Under Construction: Pizza at 158

158 Pickett Street Cafe in South Portland has for many years been a destination for bagels, breakfast and lunch. Starting this Friday they’re adding dinner hours serving a menu of specialty pizza and salads.

To start out the new pizza menu will be available on Friday and Saturday nights; additional days will come online once the fall semester at SMCC (right down the street from 158) is in session.

This Week’s Events: Migratory Fish, Graze, Twilight Dinner, Vinland, Rabelais Book Sale

Tuesday — Dr. Walt Golet will be giving a lecture at GMRI on the migratory nature of tuna and swordfish.

Wednesday — Black Tie will be holding a Graze farm dinner in New Gloucester, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

ThursdayBrad Messier & Erin Lynch from Rosemont will be the guest chef at this week’s Twilight Dinner at Turkey Hill Farm, there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, and it’s the last day of Vinland’s Kickstarter campaign which has so far raised $37,060 towards a $40k goal.

Saturday — Rabelais is holding their annual book sale (20-25% off), and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Portland Brew Festival — the third big beer event taking place in Portland this summer, the Portland Brew Festival, is scheduled for August 30-31.

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.

Interview with Abigail Carroll

The Root has published an interview with Abigail Carroll, the owner of Nonesuch Oysters in Scarborough.

Would you describe the “traditional, environmentally-safe” grow-out method you use.
We buy very small spat, about 1.5 mm in size, and put it into a nursery – an up-weller – where the oysters are contained and fed by water we pump from the estuary. There are no additives; they drink only natural water from the estuary. When the oysters get to be about ¼” we take them to our grow-out site in floating bags where they stay until we harvest. As the farm grows, we hope to do more ground seeding. Our “Free Range” oysters are particularly gorgeous.