Review of Olive Cafe

| Posted in Reviews

Olive Cafe received 3½ stars  from this Taste & Tell review in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The flavors of Middle Eastern cooking, cool mint, sour sumac (the Mediterranean kind, not Maine’s ubiquitous poison sumac), tahini and an abundance of parsley and tomatoes, are perfect for relieving January monotony. The Olive Cafe in Portland handles these particulars with panache, tossing grilled slices of aromatic beef on top of a thin pizza that ranks at the top of good things I’ve tasted in Portland lately.

2 Rabbit Reviews

| Posted in Reviews

Appetite Portland has reviewed a pair of rabbit dishes from Emilitsa and Sonny’s.

Perhaps in deference to Bugs and the memory of Harvey — my friend Faryl’s late pet – I had not ordered rabbit in years and years. Until this past week, that is.

Somehow I found myself noshing on two wildly different preparations of the little mammal at two vastly different restaurants: Emilitsa and Sonny’s.

MOOMilk

| Posted in Farming

According to a blog post on Eat Maine Foods, MOOMilk, a new brand of organic milk sourced from Maine farms, will start appearing on store shelves this weekend.

Produced by 10 Maine family organic dairy farms in Washington, Aroostook, Penobscot and Kennebec Counties, the milk will be trucked by Schoppee Milk Transport of Holden to Smiling Hill Dairy in Westbrook for processing, then distributed by Oakhurst Dairy of Portland and Crown O’ Maine Organic Co-op of Gardiner. That makes it the only organic milk available in Maine that is produced, trucked, processed and distributed exclusively by Maine family businesses.

2010 Best of Portland Readership Poll

| Posted in General News

The Portland Phoenix has kicked-off their 2010 Best of Portland readership poll. As in past years its a 2 step process:

  • Step 1, nominate candidates you think are an especially good fit in any or all of the dozens of categories
  • Step 2, based on the nominations, the Phoenix will publish a ballot next month summarizing the top nominees from each category for you to vote on.

There are a plethora of food and drink categories (Bagels, Bars, Barbecue, Beer Selection, Brewpubs, Brunch, etc) there’s even one for food blogs. A list of the 2009 winners is available online as a reference.

Help for Haiti

| Posted in Events

Several Portland restaurants are raising money for the relief efforts in Haiti.

Review of Ribollita

| Posted in Reviews

The Blueberry Files has published a review of Ribollita.

So yeah, I liked Ribollita! I didn’t loooooove Ribollita, but that certianly wasn’t due to any failings on their part. I am glad to know where I can go to get solid and relatively inexpensive Italian food in town. But it doesn’t make my ‘hurry back to’ list (man, I sound hard to please!).

Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market Coming to Portland

| Posted in Events

Today’s Press Herald reports on a new indoor Winter Farmers’ Market for Portland. According to the article, it’s scheduled to open on February 13 it will be located at 85 Free Street and will take place on Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm.

…it won’t be bound by city restrictions that prevent vendors such as bread bakers and fishermen from selling at the summer markets in Monument Square and Deering Oaks, said Larry Bruns, who coordinates the Portland Farmers Market.

“It’s going to be a very different market from what Portland’s used to,” said Dean Zoulamis, who runs the Mother Oven Bakery in Bowdoinham and is part of the group that’s organizing the Free Street market. “This will be a much more diverse market.”

Interview with Steve DiMillo

| Posted in People

Today’s Press Herald includes a ShopTalk interview with Steve Dimillo, manager of DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant.

Q: How many in the family are in the business?

A: My mother, Arlene, two aunts, Jeanette and Jay, two brothers Dan and Johnny, my twin sister Stephanie, me, my two kids, my brother-in-law Tony Quatrucci, who runs the kitchen. That would be 10. The most recent family member to join is Steve Junior; he’s the banquet manager. Stephanie does the bookkeeping. The primary management team is my brothers and I, and my mom works with the three of us. Another brother, Chris, doesn’t work in the restaurant, but he runs the marina. I’m one of nine kids, I think I mentioned. Gene now has his own place, G & R DiMillo’s, and my sister Vicki has hers, Bruno’s.