NYT: 36 Hours in Portland, Maine

| Posted in Reviews

A New York Times travel article plugs several of our city’s restaurants, bars and markets: Bayside Bowl, Caiola’s, El Rayo, Farmer’s Table, Grace, Kamasouptra, Local Sprouts, Maine Mead Works, Novare Res, Peanut Butter and Jelly Time, Rosemont Market, Scratch Baking and Sonny’s.

PORTLAND, Me., is known for three L’s: lobster, lighthouses and L. L. Bean (O.K., make that four L’s). Here’s another: local. In recent years, this city on the coast of Maine has welcomed a wave of locavore restaurants, urban farms and galleries that feature local artists. Abandoned brick warehouses are being repurposed as eco-friendly boutiques. In the main square, a 19th-century building has been refashioned into a farmers’ market. And everywhere you look, this once-sleepy industrial town is showing signs of rejuvenation — usually by keeping things local.

For commentary on the piece from the New York Times read the article that appeared in the Portland Daily Sun.

Fed Official at Boyd Street Urban Farm

| Posted in General News

According to a report from the Munjoy Hill News,

Yesterday afternoon Under Secretary Kevin W. Concannon cut a ribbon at the Boyd Street Urban Farm at Kennedy Park.  His appearance here in Portland which began with a press conference at the city hall in the morning, was part of a visit to farmers’ markets all over Maine.  “We are encouraging farmers’ markets all over to use a Double Voucher,” he said holding up a blue plastic card – like a credit card.

Under Construction: Rosemont

| Posted in Under Construction

The Portland Phoenix has published an article about the new Rosemont Market retail space that’s under construction on Brighton Ave.

In September, that will change. Rosemont is expanding its bakery by opening a new retail store just across the street from its non-peninsula location, at the corner of Brighton Avenue and Colonial Road. The current (soon-to-be former) retail location will be dedicated to the bakery, doubling the size of its existing work area.

French Press & Pumkinhead

| Posted in Beer, Closings

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on the closing of The French Press Eatery (see earlier news here)

James Tranchemontagne, a co-owner, said he ran out of money to keep the business going. The expansion cost an estimated $130,000.

“We have known for the last two months that it was touch and go,” he said. “It’s a wicked bummer. Food is my life. It’s everything you put your heart and soul into. For it to fail it’s hard.”

and a What Ales You article on Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale,

The spices immediately bring pumpkin pie to mind, although I don’t taste any actual pumpkin. There is a slightly sour aftertaste. It is a golden color, without much of a head. Although I like pumpkin pie, I don’t like the Pumpkinhead — mostly because, to me, that malt and hops flavors don’t survive the spices.

For additional reporting on the closure of The French Press Eatery see this article in the American Journal.

French Press & Pumkinhead

| Posted in Beer, Closings

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on the closing of The French Press Eatery (see earlier news here)

James Tranchemontagne, a co-owner, said he ran out of money to keep the business going. The expansion cost an estimated $130,000.

“We have known for the last two months that it was touch and go,” he said. “It’s a wicked bummer. Food is my life. It’s everything you put your heart and soul into. For it to fail it’s hard.”

and a What Ales You article on Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale,

The spices immediately bring pumpkin pie to mind, although I don’t taste any actual pumpkin. There is a slightly sour aftertaste. It is a golden color, without much of a head. Although I like pumpkin pie, I don’t like the Pumpkinhead — mostly because, to me, that malt and hops flavors don’t survive the spices.

For additional reporting on the closure of The French Press Eatery see this article in the American Journal.

Review of Ohno! Cafe

| Posted in Reviews

From Away has published a lunch review of Ohno! Cafe.

The food was good: simple, homey and filling. The shop/restaurant is adorable. The guy who took my order sang to himself while filling a giant grinder with coffee beans, and the grill guy was quiet and pleasantly Mobyish, albeit with fewer qualms about meat. A few other customers rang in an out, I read the Phoenix and assorted flyers posted, and felt at home right away at the Oh No Cafe.

John Dennison, The Interview

| Posted in People

Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun included an interview with John Dennison, a longtime member of the Portland food community and creator of Portland Cooks.

In 2004 Dennison began blogging about Portland food on the international culinary site eGullet,( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/73102-eg-foodblog-johnnyd/) pushing Portland’s potential as a town on the edge of great culinary things. In some weeks, he did as many as 200 posts, informing the avid food community that reads eGullet about the seafood, local produce and hard-working chefs that Portland can rightly boast.