There’s a sign in the window of the store front at 349 Cumberland Avenue announcing “Three Monkeys World Cafe Coming Soon!”. If that address sounds familiar, it’s because Huong Vietnamese used to be located there. With the addition of Three Monkeys there are now 16 entries on the Under Construction list.
This Week's Events
There are several events taking place tonight: Local Sprouts Cafe is organizing a public walk through of their new space followed by a meal and a collaborative design session to get the community’s ideas for their cafe, Master Preserver Beth Richardson is teaching a class on canning at Wolf Neck Farm, Stephen Lanzalotta’s weekly Piatto per Tutti cooking class, and the weekly Food and Drink Trivia Contest at Bull Feeney’s. On Tuesday, the next Wine Flight 5k Training Run is taking place, the destination is Silly’s. There are wine tastings scheduled on Thursday at Old Port Wine Merchants, on Friday at the Munjoy Rosemont and on Saturday at Kitchen and Cork. The Salt Exchange is running their weekly wine and canapes event on Wednesday. Portland’s weekly Farmers’ Markets are being held in Monument Square on Wednesday and at Deering Oaks Park on Saturday. Friday through Sunday MOFGA’s annual celebration of all things sustainable/local/organic, the Common Ground Fair, is taking place in Unity. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
I'd Like a Reservation for 4 Please
People who saw Rabelais included in the list of restaurants in the recent New York Times article about Portland have been calling the bookstore for dinner reservations.
One of the unforeseen results of the New York Times piece has been the repeated calls we have been getting for reservations. We are included in the listing of “Where to eat in a city of abundance”, in the context of all those restaurants. So folks eager to eat at some of Portland’s finest have been calling our number to reserve a table. The desperation in some of their voices has led us to believe that our good friends also mentioned in the story have been booked solid.
Review of The Salt Exchange
The Salt Exchange received 3 stars from this week’s Taste & Tell column in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
The small plates favored by the Salt Exchange delight when they are delightful, but my meal was composed of hits and misses. Try the fish and the lamb, and enjoy the good wine.
Review of The Corner Room
Food for Thought has published a review of The Corner Room.
What I also like about the Corner Room is there’s a farily large list of nightly specials beyond the set printed menu. The wine list is also excellent, with plenty of choices by the glass or carafe. If there’ s any failing I think the desserts are not as jazzy as the rest of the menu.
Expansion: Caiola's
Caiola’s is putting an addition to their building at 58 Pine St. The plan is to add a 26-seat function room on to the back of the building.
Under Construction: Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Lobster Roll
Today’s Portland Daily Sun is reporting that Linda Bean will be opening a restaurant in the space currently occupied by JavaNet at 37 Exchange Street.
Now, with a fresh lease in hand, Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Roll & Dock Lobster will open at 37 Exchange St., the current home of Java Net Cafe. Bean has purchased a long-term lease at the location and will convert the space from a coffeeshop to a takeout and sitdown restaurant that features Maine lobster, Schneider said Thursday.
“This will be our flagship location, and we may go into franchising,” Schneider said.
Impact
The Press Herald has followed up with some of those mentioned in this week’s New York Times article on Portland food to see what the impact of the “second course of food glory” has had on their businesses.
Potocki made three dozen extra bagels Thursday in anticipation of a rush. He still sold out of some items on his menu by 2 p.m., which is unprecedented for him. He said he was seeing a lot of new customers from other suburbs, such as Falmouth and Cumberland.
“It’s been pretty major,” Potocki said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, to tell you the truth.”
Maine Beer Co.
Maine Beer Company has been added to the Food Map. The brewery evolved out of the owner’s own home brew experiments and is still a very small operation. I recently enjoyed a bottle of their Spring Peeper Ale, the bottle was from batch #2 and batch #3 is now showing up on store shelves. They’re located out on Portland’s Brewery Row on Industrial near Allagash, Casco and Geary’s. Tours are by appointment only.
A Look Back
The Portland Phoenix has published a brief look back at what changes the past decade has brought to Portland’s restaurant landscape.
Just 10 years ago, when there were a handful of “foodie” enclaves, no one could have imagined the proliferation to come. Sam Hayward and Rob Evans would each take home the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northeast. The Commissary and the Portland Public Market would come and go, but more would come: Vignola, 555, Cinque Terre, Hugo’s, Salt Exchange, Grace, Farmer’s Table, Bar Lola, Caiola’s, Blue Spoon, Local 188, Evangeline, Bresca, Miyake .