Steve and Renee’s Diner

| Posted in People, Profiles

The Portland Daily Sun has published a profile of Steve and Renee’s Diner.

Renee was having trouble getting into the interview because she saw that my breakfast was getting cold. We had to take a break so I could finish eating, then things were fine. She cared. Just couldn’t get away from it.

Therein lies the tale. At Steve & Renee’s Diner it’s all about people. Has been for the twenty-nine years they’ve been in business. “Just don’t call us a restaurant,” she said, “there’s restaurants all over the place. We’re a diner, like the ones that used to exist in Portland. When people come in here they’re family.”

Under Construction: Little Tap House

| Posted in Under Construction

A new eatery and bar called the Little Tap House is under construction at 106 High Street in the space recently vacated by Plush West End. The owners are billing it as “a boutique craftbeer gastro-pub with local farm to table dining”. A draft menu is available online (page 70).

Lee Goyette is the owner/general manager of the Little Tap House, and Andrew Kadish will be serving as the executive chef. According to information from a regular PFM reader, Goyette and Kadish were both formerly at J.P. Thorntons in South Portland.

4th Annual Obscure Holiday Cocktail Tasting

| Posted in Events

Edible Obsessions, The Blueberry Files and Vrai-lean-uh (source of excerpt shown below) have all written up reports from last Friday’s Obscure Holiday Cocktail Tasting. The tasting is an annual event among some of the food bloggers in Portland.

This year somehow the holiday celebrated ended up being Pearl Harbor Day rather than Christmas. The evening involved a discussion of five-star WWII generals and Emperor Hirohito. And yet it was still festive! A good cocktail-and-cheese duo elevates any holiday.

The drinks this year were also all really good.* They weren’t particularly “obscure holiday cocktails” so much as cocktails that one could drink on a holiday that are maybe unfamiliar or new. I think the lesson might be that most obscure holiday cocktails are obscure for a reason.

My contribution was a drink I’m calling the Cider House Rules:

3 oz   Northern Spy Barrel Aged Eden Ice Cider

1 oz   Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel

1/2 oz   Kyoto Ice Extracted Tower Shot from Speckled Axe

2 dashes Walnut Bitters

Served with an orange twist

Zev Rovine Natural Wine Tasting

| Posted in Wine

Wine 24/7 has published tasting notes from a recent private tasting with natural wine expert Zev Rovine at Rosemont.

I recently had the opportunity to taste some exciting, unique and cutting edge wines, alive with character and multiplicity.  These are the Wines of Zev Rovine. Based in Brooklyn, NY but also spending an equal amount of time in Paris, he is committed to representing wines that express a strong sense of place or terroir, created by winemakers who practice a completely hands-on approach in the vineyard, far from any sort of industrialization and with usually very small production/low yields. He represents wines that are produced in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Argentina, and the US.

Reviews of Back Cove BBQ & Pizzeria

| Posted in Reviews

The Press Herald has published a review of the Back Cove BBQ & Pizzeria.

I tried the pulled pork plate, which came with the hand-cut beach fries for $9.99. The pulled pork came in a white sub bread, and was full of smoke flavor.

The only complaint I had, if you can call it that, is that the sandwich cried out for some kind of sauce. The meat was fine on its own; I just prefer sauce. Perhaps there’s some at the counter that you can request. Luckily, I had some at home.

Under Construction: 5 Dana Street

| Posted in Under Construction

Chef Damian Sansonetti has joined up with a group of 3 partners that are launching a new cafe at 5 Dana Street in the old home of Big Mama’s Diner.

Sansonetti tells me they hope to fill a niche for the weekday lunch crowd and catering for nearby office workers. Just a stones throw from both Commercial and Wharf Streets they would seem to be well positioned to tap into late night weekend Wharf Street crowd as well as serve hungry tourists in the Summer. The menu is still under development but will be sandwich-centric with some interesting twists.

They hope to open the new, and as yet unnamed business, in February.

While working on the Dana Street project, Sansonetti is continuing to search for digs in Portland to open his own restaurant, Sonnet.