Portland Beer Week & VitaminSea

| Posted in Beer, Profiles

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about Portland Beer Week. Portland Beer Week is is taking place November 4-11.

The inaugural year of beer week was well received, but in a lot of ways, beer lovers say, it was kind of like Restaurant Week with beer as an add-on. This year Stevens, who owns The Thirsty Pig on Exchange Street, and her fellow beer geeks have structured an impressive line-up that is overflowing with nearly 60 events. And they did it all in barely two months.

Also in today’s paper is a profile of VitaminSea, a company that sells energy bars and other products that are made with seaweed.

Right now, company founders Tom and Kelly Roth have reached capacity with the number of SeaCrunch bars they can make in the licensed commercial kitchen in their Buxton home. They’re currently churning out about 1,000 bars a week of the mixture made from almonds, sesame seeds, dried cranberries, kelp and maple syrup. Yet, sales of the bars keep growing and the company plans to introduce two new flavors in the coming weeks, Blueberry (with dried blueberries and dark chocolate) and S’mores (with milk chocolate and marshmallows).

Under Construction: Sonnet

| Posted in Under Construction

Chef Damian Sansonetti is working on launching a new restaurant in Portland. Until recently Sansonetti was the Executive Chef at Bar Boulud in New York City. He’s been scouting locations in Portland and in the meantime is running a series of pop-up dinners.

The next pop-up is scheduled for October 30th; interest in the dinners has been quite strong and an additional dinner in early November is likely. For more information on the dinners or to make a reservation email sonnetpopup@gmail.com.

Under Construction: Three Buoys Seafood Shanty & Grille

| Posted in Under Construction

According to a report from the Munjoy Hill News, Three Buoys Seafood Shanty & Grille is under construction at 111 Cumberland Ave in the space formerly occupied by Buffalo Wings-N-Things.

East Enders will soon have another restaurant option from which to select according to Nikole and Bill Holler, owners of the soon-to-be Three Buoys Seafood Shanty & Grille.  The location is at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Washington Street – the site of the former Buffalo Wings restaurant.  That’s where mhn.com met them early this afternoon.

Baum+Whiteman Food Trends

| Posted in General News

Grace’s Whole Beast Feast is cited as an example of high-end “bundled” meals in Baum+Whiteman’s predictions for food trends in 2013.

Grace Restaurant in Portland, Maine, has a “whole beast” lamb dinner for six to eight people at $65 a head, including harissa-spiked lamb tartare, cured lamb “bresaola,” rigatoni with smoked lamb shoulder, and leg of lamb stuffed with pine nuts and corn. Like many such feasts, it requires 72 hours’ notice.

Frosty’s Donuts Profile

| Posted in Profiles

The Portland Daily Sun has published an article about the new Frosty’s Donuts located in South Portland.

The selection isn’t huge nor is the dining room large. The drink menu is simple and straightforward and has no call for a seasoned barista to steam or spoon elaborately prepared hot beverages. The precision branding clings to the past on all signage and marketing materials, with a feel-good retro font proudly pointing out that Frosty’s Donuts has been providing Maine with famous, hand-cut donuts since 1965. Since then, the path that led to the recent opening of the third Frosty’s Donuts just over the bridge in South Portland is made up of the stuff we Mainer’s love.

Cousins Maine Lobster

| Posted in Profiles

Mainebiz has published a report on Cousins Maine Lobster, a West Coast lobster food truck run by Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac who hail from Cape Elizabeth. The cousins recently appeared on the ABC venture capital TV show Shark Tank and were successful in getting financed by Barbara Corcoran.

To that end, the duo appeared last week on the ABC reality show “Shark Tank,” where entrepreneurs pitch their business and seek capital from a board of seasoned and well-heeled investors, including the likes of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and real estate magnate Barbara Corcoran.

Tselikis and Lomac’s long-term plans include a food truck in Portland.

With strong roots in Portland, Tselikis says he and Lomac have talked about expanding back to their home turf, but not in the near future.

“It’s a saturated market, which is why we didn’t start here, so it’s not on the 2013 schedule, but you’ve got to be where you came from eventually,” says Tselikis.

 

Harvest on the Harbor

| Posted in Events

Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes an overview of some of the key activities taking place at Harvest on the Harbor this week.

I am happily anticipating Harvest on the Harbor this week, Oct. 24-27, a celebration of food with sweeping views of Casco Bay and an array of food and wine events and tasting opportunities. I am especially eager for Top of the Crop on Thursday, Oct. 25, when four outstanding Maine chefs will vie for Maine’s Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant. The fab four were selected based on their farm-to-table philosophy, relationship with local farms, and how well their restaurant menus reflect the farm-to-table movement year-round — not an easy task. The event will host a diverse international crowd with attendees from 48 states and the Netherlands, UK and Canada.

Review of Bard Coffee

| Posted in Reviews

Serious Eats has published a review of Bard Coffee.

The baristas on staff were more than happy to geek out with me about brewing styles (“We live for this stuff, this is what we do.”), and are committed, enthusiastic professionals. Bard proudly hosts monthly latte-art competitions to benefit Coffee Kids, and is one of a few small-but-mighty coffee companies encouraging improvements in the local bean scene by leaps and bounds. Despite (or perhaps because of?) its cafe being directly across the street from a Starbucks, Bard has become a community staple in Portland’s historic district—a testament to the coffee as well as to the people behind it.

This Week’s Events: Taste Memory Launch, Harvest on the Harbor, Latte Art Competition, Milbrandt Vineyards Dinner

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — Bar Lola is holding a wine dinner featuring Milbrandt Vineyards, and Devenish Wines is holding an wine tasting at LFK focused on organic wines from France.

Wednesday — a launch party for David Buchanan’s book Taste, Memory is taking place at SPACE, it’s the first day of Harvest on the Harbor, both Rosemont and Old Port Wine Merchants are having wine tastings, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — the monthly Latte Art Competition is taking place at Bard Coffee and both the Public Market House and Aurora Provisions are holding wine tastings.

Friday — the annual Caviar Dinner is taking place at the Portland Harbor Hotel, Coffee by Design is running tours of their roastery on Washington Ave, there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont on Brighton, and both BiBo’s Madd Apple Cafe and Vignola/Cinque Terre are holding wine dinners.

Saturday — 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.