June 1st Set for Restaurants to Re-Open

| Posted in General News

Governor Mills has unveiled her phased approach to re-opening the Maine economy. On point for the food community are stages 2 and 3:

  • Stage 2 begins on June 1st. It allows for the re-opening of restaurants and for gathering of up to 50 people.
  • Stage 3 begins on July 1st and anticipates the re-opening of bars.

I’m counting down the days—all 33 of them—until I can go to a Portland restaurant for a meal. In the meantime some takeout and a haircut (barbers and salons get the green light in stage 1) will fill the gap.

JBF Nominee List Goes Live May 4th

| Posted in Reviews

The list of final nominees for this year’s James Beard Foundation awards had been set to be released March 25th but the announcement was delayed due to the pandemic. Now the Beard Foundation now plans to release the nominee list on Monday on May 4th at 4 pm.

To refresh your memory, here’s a link to the 2020 list of JBF award semifinalists from Maine which was published in February.

Cocktails To Go

| Posted in Distilling & Cocktails

State regulations regarding bars and restaurant selling food and drinks to go have been revised to allow for takeout cocktails effective immediately.

To participate in the new program establishments have to comply with some new guidelines which include:

  1. Cocktails must be part of a food order
  2. Drinks can’t be larger than 4.5 ounces of spirits
  3. Cocktails must be in a “tamper evident container”
  4. The containers have to be labelled  with the name of establishment with date and time of production and the contents of cocktail including the proof the spirits used.

Review of Elsmere BBQ

| Posted in General

The Press Herald has reviewed Elsmere BBQ.

I was happy to see that the online menu still had all of my family’s favorites. I had the pit-smoked brisket sandwich with pickled onions on a bun for $13. Plus, I got coleslaw on the sandwich for just 50 cents and a side of mac and cheese for $1 more. My wife got the Elsmere Tornado sandwich with brisket, pulled pork, sausage and cole slaw on pretzel bun for $13, and my daughter Dinah got the pulled pork sandwich for $11. All came with barbecue sauce on the side.

Making It Work

| Posted in Events

The Press Herald is hosting an online live event with Ilma Lopez of Chaval and Piccolo, Mary Allen Lindemann of Coffee by Design, and Mike Alfiero of Harbor Fish Market to “talk about what they are doing now to retain as much revenue as possible while keeping employees and customers safe.”

Making It Work: The Food Business Blows Up is scheduled to take place Wednesday April 29th at 1pm. Register online to attend.

Portland Farmers’ Market

| Posted in Farming

The summer edition of the Portland Farmers’ Market in Deering Oaks opened Saturday. Founded in 1768, the market has been in continuous operation for 252 years.

The layout this year has been modified to increase social distance but the basic concept remains the same. It’s good to see such a foundational element of the Portland food scene continuing on unabated.

Farmers Facing Uncertainty

| Posted in Farming

Today’s Press Herald reports on the impact the pandemic is having on Maine farmers and how they’re adapting.

In any given year, farming is a notoriously risky business: It’s too dry or it’s too wet. A nasty pest wipes out the tomatoes; a late freeze kills the apple blossoms; a fast, ferocious gale destroys the strawberry crop. Or the federally set price of milk doesn’t cover the cost for dairy farmers to produce it.

And then there is the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rise of the Restaurmart

| Posted in General News

‪A growing number of takeout restaurants now sell groceries too. If a restaurmart sounds like a good match for your needs, then check out this list:

  • Botto’s Provisions – is selling “Baking Essentials: flour, sugar, breadcrumbs, and YEAST!” Order online.
  • Drifters Wife – will begin selling provisions and meal kits in early May. Order online.
  • Frog and Turtle – sells a variety of canned goods, cheeses, breads, meats. Order online.
  • Lake & Co – sells a wide variety of groceries. Order online.
  • Local 188 – is selling groceries and provisions, “toilet paper, flour, eggs, butter, yeast, OJ, milk, half and half, paper towels, honey, olive oil, sugar, English muffins, corn tortillas, flour tortillas, canned tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, carrots, peppers, garlic, peppercorn, salt, dried beans, rice, hot sauce, potatoes AND fresh local fish from our fish monger”.
  • Maine Beer Co. – sells flour, rice, cheese and other provisions. Order online.
  • Mainely Burgers – has pick-up and delivery for a wide variety of provisions. Order online.
  • Market Street Eats – is selling a regular and burly sized Basic Box consisting of eggs, flour vegetables, chicken, toilet paper, etc. Order online.
  • More & Co. – is selling weekly Care Packages which include “Wine/beer/sparkling water, coffee, bread, cake, cheese, carrots, micro greens, flowers, tea and honey”. Order online.
  • Novare Res – is selling ice cream, waffles, pasta, slim jims, nitrile gloves, potato chips, toilet paper, and other items. Order online.
  • Po’ Boys & Pickles – Po’ Boys & Provisions sells “Eggs, Sugar, AP flour, Rice, Butter, Frozen Gumbo, Hot Sauce, and more items coming”. Order online.
  • Sur Lie – sells “weekly, rotating selection of vegetables and meats from our local farmers at Stonecipher Farm and LP Bisson and Sons. There are two options…a vegetable farmer’s basket or a meat & vegetable farmer’s basket.” Order online.
  • The Garrison – is selling staples like eggs, butter, pasta and paper towels along with chef Christian Hayes food. Order Online.

Update: The James Beard Foundation and the Bangor Daily News have now written about the trend of restaurants selling groceries.