Great Lost Bear, Sidewalk Dining

| Posted in General News

This week’s Food & Dining section includes an article on the 40-year anniversary of The Great Lost Bear,

Dave Evans, who founded The Great Lost Bear with his wife, Weslie, is now 72, but still comes into the restaurant every day and has no plans to retire. Many Portlanders have their own fond recollections of spending time at the Bear – such as sipping craft brews from one of its 80 taps, or mugging for the Bear Cam at the bar. Evans, naturally, has his own, and recently shared some of his favorite memories of the place that has become his second home.

and an article on sidewalk dining in Portland.

As the number of restaurants in Portland continues to rise, so does the demand for outdoor seating, where locals and tourists alike can bask in the sun while slurping Maine oysters or sipping craft beer. Setting up tables on the sidewalk allows restaurants without private outdoor space to compete for customers who won’t dine out any other way when it’s warm enough or have their dog in tow — and more and more of them are taking advantage of that option.

Yardie Ting Opened Saturday

| Posted in Openings

Yadie Ting (facebook, instagram), a Jamaican eatery, opened yesterday. They’re located on the 2nd floor of the Public Market House.

Yardie Ting serves “authentic Jamaican dishes with a modern twist , using fresh local ingredients and homemade rubs and spices.” The menu posted on Saturday included jerk chicken, tofu, or pork, and curry stew as a plate or bowl, as well as Jamaican tacos.

They’ll be open on Sunday, 12 – 5.

Reviews: Eaux, Blue Spoon Cafe, Luke’s

| Posted in Reviews

Portland Magazine has reviewed Eaux,

Tonight’s special is the Étouffée ($22), a lovely presentation with the fiddleheads curled in a fragrant base. But it’s the gorgeous golden-fried soft-shell crab resting atop the bowl that takes center stage. There’s no lobster analogy for the soft-shell crab, and it’s a brilliant pairing with the fiddleheads, whose season also is fleeting—almost a bump of the supernatural.

the Press Herald has reviewed Blue Spoon Cafe, and

Of course, I did, partially because this became the day I fell in love with dill. I finally understood what’s been missing from every chicken salad I’ve ever eaten (and there have been quite a few), not to mention the magnitude of putting it on some of the best sourdough bread on the planet.

The Golden Dish has reviewed the Luke’s Lobster.

Under Construction: Candy’s

| Posted in Under Construction

Candy’s (website, instagram), the queer community hub under construction at 34 Portland Street has included a draft menu (below) for their cafe along with their liquor license.

Milo Degoosh will be joining the Candy’s team as the Director of Coffee where he plans to serve coffee from Onyx Coffee Lab, a roaster from Arkansas.

Candy’s hopes to open sometime in late summer.

Under Construction: Anoche

| Posted in Under Construction

If you’ve walked down Washington Ave in the last couple of months you’re sure to have noticed the papered windows of the former Coffee by Design location 43 Washington Ave. Construction has been underway for a while and I’m happy to now to be able to share it’s slated to be the future home of Anoche (website, instagram) a  cider and spirits bar being opened by longtime Novare Res manager Erika Colby.

In addition to cider and spirits, Colby is also planning to serve a menu of Basque-inspired food centered on pinxtos, tapas-style snacks that are traditionally served on bread with the topping spiked to the base with a small skewer.

Colby shared with me that she started this project with “a simple love for ciders” and it grew from there to encompass the full vision of a cider, spirits bar serving food from the Basque region of Spain. She’s found it a very rewarding process to start with a blank canvas and work to envision the final product of space, service, food and drinks, putting to use what she’s learned from years in the industry.

Colby is “excited to offer Portland something a little different” and hopes to open Anoche in late August.

Drifter’s Makes the Top 100

| Posted in Reviews

Wine Enthusiast has included Drifters Wife in their 2019 list of the America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants.

Each year, the editors of Wine Enthusiast sip and sup their way around the country, seeking eateries that incorporate wine in thoughtful and exciting ways. This list isn’t a ranking, nor is there a matrix of number of bottles, prices or types of food. Instead, it is a selection of restaurants where wine is shared and celebrated, and where, in our experiences, the selection, food, service and atmosphere are all exceptional. Cheers!

Portland Wine Week

| Posted in Events

Forbes has published an article about Portland Wine Week which is taking place next week, June 17 -23.

What sets Portland apart as a wine-lover’s destination? Portland restaurants lean towards small boutique wineries for their wine lists–wines that are not big volume production and that are really delicious and have a unique story to tell. [And] a healthy number of wine distributors who are very passionate about the wines in their portfolio. …. There’s also a lot of focus on increasing one’s own wine knowledge among restaurant hospitality professionals here, in order to help customers understand the wine lists and to understand it themselves.  

Coals Pizza Opens Today

| Posted in Openings

Coals Pizza (website, instagram, twitter) is scheduled to open today at 5 pm. Coals is located at 114 Preble Street in the former Portland & Rochester space. This is Coal’s only location outside of New York. They specialize in grilled pizza. You can see their full menu online.

A 2015 review in the New York Times sums up Coals this way,

The atmosphere is as quirky and appealing as the food, with a Catskills-meets-Brooklyn vibe from mounted deer antlers and painted country scenes. Sit there long enough and you’ll become aware of the rhythmic sound of the pizza cutter, a guy who wields a huge half moon of a knife that he rocks across the pies as they come out, dividing them into three- or four-bite squares. It’s a kind of siren call — one that should be heeded by all pizza lovers.

Coals was founded in 2004 in the Bronx. Their first two locations are located in Bronxville and Port Chester.

Back Story: Coals owner Billy Etzel was born and raised in NYC, but he’s been visiting Maine since age 3 and always felt connected to the state. Four years ago Etzel’s son began doing some family genealogical research. Etzel himself is adopted, and through the research online they discovered that his biological family was trying to get in contact with him. As it turns out his biological family is from Kittery, just 30 minutes away from where Etzel owns a cabin. It’s as a result of this connection to Maine to Etzel decided to open his latest branch of Coals Pizza here in Portland.

2019 Pocket Guide Now Available

| Posted in Openings

I’m happy to announce the release of the 2019 PFM Printed Pocket Guide. This handy paper reference provides a compact list of the best restaurants, bakeries, breweries, coffee shops, cocktail bars, and cafes in Portland. It also includes highlights of a few places to dine elsewhere in the state worth the drive. Portable, collectible, and always offline, the Pocket Guide helps you narrow down and answer that all important question — “where should I go for my next meal.”

Many thanks to the wonderful Pocket Guide sponsors for their generous support, which enabled Portland Food Map to produce and print this resource:

While supplies last you can pick-up your very own copy of the guide at these local businesses: Rose Foods, Maine & Loire, Rising Tide, Little Woodfords, Belleville, Giant Cafe, or the Portland Trading Company.

A limited number of pocket guides also are for sale in packs of 25 if you’d like to use them for your business. Whether that’s as a handout to Airbnb guests, to distribute to business clients, or for some other purpose where you need more than one personal copy. Contact anestes@portlandfoodmap.com for details.

The 2019 pocket guide wouldn’t be as good as it is, in fact it wouldn’t exist at all, without help from the extended PFM team of Dawn Hagin from Rare Brick Strategic, and from graphic designer Sofija Razgaitis. My thanks to both of them for all their hard work on the project.