Dispatch magazine has published some recommendations for celebrating Fat Tuesday in Southern Maine.
Also be sure to stop by the Cajun Cookin’ Challenge taking place today at USM.
Valentine’s Day Drinks
Bartenders from Gingko Blue appeared on WPFO to demonstrate how to make a pair of Valentine’s Day cocktails.
Allagash Tour, Rising Tide Profile, Lil One
The Blueberry Files has posted a piece on her recent tour of Allagash Brewing,
We stopped first where the tanks are, continued onto the bottling and keg line, and ended in the barrel aging room. The tour script is friendly to non-beer nerds, and our guide was also willing to entertain any questions, no matter how basic, like… what does ‘coagulate’ mean? (No joke.) I wanted to know why the big bottles are finished with a cork and cage, rather than a bottle cap (because of tradition and in-bottle carbonation).
the Insurance Guy Beer Blog has published a brief profile of Rising Tide, and Urban Beer Nerd has posted some initial tasting notes on Maine Beer Company’s new brew Lil One.
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The Chinese Laundry
The Golden Dish has published a report on last night’s kick start event for The Chinese Laundry.
The menu is strictly dim sum and from what I sampled last night I would advise not to miss her future pop-ups.
There were only two items served: steamed dumplings filled with pork and scallions and fried dumplings with sweet potato and leeks. There were a few sauces on the side including a very sweetly pungent hoison sauce with scallions. Both were evocative examples of the genre.
This Week’s Events: Cajun Cookin’ Challenge, Chopped Champions, Valentine’s Day, Cloak & Dagger, Brush with Love, Flavors of Freeport
Tuesday — Rob Evans (there’s an interview with Evans in today’s Press Herald) will be competing in the finals for Chopped Champions on the Food Network, the WMPG 18th Annual Fat Tuesday Cajun Cookin’ Challenge is taking place.
Wednesday —Bunker Brewing is celebrating their 1-year anniversary at Local 188, and Cloak & Dagger is holding their Killing Me Sweetly dinner.
Valentine’s Day — nearly every restaurant in town will be open for Valentine’s Day. Here are the one’s planning Valentine’s Day menus or events:
- Anthony’s, 5-course dinner and Rat Pack Valentine’s Day show, $39.95
- Bar Lola, 5-course prix fixe, $55 per person.
- El Rayo Cantina, 3-course dinner, $35 per person.
- Five Fifty-Five, 5-course tasting menu, $88 per person with optional wine pairing for $35 or $50.
- Hugo’s, 7-course dinner, $80 per person with optional wine pairing at $55. The dinner is also available on Friday and Saturday.
- Gelato Fiasco will be serving 30+ red, white, pink and chocolate gelati.
- Inn on Peaks Island, 4-course, $65 per person.
- Maria’s, 3-course dinner, $38 per person.
- Nosh is celebrating a Love Affair with Bacon.
- Novare Res is collaborating with Sweet Marguerite’s to serves a set of beer and chocolate pairings.
- Petite Jacqueline, 3-course dinner, $55 per person with optional menu supplements, wine pairing and champagne flights.
- Roost and Modern Vegan are collaborating to offer 5-course series of chocolate and wine pairings, $25 per couple.
- Spread, 4-course dinner, $50 per person.
- The Holy Donut is making a strawberry glazed donut drizzled with 60% dark chocolate.
- The Salt Exchange, 6-course Midnight in Paris menu, $65 per person.
- Twenty Milk Street, 3-course menu.
- Wine Wise has a few spots left for their 2nd annual wine and chocolate pairing class.
- Zapoteca, 4-course dinner “Celebrating the Love of Asian Influenced Mexican Cuisine”, $50 per person.
- Maine Restaurant Week has posted their recommendations for Valentine’s Day parsed by relationship status.
- Looking to do something a little different? Try the vegan soul food cooking demo taking place at USM
Friday —it’s the first day of the Flavors of Freeport.
Saturday — there will be a wine tasting at Browne Trading, it’s the last day of the Flavors of Freeport, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.
Sunday — Chefs Nikos Regas from Emilitsa, Pete Sultenfuss from Grace and Mitchell Gerow from East Ender will be competing in Boston at the Lamb Jam, Two Fat Cats is holding a wedding cake tasting, and Petite Jacqueline is screening Ratatouille.
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.
Pocket Brunch: Party Gras
The February edition of Pocket Brunch took place today. The event kicked off at a private home for cocktails, coffee and apps before a jazz band led the assembled guest for a New Orleans style parade down the street to Bubba’s Sulky Lounge for the main portion of the meal was served.
Eric Simeon (who you may remember was the original chef at Grace) and Rhonda Crosson were the guest chefs alongside Josh Potocki and Joel Beauchamp. This was one of my favorite of the Pocket Brunch series so far.
- Premeal – praline pig, bruleed grapefruit, banana foster bostock, suzette scones
- Soup – Gumbo Z’herbes with greens and black-eyed peas
- Salad – endive, chared okra, marinated oysters, blood orange and broiled oysters on half shell
- Egg – artichoke hearts, white asparagus, stock-poached egg, creamed cress, parmesan hollandaise and country ham
- Meat – local beef debris, grits 2 ways, crispy sweetbreads, green tomato pickle
- Dessert – king cake
The meal was accompanied by cocktails by Nan’l Meiklejohn and coffee from Tandem Coffee Roasters.
Check out this big set of images from Zwickerhill Photography for more images from the event, as well as this post from Delicious Musings.
On a related note, yesterday Food Coma published a write-up of last month’s Pocket Brunch with Rob Evans.
Tandem Coffee at the Flea-for-All
Tandem Coffee is setting up an outpost at the Portland Flea-for-All. They’ll be serving pour-overs and selling bags of whole beans weekly on Saturdays and Sundays beginning today at 10 am. I’d recommend the Whahana natural process from Sumatra.
Chris Stiegler, former roaster at Mornings in Paris, has joined the staff at Tandem and will be manning the new weekend coffee station.
Review of Buck’s Naked BBQ
The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of Buck’s Naked BBQ.
If you crave meat, Buck’s Naked BBQ Steakhouse offers it in all forms. With a clear understanding of Portland’s foodie sensibilities, Buck’s expands the barbecue experience to include international influences, and the menu offers a few interesting options for the vegetarian and fish-loving crowd. The atmosphere is fun, kid-friendly (in a non-obnoxious way), and the staff is hilarious.
Broadturn Barns
The Broadturn Farm Blog has a new post about the renovation and repurposing of their barn and other outbuildings.
The buildings at Broadturn Farm have been a consistent focus over the years. The farmstead space is graced with a collection of connected buildings and stand alone outbuildings. It has a quintessential New England working farm aesthetic. Each building has been one thing, an then another. Renovated and re-renovated, torn down and re-built, these structures have evolved as the various enterprises of the farm saw periods of success and growth. Dating back to the early 1800s, the buildings tell us a story of who came before us and the legacy of hard work that is required to make a living off the land.
Reviews of Hot Suppa and Eve’s at the Garden
Map & Menu has published a review of Hot Suppa,
The ‘About Us‘ page on the Hot Suppa! website reads like every foodie’s fantasy – a culinary adventure across America, hitting all of the best local spots, and eating all of the favorite regional cuisines. Meredith and I can totally get behind an idea like that, and after just a few bites of any of the options on the Hot Suppa! menu, I bet you would too.
and The Golden Dish has published a review of Eve’s at the Garden.
The next assemblage was my entree of duck breast stroganoff. This wasn’t bad. It had the classic mushroom duxelles enriched with a rich veal stock and cream sauce served over pasta. This was well done. But the duck was so tough I thought of asking our waiter for a machete.