinsky (LinkedIn, Google) has been hired by Maine Today Media to serve as the new food editor for the Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram and Maine Today. From what I’ve heard, today is Grodinsky’s first official day on the job.
Grodinsky was the Executive Editor of the Cook’s Country Magazine (a publication from Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen), prior to that she served as the Food Editor at the Houston Chronicle and Editor of the James Beard Foundation. She’s also taught food writing at the Harvard University extension program and at New York University. Check out her LinkedIn profile for more detail on her resume.
Among other responsibilities the new food editor will be working to launch a new farm-to-table section that will appear weekly in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Today’s Press Herald includes an article about butter and Maine’s butter producers,
If you haven’t heard of Casco Bay Butter Co., or seen its line of artisanal flavored butters on local store shelves, that may change soon. As the popularity of butter starts bouncing back, more people are searching for butters that meet that foodie trifecta of local, artisanal and organic.
an article about FoodCorps helping farm-to-school initiatives in Maine,
FoodCorps aims to teach children about healthful eating, expand school-based gardens and increase locally grown food in school cafeterias.
as well as additional reporting on restaurant inspections and the Maine law banning bars from posting the alcohol percentage of the beers they serve.
The Portland Daily Sun has published the 2nd installment in a series take-out tipping.
The highly anticipated Central Provisions (website, facebook, twitter) opened tonight at 414 Fore Street. The restaurant featueres a diverse menu of small plates and cocktails and also features a strong wine program. The bottom floor facing Wharf Street is a bar and one flight up on Fore Street is the main dining room and open kitchen.
Central Provisions is owned by Chris and Paige Gould. Gould is a Maine native. Most recently he who worked at the Ken Orringer restaurants Coppa and Uni before the couple moved to Portland.
Patrick McDonald has joined the staff as bar manager and Chris Peterman has been hired to head up the wine program. Macdonald has been working at Gingko Blue and Peterman is running the American Sommelier training program in Portland.
For more images from opening night see Maine a la Carte and Active Beer Geek as well as Instagram photos from Blueberry Files, Sean Wilkinson.
The Portland Phoenix has published an article about Miyake Farms.
The pigs make a racket, squealing and grunting, anticipating another meal, as we gingerly approach on paths of melting snow and ice. I’m in Freeport, where chef Masa Miyake has turned his Freeport backyard into a full-fledged hog farm; farm manager Emily Phillips built paddocks for the pigs and moved them closer to the house for the winter.
The Press Herald has published an update on the recent enforcement by regulators of a 1937 law which bans bars from displaying the alcohol percentage of the beer they serve.
“(The law is) absolutely asinine,” said Greg Norton, whose store on Forest Avenue in Portland, the Bier Cellar, specializes in small-batch beer and wine. “It’s an important piece of knowledge for a customer, to plan how many beers they’re going to have that night.”
It’s unclear why the restriction was added to state law, which included rules for Maine’s post-Prohibition liquor industry with arcane terms such as “high test,” “high proof” and “pre-war strength.” Legislative documents from the time suggest it was aimed at advertisements that sold beer based solely on its strength.
Here are a few under construction updates: