Dispatch writer Holly Irwin and her coworkers have put together their list of the Top Ten Server Pet Peeves. The list starts off with,
1. Verbal tipping. We love compliments; however a compliment does not equal a tip. Please don’t go on and on about how good of a server I am or what a great meal you had unless you plan to reflect that in your tip. Compliments don’t pay the bills.
Maine food blogger Sharon Kitchens was featured the Boston Globe Magazine this past weekend.
Before opting for a quieter existence in Maine, Kitchens, now 40, worked in the film industry in New York and Los Angeles. In 2008, she moved to a funky factory-turned-loft in Somerville’s Davis Square, where she joined a community-supported agriculture farm-share and a local fish-share and grew vegetables with neighbors on the roof. Finding herself drawn more and more to the idea of sustainable living, Kitchens decided it was time to commit. In 2011, she purchased an 1830s farmhouse with an attached barn and chicken coop on about 2 acres of land in Raymond, Maine, some 20 miles northwest of Portland.
Kitchens is the author of The Root and Delicious Musings. She lives in Raymond where she gardens as well as keeps bees and chickens.
Mainely Burgers (Facebook, Twitter) plans to launch their Portland-based food truck, Mainely Burgers 2.0, next month on Monday May 20. Owners Ben Berman and Jack Barber have two spots already picked out and are continuing to explore other options. They’ll be experimenting with serving breakfast at 108 Saint John Street, outside the building where their production kitchen is located, and have leased a spot in the parking lot of the former Press Herald press building on Pearl Street for service later in the day. The menu of traditional beach truck food will be expanding in Portland because being in the city gives them room to be “a little more adventurous” with new specials making it on to the menu throughout the summer.
The pair founded Mainely Burgers last summer and had a very successful inaugural year operating on the Scarborough State Beach (the beach truck will re-open on Memorial Day weekend). They’re both Cape Elizabeth HS grads and are now attending college in the Boston area. They see running Maine Burgers and managing the 15-=erson staff as a great learning opportunity, and hope their success can serve as an example to others their age who want to launch their own start-ups.
Ben and Jack also tell me they expect to also use the MB 2.0 truck to provide catering for public and corporate events.
Maine Burgers was a nominee in Phoenix Best of Portland readership poll and was one of the Final Four the winner best burgers in the recent Eater Maine burger series.
Festival Warm-up — Shelton Brothers, the primary organizers behind The Festival, will be at the Bier Cellar on Thursday with a selection of beers that will be part of the summer event. Available at the tasting will be “De Struise Pannepot Gran Reserve 2005 and Black Damnation II, Trois Dames Expesso Stout, Panil Barrique, Kerkom Bink Grand Cru, Blaugies D’Arbyste, High & Mighty Beer of the Gods, De La Senne Zinnebier, DeRanke Hop harvest 2012, Het nest Kleverentien, Anchorage Galaxy IPA, Mikkeller I Beat You, 8 Wired Superconducter IPA, Thirez Blonde, Adnams Blond”. The Festival is taking place in Portland June 21 and 22, tickets are available online.
Also on Thursday — the April Latte Art Competition is taking place at Tandem Coffee, food writer Alana Chernila will be speaking at The Telling Room, there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, and the Great Lost Bear is showcasing a select of beers from Long Trail Brewing.
Saturday — the First Deering Oaks Farmers Market of 2013 is taking place.
Sunday — a May Day Celebration is taking place at Broadturn Farm, the Maine Brew Bus will be making a day trip to Oxbow Brewing in Newcastle, and Petite Jacqueline is screening the movie Le Divorce for movie night.
Portland Kitchen Tour — tickets for the Portland Kitchen Tour are now on sale. 6 Portland area kitchens are part of the event, each one will “feature a chef, cookbook author, cooking demo or tasting”.
Taste of the Nation — the 2013 Taste of the Nation is scheduled to take place June 23 at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport. Tickets are now on sale. The annual event raises money to combat childhood hunger in the Maine. Last year’s sold out Taste of the Nation raised over $170,000.
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.
Linda Greenlaw and Browne Trading are teaming up to offer bluefin tuna charters this summer.
Greenlaw, an Isle au Haut resident, author and world-renowned fisherman, will offer chartered fishing tours for bluefin tuna out of Portland Harbor through Browne Trading Co. on Commercial Street…Trips will be aboard the Hazel Browne, a 46-foot Wesmac owned by Rod Mitchell, the owner of Browne Trading Co.
CTN host and Portland Daily Sun editor Curtis Robinson interviewed Karl and Sarah Sutton about their food truck Bite into Maine (website, Facebook, Twitter).
The Suttons have an ongoing Kickstarter campaign to help underwrite the cost of their small operation to participate the Lobster Roll Rumble this summer in NYC.
The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of The Frog and Turtle.
The Frog and Turtle ups Westbrook’s foodie street credibility and style. Local music is a treat, and its brunch is a good one. (Try the homemade raspberry jelly doughnuts for a sugar rush; a pint-sized Bloody Mary will bring a rush of a different kind.) For those seeking dinner, make a reservation and consider ordering from the upscale pub menu. A plate of pork wings with fiery tangerine sauce while listening to excellent local music makes for a great evening.
The Portland City Council meets Monday and as part of the agenda will be reviewing the liquor license applications from several new restaurants:
For details on all the food businesses under development in Portland see the Under Construction List.
Rosemont manager and Press Herald wine columnist Joe Appel has authored an article for the new issue of Saveur. The article is entitled Urban Grapes, and in it Appel writes about the urban wineries of Vienna that produce field blended wines.
It’s a tradition that dates back at least to Roman times, when grapevines grew together on family farms. Whereas other cities gradually lost vineyards as they urbanized, an 18th-century decree stipulated that Vienna’s crazy-quilt winemaking districts were to remain in perpetuity.
The article isn’t yet available online but you can pick-up a copy of Saveur at Longfellow Books.
For more of Appel’s writing visit his website, Soul of Wine.
Dispatch reports that Marcy’s reopened earlier this week after a 3-month renovation.
It’s been well worth the wait, though, because the renovations look incredible. They’ve gone and spiffed up the already classic diner look they already had. Everything looks fresh and new, even if it wasn’t completely replaced.