Portland Hunt & Alpine Club is planning a Scandinavian theme for their food menu.
It’s influence is Scandinavian boards, cured fish and meats, brown breads, rye crackers, open-face sandwiches, a pickle program and much more.
In Sweden it’s called smörgäsbord, in Norway it’s koltbord and in Finland it’s voileipäpöytä.
We’re calling it Scandinavian Gastropub.
A few under construction updates:
Monday — Oakhurst Dairy is pairing up with 5 local food trucks to celebrate National Ice Tea Day. Bite into Maine, Love Cupcakes, Mainely Burgers, Gusto’s and Portside Picnic will be handing out free Oakhurst ice tea all day.
Wednesday — the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.
Thursday — Fisherman Danny Eilersten and scientist Kevin Stokesbury will give a talk at GMRI on the Georges Bank scallop fishery, there will be a wine tasting at the Public Market House, and The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing beers from Allagash.
Friday — GMRI is holding a backyard fish fry catered by Susan’s Fish & Chips.
Saturday — Bite into Maine, Gustos, Mainely Burgers, El Corozan, Love Cupcakes, and Pretty Awesome St Food will be at Portland Flea for All for Flea Bites—a monthly street food festival in Bayside, Browne Trading is holding a wine tasting and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.
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.
Maine a la Carte has published a piece about the new menu concept at Miyake on Fore Street.
Don’t worry. If you already loved Miyake, the rug isn’t going to be pulled out from under you. The changes that are being made are designed to put customers more at ease and offer them more choices on the menu, which will “still be Japanese but a different interpretation of it,” says manager William Garfield.
Eventide won the Editor’s Choice Award and the Clam Shack in Kennebunk took home the title of America’s Best Lobster Roll at the Lobster Roll Rumble.
For additional reporting see these articles in the Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald. Serious Eats has published a slideshow of all 20 rolls that were in the competition.
This week’s Portland Phoenix includes a short article about food trucks and quiz that challenges you to match-up the trucks with the owners.
This week the paper also published a review of Wicked Good Street Kitchen.
Their version of the BLT was more sophisticated — with terrific Iraqi flatbread and lots of crunchy and bitter arugula. The thin bread let you really taste the thick salty bacon, the sweet tomato, and the tangy-sour mayo. A falafel sandwich was very similar, but a bit less rewarding since the chickpeas obscured the other flavors a bit. A “raw pad Thai” is actually more like a really nice salad in the French tradition of diced root veggies. The noodles are actually crunchy radish, and the sauce is more tahini-creamy than nutty. There is plenty of crunchy kale, carrot, and sweet red pepper.
According to a report from Mujoy Hill News,
Mike G. Fink, owner of MIKE’s, said today that his restaurant is under contract to sell to two young men who want to start up a co-op at the popular 437 Congress Street address.
Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd explains the calculus of eating out for professional restaurant staff.
If we have a rare night off and aren’t doing a week’s worth of laundry, playing poker with our co-workers, or working anyway by covering someone else’s shift, that dining out thing could just happen. More often than not, it takes planning to have a quality “Go Out and Be Waited On” experience where we’re the one who’s being pampered, tended to and made to feel as if our business/money matters. The problem is, it’s damn near impossible to do so, especially in our own backyard. There are several professional and personal reasons why this is the case.
Today’s Press Herald includes an article about Josh Christie’s new book Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland.
In addition to stories about the founders and the start of each brewery, Christie writes about many of the beers from each brewery, usually tells readers his favorites, and often describes how the beers were named.
He ends with a description of some of the best beer bars in the state.
Christie writes the blog Brews & Books.
The June issue of The Bollard includes an interview with Mark Gatti, owner of Mark’s Hot Dog’s, in recognition of the 30th anniversary of his food cart.
June 13 marks the 30th anniversary of Mark’s Hot Dogs. Mark Gatti is still in the same spot — Tommy’s Park, in Portland’s Old Port — slinging franks out of the same red wooden cart he and his father built. In 1983, one of Gatti’s dogs set you back 60 cents. Today, it’s $2.50, and credit cards are accepted. In addition to the traditional brown and red hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, onions, chili or kraut, you can pick up an Italian sausage for $5. The Old Porker, a recent special, has bacon, sour cream and sautéed onions ($3). And the bomb dogs ($3.50) are so loaded with toppings and condiments that Gatti gives you a paper plate to catch the mess.
For additional reporting on Mark’s 30th anniversary see this article in the Portland Daily Sun.