Under Construction: Evo (Updated)

| Posted in Under Construction

Evo(twitter, website, facebook) has applied for a  liquor license. They are on the agenda for the City Council’s meeting on Monday.

According to the material supplied with the application, the owners plan to serve a menu of “Eastern Mediterranean Cuisine”. A draft menu (pages 74-75) was supplied with the supporting paperwork. Here’s an excerpt.

evo_menu

The full floor plan (1st floor show below) seems to show a mezzanine area for additional seating. You can find some concept sketches for the space on Evo’s facebook page.

evo_floor plan

Update: The Golden Dish reports the chef Brandon Hicks will lead the kitchen staff,

Executive chef is Brandon Hicks, who also oversees the kitchen at the Chebeague Island Inn as well has having had a solid background at some of New York’s top-rated Michelin starred restaurants. Executive sous chef is Matt Ginn, formerly executive chef of Five Fifty-Five in Portland as well as L’Espalier in Boston.

Interview with Paige & Chris Gould

| Posted in People

Eater Maine has published an interview with the owners of Central Provisions, Chris and Paige Gould.

If you don’t remember opening night that well, do you have a most memorable service in here?
CG: I think the three times we got standing ovations from the whole restaurant.

PG: Yeah, that was pretty intense.

CG: Somebody, like a four top, would stand up and start clapping, and then the whole restaurant would just start clapping about the food and the service and the drinks. Those nights stick out to me a lot because I’ve never seen that happen in a restaurant, and it’s happened three times here.

PG: It’s cute, he blushes.

Review of Congress Squared

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has reviewed Congress Squared.

Service is excellent and prices at dinner huddle around the $25 range for entrees. With restaurant week starting next month, this is prime time to reacquaint yourself with Congress Squared’s new chef and its impressive menu of contemporary American fare. All of which makes C2  eminently qualified as a pivotal member of Portland’s Arts District dining.

Maine Shrimp Sample Harvest

| Posted in Fisheries

The Press Herald has a report in the ongoing sample harvests of Maine shrimp.

The record price stems from scarcity. Just like last year, the commercial shrimp season remains closed because of low stocks. The shrimp that sold at auction Thursday were caught by one of the three Maine fishermen involved in a sampling project to help state biologists track the timing of egg hatch, size, gender and developmental stages of the shrimp.

Interview with Larry Matthews

| Posted in People

As part of its ongoing Deep Dish series, the Portland Phoenix interviewed Larry Matthews, chef/owner of Back Bay Grill about where he likes to eat out.

With kids and a busy schedule (he’s often cooking the food at the Grill himself, as he is now) Matthews doesn’t get out much. When he does, he goes to Five Fifty-Five for mussels. Or for steak. Or for anything, really, that his friends, Five Fifty-Five co-owners Steve and Michelle Corry, and their team whip up.

Weather’s Impact on Restaurants (Updated)

| Posted in General News

Today’s Press Herald reports on the negative impact the large number of snow storms are having on Portland restaurants.

Most of all, downtown restaurant owners dread parking bans. The owners are particularly upset that the city declared a 36-hour parking ban last weekend for a storm that dropped 2.3 inches of snow. The ban began at 10 a.m. Saturday – Valentine’s Day – prompting some restaurant managers to ask city officials to keep the tow trucks away until closing time. The city honored the requests.

The city in practice doesn’t begin towing cars downtown until 1 a.m., but many people don’t know that, so business suffers.

Update: The Forecaster and WMTW have also posted reports on the snow’s impact on restaurant sales.

James Beard Award Semi-Finalists

| Posted in Reviews

The list of semi-final nominees for the 2015 James Beard Foundation awards were released today. The 10 Maine-based semi-finalists are:

  • Best New Restaurant – Central Provisions
  • Best Chef: Northeast – Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley, Eventide Oyster Company; Masa Miyake, Miyake; Ravin Nakjaroen, Long Grain and Brian Hill, Francine Bistro
  • Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional – Rob Tod, Allagash Brewing Co.
  • Outstanding Baker – Alison Pray, Standard Baking
  • Outstanding Bar Program – Portland Hunt + Alpine Club
  • Outstanding Restaurant – Fore Street
  • Rising Star of the Year – Cara Stadler, Tao Yuan

JBF_AWARDS_MEDALLION-BLOGThe names released today are on the so-called ‘long list’. The final list of nominees (the ‘short list’) will be out in March 24th and the awards ceremony will take place May 4th. In a change of pace, the awards ceremony will take place in Chicago this year instead of NYC—a way for the Foundation to emphasize the national nature of the awards and of its mission.

Food & Wine: The Lost Kitchen

| Posted in Profiles

lost-kitchenThe March issue of Food & Wine includes an article about chef Erin French and her restaurant The Lost Kitchen(facebook, instagram) in Freedom, Maine. It also includes recipes for several of chef Erin French’s dishes.

The restaurant has only been open since last July, but news of it has spread, and customers now come from many miles away. Chef Erin French, who is entirely self-taught, creates unfussy, astonishingly delicious food using as few ingredients as possible in combinations that are both exciting and viscerally satisfying…

The article isn’t online yet but you can pick-up a copy of the March issue at your local newsstand.