Under Construction: Cia & 428 Brighton Ave

| Posted in Under Construction

ciabig

Coffee continues to be a growth industry in the Portland area:

  • Construction of Cia on Ocean Street in South Portland looks nearly complete and almost ready to open. The name is an acronym for coffee, ice cream and art.
  • A new coffee shop and cafe is under construction on Brighton in the old home of Udder Place. According to a report from The Bollard, the space is being developed by “Joe and Shay Mcgonigal, proprietors of The Crooked Mile coffee shop and lunch spot in the Old Port.”

For more info on the 22 other eateries, bakeries and bars under development, see the Under Construction list.

This Week’s Events: JBF Nominees, Best New Chef, German Wine Dinner, Maine Maple Sunday

| Posted in Events

Monday — the James Beard Foundation will announce the 2013 award nominees later today. Check back this afternoon for details on how the restaurants and chefs that were on the “long list” of semi-finalists faired. Ari Weinzweig, founder of  Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, will be at Rosemont for a book signing.

Tuesday — Food & Wine will announce the winners of the People’s Best New Chef competition. Andrew Taylor and Michael Wiley at Eventide/Hugo’s are on the ballot. The monthly local foods networking breakfast is taking place Local Sprouts.

Wednesday — Old Port Wine Merchants is holding a tasting of 2009 and 2010 wine from Bordeaux.

Thursday — the Great Lost Bear will be featuring beers from Sebago Brewing, the Old Port Sea Grill is offering free oysters, 4-6 pm, or at least until the give away the first 400.

Friday — Eve’s at the Garden is continuing their international dining series with a South American wine dinner.

Saturday — BbBo’s is holding a German wine dinner, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — it’s Maine Maple Sunday, the March edition of Pocket Brunch is taking place, Masa Miyake will cook a dinner at Flanagan Farm in Buxton to benefit Maine Farmland Trust.

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.

Portland Food History: Valle’s

| Posted in History

The Portland Maine History Facebook page has posted a history of Valle’s steak house that was founded in Portland and its peak had locations all throughout New England.

Valle’s Steak House began as a 12 seat café in Portland, Maine in 1933, owned by Donald Valle who was born in Lettomanopello, Italy in 1908 and immigrated to the United States in 1912 at the age of four; he married Sue Crone and they had two children Richard and Judith. Before Woodford’s Corner, Valle’s was at 551 Congress Street, but not sure if that was the original location…

Review of LFK

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of LFK.

Without intending to — just because they sounded good — we ended up with three vegetarian dishes out of four total. But that itself is worthy of note. Here is a pub kitchen, of all places, and a tiny one at that, that knows how to cook meatless entrees with flair and aplomb.

But by no means is meat overlooked. The hamburger ($10) was thick, hand-formed, juicy-greasy and served with garlic mayonnaise on a dark, toasty pretzel roll from Rosemont Bakery. Excellent.

Saint Patrick’s Day Law

| Posted in General News

A Bill to allow bars to open at 6 am on Saint Patrick’s day has been signed into law by the Governor.

The action lifts the state’s ban on sales of alcohol between 6 and 9 a.m. on Sundays when St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday, as it does this year.

The St. Patrick’s Day bill, L.D. 216, won unanimous approval in committee and preliminary votes in the House and Senate before it became ensnared in a political standoff over LePages’s plan to repay Maine’s hospitals $484 million in overdue Medicaid reimbursements.

Shipyard to Pay $300k Water Bill

| Posted in General News

Both the Bangor Daily News and Press Herald are reporting that Shipyard will be paying $300,000 in back sewer and water fees.

“I’m glad it’s behind us,” Shipyard President Fred Forsley told the Bangor Daily News on Friday. “We’re happy with the result and we’ll move forward. It’s a large amount of money, but we’ll be able to push forward. Our hope is it won’t have that substantial of an impact given our growth and we’re hoping we won’t have to raise prices more.” [Bangor Daily News]

No Ice Cream at Fort Williams

| Posted in General News

The deadline came and went without any vendors applying to fill the ice cream vending spot in Fort Williams Park.

The town hopes to find another ice cream vendor to replace Gorgeous Gelato, whose owners decided not to return after last year, leaving a vacancy in the Ship Cove area of the park.

“We were hoping to get at least one, but we didn’t get anything,” Public Works Director Bob Malley said. “Not sure what the story is. It’s a decent location where it was moved to.”

Under Construction: In’finiti

| Posted in Under Construction, Beer

Word is starting to spread on In’finiti as more folks get the chance to see the new space and attend one of the pre-opening friends and family events. According to a community forum post on BeerAdvocate.com, they’ll be opening on Monday.

The look is somewhat industrial with a touch of steampunk, a beautiful view of the brewhouse and distillery, a touch of nautical (portholes), a huge deck right on the wharf, a beautiful wood bar and tables, and the railings and lots of other touches built from Allagash barrel staves. The menu is great with a good variety of nicely done upscale pub food and entrees, local without being in-your-face-local…