Under Construction: Sagamore Hill

| Posted in Under Construction

Construction has begun on Sagamore Hill (website, instagram) the new cocktail bar located at 150 Park Street in the lobby of the former Lafayette Hotel building. As you might have guessed from the name of the bar, the owners are fans of Teddy Roosevelt, and the nation’s 26th president is a touchstone for the design and cocktail menu.

Sagamore will seat 96 overall, including sidewalk seating for 38 during the warmer months. Kaplan Thompson are the architects and Burnham & Lobozzo the contractors. Might & Main has been hired to handle branding and design.

Owners Ryan Deskins and Michael Savona are aiming to open Sagamore this May.

Babette’s Feast

| Posted in Events

The Press Herald has published an article about the upcoming performance of Babette’s Feast at Portland Stage.

“It is a very profound movie,” he said. “It was, in the end, about bringing everybody together.”

Now “Babette’s Feast” is coming to the American stage. A new adaptation, written by New York City playwright Rose Courtney, will have its world premiere Jan. 23 at the Portland Stage Company on Forest Avenue.

Tickets are available through the Portland Stage box office.

Craig Dilger

| Posted in People

Beer Advocate magazine has published a profile of Craig Dilger, co-founder of Foulmouthed Brewing.

Craig Dilger and his wife, Julia, spent the better part of a decade honing the plans for Foulmouthed Brewing. They placed the things Dilger loves about homebrewing—the creativity, the variety, the limitless experimentation—at the core of their business plan. Foulmouthed, the brewpub the couple launched in June 2016 out of an old automotive garage in South Portland, Maine, hews closely to that vision, eschewing flagships and long-range production calendars for an eclectic and ever-evolving tap list. And while going pro involves a lot more squeegee-pushing and business management than his days racking carboys in a kitchen, the payoff comes in the opportunity to offer underappreciated styles in an IPA-heavy market. “People will come in specifically to get our German-style Black Ale. They’re happy we have a Brown on tap,” Dilger says, “even if malts aren’t that sexy anymore.”

CNT: The Lost Kitchen

| Posted in Reviews

Condé Nast Traveler has included The Lost Kitchen on their list of the Most Beautiful Restaurants in the World.

Freedom, Maine: a quaint town located just an hour-and-a-half-drive from culinary capital Portland, and the site of self-taught chef Erin French’s The Lost Kitchen. Situated over a bridge, through the woods by a babbling stream, French has built a true fairytale story in a renovated 19th century gristmill building. The chef welcomes diners into her home, to eat at wooden tables (made from old barn boards) in her kitchen. And along with her all-female team she works with the produce (all sourced from local friends) that looks best each day.

Food Writing Workshop

| Posted in Events

Acclaimed Maine author, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, will be teaching a food writing workshop this summer in Rockport, July 22-28.

Want to be a food writer but don’t know how to start? Already a food writer but feeling stumped or uninspired? Whether a beginner or experienced writer, you’ll explore every aspect of writing food, from recipes to restaurant reviews, from profiles to feature articles, from food memoir to food history to the issues that make food a compelling read in today’s news. Read, write and share thoughts about what makes the best food writing, what makes it salable, how to pitch a story, how to craft a cookbook, or just how and where to begin.

Join award-winning cookbook author and food journalist Nancy Harmon Jenkins and several of her peers, including Mitchell Davis, executive vice-president of the James Beard Foundation and Kathleen Fleury, editor in chief of Downeast Magazine.   Together, we’ll break apart the complex world of food writing and see what makes it work when it does—and also when it doesn’t.

This Week’s Events: Dracula Dinner, Brew Pub Cup, Good Food Awards, Baking Classes

| Posted in Events

Thursday – an Allagash dinner is taking place at Terlingua, Gather is collaborating with the Royal River Community Theatre on a Dracula Dinner, and the Brew Pub Cup is taking place at The Great Lost Bear.

Friday – the Good Food Awards are taking place, 3 Maine vendors are nominees, and there will be a wine tasting at the West End Rosemont.

Saturday – Woodford F&B will be celebrating their 2nd anniversary and raising money for the Locker Project, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – Foley’s is kicking off their baking class series.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

Maine Scallops

| Posted in Fisheries

The Maine Sunday Telegram has explained why only a limited part of the Maine scallop makes it on to the dish and reports on a new aquaculture operation that may change that.

December into April is the season when wild Atlantic sea scallops can be pulled from state-regulated waters in the Gulf of Maine both by divers and mechanical drags for our dining delight. Maine scallops are both delicious and pricey, but few of us realize that half of the scallop is chucked out at sea even though it’s perfectly edible.

This might also explain why it’s illegal in Maine to serve scallops on their shell in Maine.