Cobblestones is now open for business. They’re serving a selection of soups, salads and sandwiches from the former Henry VIII’s space in Monument Square.
Two other new additions to the Food Map are Ariel’s Hummus and Bengi’s Port City Dogs. Ariel’s makes a weekly appearance on Tuesdays at the Public Market House and Benji’s is a food cart that today is operating on Commercial Street.
Today’s Press Herald includes a profile of two Scarborough River oyster farmers,
[Nate] Perry and Abigail Carroll, another fledgling farmer, are among the first to try oyster aquaculture in the Scarborough River. The location, with its tidal currents and particular nutrients, creates oysters that they try to describe with such adjectives as briny, sweet, creamy and grassy.
“That’s what an oyster is — it’s the taste of the sea where it came from,” Perry said.
and a reprise of the recent activities in Willard Square that led to a 3-month building moratorium and two entrepreneurs reevaluating their plans to open a market in the Square.
Encouraged by the city’s planning office and zoning that calls for up to six more businesses at Willard Square, the partners envisioned a small market that would be built next to Perry’s two-story apartment house.
What they didn’t foresee was the opposition.
Monday — Memorial Day.
Wednesday — there will be a wine tasting at the Old Port Wine Merchants, Grace is holding their monthly wine tasting event, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.
Thursday — The Cheese Iron is teaching a class on Spring & Summer cheeses.
Friday — Maine Foodie Tours is running an island progressive dinner, there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli and First Friday Art Walk is taking place so make your reservation soon.
Saturday — Local Sprouts is celebrating their 1-year anniversary, LeRoux Kitchen is holding a wine tasting, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.
Sunday — it’s Maine Lemonade Day and kids across the state will be stting up their lemonade stands, Joe Ricchio is hosting Blood into Wine a wine dinner and movie screening at One Longfellow Square.
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.
Portland Food Coma has posted the second half of his list of the 100 Things a Customer Should Never Do.
74.
Upon receipt of the “black” coffee you ordered, request cream and sugar. Upon receipt of the cream, insist that you wanted milk.
Memorial Day weekend mark’s the cultural divide between Spring and Summer. Weather permitting it’s also the start of the outdoor dining season. I’ve been dusting off the PFM Outdoor Drinking and Dining List. Please take a look and let me know what new spots I’m missing.
Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes! has published a review of Aurora Provisions.
I am so glad that my tipster let me know they had cupcakes there that day, since it really was the best basic cupcake I have had in a while. The butter cream frosting was really light and not too sweet. The flavor for the frosting was spot on to complement the chocolate cupcake. The sugar sprinkles gave it a fantastic crunch and obvious visual appeal…
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram reports on the recent uptick in food prices.
After two years of the lowest food inflation rates since the 1960s, food prices are headed up again. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that nationally, overall food prices jumped 3.9 percent from April 2010 to last month.
Coffee prices have soared nearly 14 percent in the past year. Beef and pork prices shot up 10.4 percent. Dairy prices are up 6.3 percent, eggs up 4.8 percent and fresh vegetables up 4.5 percent.
The Exchange Street Cafe is now open. The Petrucci family is serving a menu of economically priced sandwiches, salads and subs. They plan on adding pasta dinners and BBQ dinners to the menu soon.
Saveur magazine has included DennyMike’s Sweet ‘n Spicey BBQ sauce in their list of “14 Sauces We Can’t Live Without” (page 123 of the June/July issue).
After a few day’s hiatus, Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Roll has reopened on Exchange Street with a new name and concept. The restaurant is now known as The Thirsty Pig. There are a few carry overs from the prior menu including the eponymous lobster roll.