This Week’s Events: Wine Tastings, Winter Market, New Year’s Eve

| Posted in Events

Wednesday — a wine tasting is taking place at RSVP.

Thursday — Havana South is holding their monthly wine night event, and there will be a wine tasting at Browne Trading.

Friday — there will be wine tastings at Rosemont on Brighton and at Aurora Provisions.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

New Year’s Eve — restaurants have started announcing their plans for New Year’s Eve. Here are the ones I’ve heard about so far. Oh and by the way, everyone and their cousin wants to go out on New Year’s Eve. Early reservations are ESSENTIAL.

  • Back Bay Grill, $85 4-course dinner
  • Bar Lola, $55 7-course dinner
  • Bibo’s Madd Apple Cafe, $45 3-course dinner, there are 5-6 options to choose from for each course
  • Bresca, $85 5-course traditional Hong Kong New Years menu on both December 30th and 31st
  • David’s, will be open and serving the regular menu plus some specials
  • David’s 388, your choice of 2 different prix fixe options
  • Figa, $85 4-course dinner with complimentary glass of champagne
  • Five Fifty-Five, $60 3-course dinner in the bar, $90 5-course dinner in the restaurant
  • Grace, $70 5-course menu
  • Havana South, $55 dinner with optional wine pairings
  • Local 188, prix fixe dinner, call for details
  • Local Sprouts is holding a New Year’s Eve Bash serving their standard menu
  • Old Port Sea Grill will be open serving their usual menu
  • Pai Men Miyake, $35 3-course dinner with your choice of appetizer, ramen and dessert
  • Petite Jacqueline, $65 4-course dinner
  • Ribollita will be open offering there standard menu plus some specials
  • Sea Glass, $65 4-course menu
  • Sea Grass Bistro, $65 4-course dinner
  • Sonny’s, prix fixe dinner, call for details
  • The Salt Exchange, $65 4-course dinner with glass of sparkling wine or cider
  • Zapoteca, $60 5-course dinner with optional wine pairings
  • Last year these restaurants also had New Year’s Eve dinners. I haven’t seen an announcement from them yet but it’s a fairly safe bet that they will have a NYE dinner options this year too so give them a call: Bull Feeney’s, Cinque Terre, DiMillo’s, El Rayo, Events on Broadway, Fore Street, Frog & Turtle, Paciarino, Season’s Grille, The Farmer’s Table, The Grill Room, Vignola, Walter’s and Zackery’s.

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.

Review of Bresca

| Posted in Reviews

From Away has published a review of Bresca.

Bresca wasn’t one of the first restaurants we tried in Portland, primarily due to its good reputation; we knew that it would always be there, and that we’d have plenty of time to circle around and get to it eventually. You should not make that mistake. Go, now, for the panna cotta, one of the single finest dishes I have yet tasted in Portland; it’s reason enough to get you in the door. We feel foolish for having waited so long, moronic for having wasted so, so many low-expectation dinners in restaurants that weren’t Bresca. It may be the only restaurant you need. We knew dinner there would be a special event; what we didn’t expect was that James Beard award-nominated chef Krista Kern Desjarlais would create one of our most memorable dining experiences to date, offering imaginative, exquisitely-prepared, expertly-balanced dishes that would tease us, delight us, and set an entirely new standard for what a meal out should be.

Review of Flask

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine magazine blog has published a review of Flask.

The “starter course” is a vegetarian chickpea soup simmered with warm Indian spices and fire roasted tomatoes. Nolette makes all of her stocks from scratch, and as I dig in I find that the grilled garlic butter pita on the side is a better method of delivery than a spoon, but force myself to use a bit of self-control, seeing a lot of food in my future.

Interview with the Lindgrens

| Posted in People

Find. Eat. Drink. has published an interview with Don and Samantha Lindgren, owners of Rabelais.

Q. What are your thoughts on the “There’s an App For That” mentality towards technology melding with the book world?
A. Don: We’re not Luddites, we own iPhones and an iPad. I frequently look at electronic books online – mostly from academic sources for early texts. But I think the rush for publishers, the food media and much of the public, to expect an app with every book release is just stupid. I read an interview with the authors of the new Eleven Madison Park cookbook, which I think is a terrific book, but the interviewer lost sight of the great new book in front of herself, and kept asking about the possibility of future apps. It’s like sitting down with Scorsese and asking when the video game is coming out.

Three Sons Eviction

| Posted in General News

This week’s Forecaster reports that Three Sons Fish & Lobster has received an eviction notice from their landlord Great Maine Wharf LLC.

Last month, Three Sons, Chase Leavitt & Co. and Fresh Atlantic were served with eviction notices by their landlord, Great Maine Wharf LLC.

The letter said, “For safety reasons, you must vacate the building where your business is located, effective immediately.”

Review of Moran’s Market

| Posted in Reviews, Beer

The Press Herald has published a review of Moran’s Market.

Here’s another way to judge a market: If it prices food by the pound instead by some predetermined serving size, you know you can bulk up. At Moran’s, the hot bar costs $4.75 per pound. I loaded up a pound-and-a-quarter of some of the best home-cooked food you can find for this price anywhere in Portland.

Today’s paper also includes the latest edition of the What Ales You beer column.

Review of Back Bay Grill

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has published a review of the Back Bay Grill.

But I’m intrigued by another first course offering: pork rillettes. This pate-like dish is rich with spices and pork fat, an utterly luxurious creation that bespeaks flavor. The accompanying house-cured pepperone lay like shingles on a pristine plank along with a round of fruit mostarda, alive with mustard syrup  that also complements strips of pancetta — all of which is a perfect swathe for the crisp wands of rosemary crostini.

Interview with Chef Desjarlais on Bresca Day

| Posted in People

Chubby Werewolf has published an interview with Krista Kern Desjarlais about the new lunch service she’s launching at Bresca.

Despite a very busy schedule, Chef Desjarlais graciously agreed to sit down with me in advance of the launch of Bresca Day and answer some questions. Over the course of a very enjoyable hour or so, we discussed Bresca’s roots, the “celebrity chef” culture so pervasive on television these days and the ability of your average toddler to out-demolish even the most crazed high-on-bath-salts lunatic. Somewhere along the way, we also managed to talk about Bresca Day. I can neither confirm nor deny rumors that several minutes of the interview may have been spent by a teary-eyed Yours Truly, begging for a lunchtime version of those braised beef cheeks. But here’s what I can tell you…

According to the interview lunch service at Bresca will 11-2 and will initially be offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Review of Schulte & Herr

| Posted in Reviews

Eat Here. Go There. has published a review of Schulte & Herr.

Mark raved about his beef sandwich and after being afforded just one small taste I realized why. It was absolutely the best roast beef I have ever put in my mouth. The bun was spread with beautiful brown whole grain mustard and served with a side of horseradish. The mixture of the mustard and horseradish was incredible. It was a splendid choice on his part and I was slightly jealous of how amazing it was.

Fort Williams Liquor Laws & Winter Markets

| Posted in General News

Today’s Press Herald includes an article on the growing number of winter farmers markets in Southern Maine,

“Probably the busiest market in the state right now is Brunswick, and Portland’s not far behind,” said Lauren Pignatello, who runs the Swallowtail Farm micro-dairy in Coopers Mills, and helped launch both the Brunswick and Portland winter markets.

and a report that Cape Elizabeth may repeal the ban on alcohol in Fort Williams Park. If all goes well perhaps we’ll be able to enjoy a glass of pinot grigio next Summer with a lobster roll from the Bite into Maine food truck.