Tuesday is St Patrick’s Day. The biweekly Winter Farmers’ Market is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Boys and Their Beers a 5-course prix fixe dinner with beer pairing, is taking place at Frog and Turtle Wednesday evening; five local chefs are collaborating on the meal. There are two cooking classes this week: Piatto per Tutti on Monday and Black Tie Bistro on Wednesday. The last class of Maine Food & Drink Institute’s cheese course is on Tueday night. Thursday night, The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beers from Brooklyn Brewing. Old Port Wine Merchants, Black Cherry Provisions and Rosemont on Brighton are all holding wine tastings this week. Maine Maple Sunday, a celebration of maple sugaring in the state, is this weekend. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
Under Construction: The Corner Room
I took a look in the window (see above) at the site of Harding Smith’s upcoming restaurant, The Corner Room. Construction seems to be moving right along. Building plans supplied to the city (see below) show the curved bar now being built.
Maine Maple Sunday
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram has an article about next weekend’s Maine Maple Sunday. It includes a list of participating sugar houses in York and Cumberland Counties. For a state-wide list visit the Get Real, Get Maine! website.
Micucci’s Pasta Sauces
Micucci’s is planning on releasing a series of house branded pasta sauces. The sauces are the creation of chef/baker Stephen Lanzalotta. The set of four sauces include Puttanesca Sauce, Original Pasta Sauce, Marinara Sauce and Vodka Sauce.
St Patrick’s Day
Portland Bar Guide has published a round-up of St Patricks day entertainment and eating/drinking specials.
Barava
Portland in a Snap has published a profile of Barava, the new Somali restaurant located on Congress near Longfellow Square.
Along with the tea, Ahmed gave me a primer on Somali cuisine, which calls on a wide-range of influences. These include food traditions from India, other African nations and other Middle Eastern countries, which reflect Somalia’s long history as a trading hub. Somali cuisine also contains elements of Italian cooking, picked up during the years of Italian colonization.
PSO Wine Dinner
The Portland Symphony’s annual wine dinner and auction is scheduled for March 30 at the Haraseeket Inn in Freeport. This year’s talented line-up of chefs are:
Jonathan Cartwright, Executive Chef, White Barn Inn
Steve Corry, Proprietor & Executive Chef, Five Fifty-Five
Mitchell Kaldrovich, Executive Chef, Inn By the Sea
Gallit Sammon, Chef de Cuisine, Harraseeket Inn
Melody Wolfertz, Proprietor & Executive Chef, In Good Company
Each year, the 5-course dinner centers around the wines from a different part of the globe. This year’s geographic focus is Australia.
Tickets are $150 and you can make reservations by calling (207) 773-6128 x309.
RWME This Year and Next
There’s a post on Portbrio about the mussels and porter tasting at Brian Boru last night.
It was an evening of first-time tastings: me with the mussels and everyone else with the porter. Though I don’t think any of them panicked with their first sip of beer.
The Portland Daily Sun has a report on RWME’s success this year and plans for next year.
Organizers of Restaurant Week announced yesterday that the event will be back in March 2010, again staged from March 1 through March 10 where it is positioned between winter and spring.
Port City Life
The March/April issue of Port City Life includes a brief profile of Local 188 illustrated with photos by Stacey Cramp. It also has the recipe for 188’s saffron mussels. The articles are only available in the print issue of the magazine.
A few months ago, I caught up with owner Jay Villani, who gave me a tour of the new Local. He likens his restaurant to a Turkish ballroom. Vintage glass light fixtures tinted lime green and tangerine hang from the ceiling. Banquettes scattered with throw pillows make for cozy dining.”
All Natural Certified Free Roaming
Not sure about the difference between cage-free, free roaming, and free range eggs? Then you might want to read Meredith Goad’s article in the Food & Health section of today’s Press Herald. In addition to the article there’s also a handy egg labeling glossary.