The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Tandoor on Forest Ave.
The beef version is a simple classic — the bread barely smeared with tahini and hummus, and stuffed with big chunks of tender meat, dark lettuce, tomato, and onion. The chicken shawarma has more complex seasonings, with the onions diced more finely, plenty of garlic, and a hint of something yogurty. A kabob sandwich fills the bread with dark patties of generously herbed ground beef.
The new issue of Imbibe magazine high fives two Portland establishments:
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about Dan Agro, an expert in foraging for edible and medicinal mushrooms,
After we make our way to the base of the birch tree, we gaze high above our heads at two dark, misshapen knots protruding from either side of the white bark. We all ponder the same question: is the growth the sought-after medicinal mushroom known as chaga or is it a wooden burl?
and an article on the wine cellar dining rooms at Caiola’s and the White Barn Inn.
Just last week, Caiola’s hosted a wedding in the cellar. It’s also been used for business meetings, birthday celebrations, marriage proposals, and lots of rehearsal dinners. “With the music going,” Vaccaro said, “it’s pretty romantic.”
Eater Maine is publishing a series this week which asks Maine bloggers and food writers about their favorite servers, bartenders, or other front of house staff. The series kicked off on Tuesday with contributions from Kate McCarty, author of The Blueberry Files, and Shonna Milliken Humphrey, a restaurant critic for the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Map & Menu has published a review of Otto Pizza.
You can order any of Otto’s flavors as entire pizzas, but one of the coolest parts of Otto is the ability to grab a few of their extra large slices and mix combinations. Like any pizza joint, Otto offers the standard pepperoni or cheese (and mighty fine versions of both), but where they truly excel is in the unique flavor combinations of pizzas like the bacon, mashed potato, and scallion (where the potato is the base), the four cheese tortellini and fontina, or the butternut squash, cranberry, and ricotta.
Photo Credit: Map & Menu
The new issue of Portland magazine interviewed chef/owner Krista Kern Desjarlais and other Maine chefs about their use of foie gras now that California has banned the ingredient.
We’re not saying Maine’s trendy restaurants are spiking the ball, but Bresca serves a foie gras ice-cream sandwich [$10]. Says chef Krista Kern Desjarlais, 2012 James Beard award nominee for Best Chef Northeast: “Our variation is foie gras ice-cream with a toasted almond chocolate torte and pan-seared apricots with warm caramel sauce.”
The Blue Hour has published a very nice set of photos taken at Tandem Coffee Roasters.
Sharon Kitchens from Delicious Musings with the help from the Maine Department of Tourism has arranged for a set of ‘from away’ bloggers to go for a week long culinary tour in Maine. The bloggers participating in the program are:
I had the pleasure of joining them last night for a 12-course kick-off feast at El Rayo (see photos by Use Real Butter). The meal featured Nonesuch Oysters and goat from Ten Apple Farm. Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway, owners of Ten Apple Farm, and Abigail Carroll from Nonesuch were on-hand to join in the meal and provide background on their respective operations.
Today the bloggers are visiting GMRI, The Well, Jordan’s Farm, Broadturn Farm, and Maine Mead Works capped off by a dinner at Fore Street. Tomorrow morning after a fueling up with some baked good from Standard they will travel to the Midcoast and then out on a 3-day trip sailing trip.
It sounds like a really fun adventure and I look forward to reading all about it on each of their blogs in the near future.
Photo Credit: Sharon Kitchens
Schulte & Herr, Scratch Baking, Novare Res and Catch a Piece of Maine were all featured in an article about Portland on Cool Hunting.
At the same time, the harbor brings in some of the best seafood in the world, and alongside the scenic seaside and tucked away among the tourist traps are plenty of crackerjack restaurants, sandwich shops, bakeries and watering holes steeped in the local, unassuming character of Maine. Here, a handful of my favorite food and drink spots from four years as a local and frequent trips back to check out what’s new.
The Maine Culinary Podcast has posted an audio interview with Dean’s Sweets.