Wine 24/7 has posted a report on the Laurent Bonnois wine event held last week at LFK.
Laurent hails from the Loire Region of France and thanks to Devenish Wines (Ned Swain & Brendon Pringle – local afficionados), we are now able to experience his wines directly. He is truly at the forefront of the Natural wine movement, representing natural, organic, sustainably farmed and biodynamic wines.
Tuesday — Bier Cellar is holding a tasting that will match beers with Halloween candy, and Allagash founder Rob Tod will be giving a lecture at the Falmouth Memorial Library.
Wednesday — Wine Wise is leading a wines and chocolate tasting tour in the Old Port, Hugo’s is serving a 7-course Halloween Dinner, Grace is holding a Halloween party, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.
Thursday — Tandem and Bunker will be at Eventide to launch their new collaboration, 122 Coffee IPA.
Friday — a brewers dinner is taking place at The Thirsty Pig, a collection of food trucks and food carts will be gathering at Flea for All for the November edition of Flea Bites, both Rosemont and West End Deli are holding wine tastings, Novare Res is offering a range of wild fermented beers at their Where the Wild Biers Are event, authors of Portland, Maine Chef’s Table and Standard Baking Co. Pastries will be at Longfellow for a book signing, and restaurants are likely to be extra busy due to First Friday Art Walk so be sure to make Friday night reservations in advance.
Saturday — the Maine Brewers Festival is taking place, there will be wine tastings at Browne Trading and Leroux Kitchen, Vignola/Cinque Terre is hosting an Italian cooking class, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.
Sunday — it’s the start of Portland Beer Week, the premiere of The Food Coma Show is being screened at SPACE Gallery, and The Artist is the featured film at Petite Jacqueline’s movie night.
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.
Food Coma has published a review of the latest edition of Pocket Brunch. The event took place earlier this month at Broadturn Farm.
Shortly after, the “pre-meal” snacks begin to appear, starting with beet red velvet muffins, frosted with goat cheese and topped with candied walnuts. These are probably some of the best muffins I’ve tasted in a very long time, with the cake itself being ultra-moist and perfectly complimented by the tangy frosting. Next are the apple cider donuts that I had been clamoring for, each filled with a dollop of candied apples. Lastly, as is tradition, we are presented with brimming chalices of “pocket bacon,” which in this case tastes as if it may have been lightly candied also. Someone once referred to this as “Like dog treats, but for adults,” and I would be hard-pressed to argue.
Tickets for the November edition of Pocket Brunch are now on sale. The event will feature French Canadian fare produced in collaboration with guest chef Nate Nadeau.
East Bayside next door neighbors Tandem Coffee Roaster and Bunker Brewing have collaborated on 122 Coffee IPA. The beer is made with a cold brew of Tandem’s Guatemalan San Juan Microlot.
Food Coma has published the results of the 4th Annual Pumpkin Beer Tasting.
Because we are masochists, and it’s very important to understand your enemy, we put ourselves through this tasting ordeal each year. This time we have managed to up the number of “offerings” to a whopping twenty five, after trudging our way through what we perceived to be an excruciating sixteen last year. As a special gift to the group, I have eliminated both the ill-fated “aged pumpkin” and “blueberry” categories for good.
Today’s Press Herald includes a report on yesterday’s college culinary competition at Harvest on the Harbor.
[Adam] Robichaud’s teammates in the competition at Ocean Gateway were Toan Nguyen of Portland, Megan Manseau of Scarborough and Nate Davies of Orrington. They won a $4,000 scholarship collectively, and each one got an engraved chef’s knife.
Bourbon. Portland. Beer. Politics. has published a list of coffee shops and cafes off the Portland peninsula.
With coffee shops and cafes like Arabica, Crema, Speckled Ax, Tandem Coffee Roasters, and Bard, the peninsula has no shortage of great coffee and places to enjoy it at. If you are like me, though, you regularly find yourself traveling around off peninsula in the Greater Portland Area and less than knowledgeable about where to grab a cup of coffee.
The New York Times Travel section stopped off at The Salt Exchange and Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster as part of a multi-day lobster eating tour of Massachusetts and Maine.
That night, after strolling about Portland, our new lobster base camp, we visited the Salt Exchange and fell hard for the intense lobster risotto, highlighted by flavorful claw and body bits.
According to an article in today’s Press Herald, the Maine Lobster Chefs of the Year were chosen last night at Harvest on the Harbor. Mackenzie Arrington, a native Mainer who now works in New York City, was selected as the people’s choice Lobster chef of the Year, and Kerry Altiero from Cafe Miranda in Rockland was selected as the judge’s choice Lobster Chef of the Year.
In the past, a panel of judges chose the recipes for the contest, but tasting and judging were left solely to the audience.
This year, the judges tried the food as well, scoring it on a 100-point scale for originality, creativity, flavor and use of lobster. The judges were Steve Corry, chef/owner of Five Fifty Five and Petite Jacqueline in Portland; Kathleen Fleury, managing editor of Downeast magazine; and Sharon Rose of WCSH-TV.
The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Dobra Tea and Homegrown Herb & Tea.
…But Portland has lucked into two very good teahouses, which soothe in very different ways: Dobra bringing international ritual to Maine, and Homegrown’s one-of-a-kind spirit very much living up to its name.
The Press Herald has published a bar review of Yosaku,
I was so caught up watching them, I forgot to even look at the bar menu before our waitress came around. While Yosaku offers a full selection of white and red wines, its true specialty is a range of sake selections. If you’re a fan of sake, you could spend anywhere between $5 for a small carafe of Ozeki Hot Sake up to $40 for Komatsu Tatewaki “Samurai” Taru Sake.
and a preview of the Maine Brewers Festival.
The festival is not officially part of Portland Beer Week, which runs Nov. 4-11. But it could be viewed as an aperitif, and a lot of the same organizations are involved in both events.