The Portland Press Herald has published a review of Shanghai Tokyo.
Shanghai Tokyo has three personalities — one Chinese menu, one Japanese menu and a Thai menu. It would certainly take more than one visit to determine whether a diner is a good match for a place that has 288 items on its combined lunch and dinner menus. (Yes, I counted them.) We zeroed in on the lunch menu, which is much more manageable on its own.
Josh Christie profiles Novare Res and Ebeneezer’s in part 8 of his series on The Beer of Maine.
Maine is lucky enough to have two beer geek meccas known ’round the land. When beer websites, magazines, and periodicals list the best beer bars in the country, you can rest assured that Ebenezer’s, Novare Res, or both will pop up. Both combine the best of British pubs, German beer gardens and Belgian cafes. Good food? Heck yes. Great atmosphere? You bet.
And the beer? The beer?! Out of this world.
John Golden gives a shout out to Back Bay Grill, Caiola’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Grace, Walter’s among others as having some his favorite restaurant bars to dine at.
The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald reports that as vegan diets are becoming more popular, Portland restaurants are responding to the need by adding more vegan options to their menus.
When the swanky Grace Restaurant opened almost two years ago in Portland, its menu was populated by meat and seafood-based entrees. But six months ago, the popular eatery did something unusual in Portland’s top-tier restaurant scene: It added a vegan entree to its regular menu.
“Why we have the dish started with demand,” general manager Kate Tozier said. “We saw more and more people requesting vegan.”
In the latest entry on Immigrant Kitchens Lindsay Sterling learns how to make Sudanese small potatoes from John Yanga (read the recipe and see the photos).
John Yanga’s love for small potatoes doesn’t come from some gourmet trend in glossy magazine. It’s just the way his favorite dish was done when he was growing up in a grass roofed, mud-hut in a village in Southern Sudan. The story of how he made it from there to here, cooking batatis all the way, really inspires me. If his life were a fable, the moral would be: the world is horrible and chaotic, yeah, but not too much so for you to bring some good.
Lindsay Sterling is teaching a cooking class on April 8 in Freeport. On the menu is Miso Soup and Oyakodon. For more information visit www.immigrantkitchens.com.
Tomorrow is opening day at Hadlock Field and the Portland Daily Sun has published part 3 of their series on the food and food service staff at the Sea Dogs home stadium,
The Portland Sea Dogs are intensely proud of their local food and beer vendor relationships. The mutually beneficial support of Binga’s Winga’s (owner Alec Altman and former partner JD Way were aboard from day one when Binga’s started the on-going tradition of feeding both teams after home games), Greg Shane from Shane’s of Maine, former stand hawker Luke Livingston of Baxter Beer, Oakhurst Dairy, Pineland Farms, and others all add to the philosophy the team tries to embody.
Iacuessa states, “It’s vital to us to support the community and buy as locally as possible. It’s the right thing to do and we’re always looking for ways to tie in local vendors.”
Today’s Press Herald also includes a look at the food options at Hadlock Field,
Along with the usual steak-and-cheese sandwiches, pizza, fries, popcorn, fried dough and Sea Dogs Biscuits, you’ll find better-tasting burgers that are now made from Pineland Meats. Drivas said the staff was impressed by how much better the local meat was compared with the generic frozen patties they usually serve at Hadlock. (The Pineland burgers are actually processed in Massachusetts, then shipped back up to Maine.)
“We tried them and fell in love with them,” Drivas said.
Mainebiz has published a report on the Exchange Street Cafe, an Italian restaurant which is under construction at 7 Exchange Street.
Richard Petrucci says he and his co-owners are investing a little more than $60,000 to refurbish the Exchange Street location, which is sandwiched between City Beverage and retail shop Toko Indo. They plan to open the restaurant sometime in April for lunch, dinner and late-night meals.
The Blueberry Files has published a review of The Porthole.
The Porthole can be warm and cozy or cool and happening, depending on the time of year. It’s the kind of place where you can spot your friends, mingle with tourists and the business happy hour crowd, and get your $5.99 All-You-Can-Eat Fish and Chips at lunch on Fridays.
Monday’s Press Herald reports on the 25th Annual Chocolate Lovers Fling. The article includes a full list of award winners.
Then again, Kyle Pouliot, 26, of Scarborough confessed a hankering for the messy chocolate burrito from Federal Jack’s brew pub. High marks also went to “the raspberry thing” from Southern Maine Community College and the Oreo truffle from York County Community College.
The founder of Dyer’s Variety on Portland Street, Frederick P. Dyer, passed away on Saturday at the age of 90.
“He was great at making Italian sandwiches. He was know for his Italians and his meatballs,” Kaplan said. “Back then, they sold a sandwich for 50 cents. He would spend seven days a week in that store.”