JP’s Bistro, an Italian restaurant that’s in the space formerly occupied by Rachel’s, is now open.
December Bollard
The December issue of The Bollard provides a survey of the city’s African markets,
Customers like Ali are the reason many African markets have long consisted of little more than a freezer, a band saw, sacks of grain piled on the floor and a few large cans of baby formula. But that is changing. The newly opened Peace Food Market on Cumberland Avenue is bringing camel meat back to town (it tastes like beef), and several other markets have recently been renovated and now offer expanded food sections.
and a new installment of John Myers Land of the Forgotten Cocktails series where you will learn about ‘nognoscenti, ‘nog-heads and all things eggnog.
A tradition of my own making — one I’ve actually stuck to these last few years — is to treat the onset of Thanksgiving as Eggnog Season. From Thanksgiving Eve through New Year’s Day there’s usually a batch in the refrigerator or the fixin’s to whip one up.
Saigon Open for Business
Saigon Restaurant is open for business. The restaurant is located in the space formerly occupied by Acropolis on Forest Ave. The draft menu they submitted as part of their liquor license application showed a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese items on the menu.
East End Protest
The USM Free Press has a report on a protest that took place outside The Front Room last Friday.
Haven's Candy Canes
Head over to Westbrook Diarist to see some TV news footage on last week’s candy cane making event at Haven’s.
This Week's Events
Monday—a charcuterie tasting is being held at Bonobo, the Maine Ambassadors of Food and Drink are running the weekly Foodie Trivia Contest at Bull Feeney’s, and Stephen Lanzalotta is teaching a cooking class.
Tuesday—Bar Lola is holding a Pinot Noir wine dinner.
Wednesday—the wines of Starlane Vineyards are being featured at a wine dinner at Evangeline.
Thursday—Gritty’s is launching Red Claws Ale, the official beer of Portland’s D-league NBA team, and staff from Redhook will be at The Great Lost Bear for the bar’s weekly brewery showcase.
Saturday—wine tasting are taking place at Old Port Wine Merchants and Black Cherry Provisions.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
If you are holding a local area food event this week that’s not already listed, publicize it by adding it as a comment using the link below.
A Full House in Site?
Norm Jabar recently launched a set of websites for his three restaurants, Norm’s Bar & Grill, Norm’s East End Grill and the Downtown Lounge. Additionally, K Horton has just relaunched the site for her cheese shop and market in the Public Market House. These and many other additions continue to flesh out the collective online presence for the restaurants, bars and other food vendors in town. However, some of the businesses that are part of the local food economy don’t have a site yet.
Here’s a partial list:
- Asmara
- Blue Spoon
- Bar of Chocolate Cafe
- Greek Corner
- Federal Spice
- Happy Teriyaki
- Bogusha’s
- Susan’s Fish and Chips
- Miyake
- Yosaku
- King of the Roll
- Shima
- The Wine Bar
- 158 Pickett St Cafe
- Artemisia
- Market Street Eats
- Rosie’s
- Ruski’s
- Arabica
- Maine Squeeze
- and the list goes on
Plenty of potential customers for some enterprising web designers to work with 2010 . . .
Pineland Cheese & Beef
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a feature article on Pineland Farm’s cheese making and beef operations.
The farm’s beef cattle operation and its cheese-making business are poised to turn a profit this year, the foundation says. Demand for locally produced food is contributing to the farm’s success, along with economies of scale, luck and good timing.
The two businesses – Pineland Farms Cheese and Pineland Farms Natural Meats Inc. – are both putting Maine on the map as a major producer of natural food products.
Review of The Good Egg
Appetite Portland has published a review of The Good Egg. She writes that The Good Egg was “was simply okay” but tempers with “to be fair, it was just one visit. Maybe I should have tried those Eggs from Hell. Perhaps the multi-grain pancakes are totally mind-blowing. I’ll give it another try — just not all that soon.”
Ready Bros Negotiating Maine State Pier Space
According to an article in today’s Press Herald Ready Lobster Co is in the process of inking a deal with the city to lease part of the Maine State Pier for their wholesale lobster business.
The council will decide Monday whether to lease a portion of the large shed at the end of the city-owned pier to Ready Seafood Co. for $100,000 a year.
Although the 3,000-square-foot tank might be the closest thing to an aquarium that Portland ever sees, the operation would be strictly industrial.
The company, now located behind Becky’s Diner on Hobson’s Wharf, would move to the Maine State Pier and use the new facility for wholesaling, packaging, shipping and processing.