Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats

| Posted in People

The Locavore column in Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun is about Angela Fagin and her company Angela Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats.

Growing up in Nanjing, Angela used to eat dumplings made with whole wheat flour. It’s what her mother could afford; “dark flour” was much cheaper and not rationed like refined white flour. Naturally when her mother came to visit her at her new home in Maine, she was astonished that the dumplings that were the core of her daughter’s successful American business were not only made of whole wheat but that they sold at a premium because of it.

Also this week from the Sun is a continuation of Natalie Ladd’s reporting on the food stands at Hadlock Field.

A man of action and few words, he is surprised that people are remotely interested in what goes on behind the rolling metal gate that separates Stand D from the general concourse where fans roam; seeing and smelling their food and beverage options. With eight short days left until the first ceremonial pitch is tossed, the three-man, in-house, professional food service team is as busy as they will be all season.

A Trip Down Food Memory Lane

| Posted in History

Pepperclub co-owner Eddie Fitzpatrick takes a walk down food memory lane for a retrospective article on the 25th anniversary of Portland magazine.

Twenty-five years ago, a new wave of restaurants in Portland dazzled diners and earned raves from The Atlantic and New England Monthly. Among them: Swan Dive, Alberta’s, L’Antibes, Brattle Street, The Vinyard, and 34 Exchange. At the time, Eddie Fitzpatrick was editor of the Maine Sunday Telegram. Today, he co-owns Pepperclub…

In the later part of the article Fitzpatrick also offers his perspective on the last few years of expansion in the restaurant industry in Portland.

A second article later in the magazine also provides another point of view on Portland restaurant past and present.

Back in the ’80’s, Portland had “just about a dozen feature restaurants,” radiating from the restored brick wharehouses of the Old Port, recalls Dick Grotton, president and CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association…

The second article isn’t available online but the new issue of Portland magazine should be available at your local newsstand and you can read the article on page 84.

The Spiced Plate & Mystery of the Matzah

| Posted in Cooking

Lauren Montanaro Norster and her blog The Spiced Plate were profiled in today’s Press Herald,

Her blog, which launched in January, has a very specific focus – all the recipes and dishes Norster shares on the site are vegetarian, gluten-free, soy-free and ayurveda-inspired. The combination represents the way Norster and her husband, Andrew, eat every day in the spacious Portland apartment they share with cats Pepper and Basil.

also in today’s Food & Dining section is a feature story about matzah and the Mystery of the Matzah program taking place this weekend in South Portland,

Rosenberg and other members of Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland are inviting the public to learn about these rare heritage grains at a special weekend event called “The Mystery of Matzah.” It’s two days’ worth of study circles, and includes a Sunday workshop where participants will be able to actually bake some matzah made with organic flour from two ancient wheats, einkorn and emmer, in a wood-fired oven.

Review of Bayside Bowl

| Posted in Reviews

Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Bayside Bowl.

Bowling and drinking can work up quite an appetite, and Bayside Bowl has you covered. From small plates (coconut curry chicken bites, $7) to salads (grilled steak salad, $12) to dinner (“The Rachel” tempeh reuben, $11), you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a solid variety of good eats. There are always food specials on the chalk board behind the bar, so be sure to take a look. And if you need dessert to top off your evening, I have two words for you: Guinness float.

Under Construction: River House

| Posted in Under Construction, Uncategorized

Construction of the River House on York Street is well under way. The restaurant is being built at the former site of Popeye’s Ice House. The most detailed information available comes from a Mainebiz article published back in December,

At the same time, [Tod] Dana and [Alex] Fisher are teaming up with Cheryl Lewis and Noreen Kotts, El Rayo’s culinary team and the former owners of Aurora Provisions, for another venture. The four are converting what used to be Popeye’s Ice House into a new restaurant Dana describes as a “neighborhood bistro.” It’ll have 60 seats, and gets its name for its view of the Fore River. They hope to be open by late next summer.

Making Gelato & Maine Maple Sunday

| Posted in Events, People

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Maine Maple Sunday,

This year’s sap is also unusually high in sugar content, consistently averaging 4 percent instead of the normal 2 percent or 3 percent. At that level, Harris said he can produce a gallon of maple syrup with only 21½ gallons of sap instead of the usual 40. Last year’s warm winter and low sugar content required an average of 47 gallons.

anda Maine at Work column where reporter Ray Routhier works with Mariagrazia Zanardi from Gorgeous Gelato,

Zanardi’s talk of the gelato’s “molecular structure” struck me. When eating ice cream, or gelato, or other similarly sweet treats, I had never thought much about molecular structure.

But Zanardi does, almost constantly. She studied gelato-making at a university in Italy, then moved to Portland and opened Gorgeous Gelato on Fore Street in December, with her husband, Donato Giovine. Giovine had a packaging business in Milan, and Zanardi had been a Spanish teacher before deciding upon gelato-making as a second career.

For some additional photos of Maine Maple Sunday go to Sweeter Salt.