The French Press Eatery, a new coffee shop and cafe in Westbrook run by James Tranchemontagne from the Frog and Turtle and his brother Andre, is now open for business. In addition to soup, sandwiches and coffee, the menu includes a line-up of fresh donuts. If there anything like the ones at the Frog and Turtle then I’m going to be a regular customer. The French Press Eatery is located in the former Freaky Bean space at 855 Main Street.
A new coffee shop and Internet cafe, Yordprom Coffee Co, is now under construction at 722 Congress Street in the building that used to serve as the offices for Portland Magazine.
IIK: Albanian Kotopita
Lindsey Sterling has published another ethnic cooking adventures on her blog Inside Immigrant Kitchens. This time she’s cooking with Bill Dilios to make Albanian Kotopita (recipe, family history).
My husband’s co-worker’s father, Bill Dilios, taught me how to make his favorite dish from Albania: kotopita. It’s like chicken pot pie, but with filo crust and an epic story inside
PortlandTown Tour, Part 2
PortlandTown has continued his photographic walking tour through this week’s calendar of food events with a stop at the Simply Divine Brownies grand opening followed by a visit to Bar Lola for their Portuguese wine dinner.
Nouveau and Cranberry Mead
An article in Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun reports on the upcoming arrival of the season’s Beaujolais Nouveau and the release of a new cranberry mead from Maine Mead Works.
Pine State Beverage Company has scheduled its first delivery of the 2009 Nouveau for 6 a.m. on Thursday (Nov. 19).
It will arrive at Rosemont Market & Bakery on Brighton Avenue in Portland where owner John Naylor and his staff will greet the new vintage of Georges Duboeuf Nouveau Beaujolais. They’ll be joined by the newest release from the boys from Maine Mead Works, a cranberry mead that comes on the eve of their one-year anniversary. It’s an old meets new meets older meets newer kind of thing.
#2 Brewery of the Decade
Allagash is in the #2 slot in Paste magazine’s list of The 25 Best American Breweries of the Decade (via a post from A Blog About Beer).
Allagash is like a little slice of Belgium without those pesky language barriers. Using Belgian yeasts and coloring brilliantly inside the style lines as with their flagships White, Dubbel and Triple, what really makes this Maine brewery special is their series of barrel-aged beers, led by Curiuex, Interlude and Fluxus—the latter of which includes sweet potatoes and black pepper in its recipe. We’re also impressed with tweaks to standards like the quad Allagash Four that blends four malts, hops and sugars.
December Down East
The new issue of Down East is out. It includes a review of Grace,
Grace is an ambitious restaurant that successfully bestows on its guests the multiple meanings of its name. “The original intention of grace,” says Anne Verrill, “is everything from beauty down to the actual saying of grace at the table.” After a feast or a bite, a cocktail or a bottle, guests will certainly have plenty to be grateful for.
and a survey of Maine chocolatiers which included Portland area favorites Haven’s, Dean’s Sweets, Sweet Marguerites and Len Libby’s.
PortlandTown Visits Piatto per Tutti
Taking this week’s busy schedule of food events as a challenge, PortlandTown is trying to “do as many as I can or at least one every day” and is reporting on the experience. The first post in the series is on last night’s Piatto per Tutti cooking class and includes a number of photos of the Lanzalotta-led class cooking crepe-style cannelloni and olive oil brownies.
Review of Quality Shop
Portland Food Heads has reviewed a lunch at the Quality Shop, a neighborhood convenience store located on Stevens Ave.
While that’s not necessarily my thing, the pre-made salads and sandwiches in the cooler are usually what I go with for a quick lunch if I have to hurry back to work. Again, there’s nothing special going on here, but for the price (usually $4 or under), you can’t go wrong.
Trader Joes News Nugget
An article in today’s Press Herald on the closing of LL Bean’s Portland store casts doubt on the possibility of Trader Joe’s landing in the spot.
Alison Mochizuki, spokeswoman for California-based Trader Joe’s, said Monday that “Portland, Maine, is not in our two-year plan.”
Thanksgiving Dinner
Some restaurants do stay open on Thanksgiving. Here’s the ones I know about so far:
- Black Point Inn, noon – 4 pm, $70 for adults, $35 for children
- Eastland Park Hotel, $26 for adults, $22, for seniors, $13 for children
- Eves at the Garden, $38 for adults, $19 for children
- North Star Music Cafe is holding a Thanksgiving potluck
- Sea Glass Restaurant at the Inn by the Sea, 12:30 – 4:30, $65 for adults, $20 for children
- Twenty Milk Street at the Regency
- Verrillo’s, $16.95 for adults, $12.95 for seniors, $7.95 for children
There are also several vendors are selling pies, cakes and even entire meals to take home:
- Aurora Provisions is selling a full dinner for two, $68
- Aunt Dee’s is selling apple, pumpkin, squash and pecan pies
- Cakes Extraordinaire, is offering a free pumpkin pie with every pie purchase
- Rosemont Market, pre-order your locally raise turkey by Nov 20, they’re also selling pies, rolls, quick breads, cranberry sauce, a stuffing mix, gravy, herb butters, etc.
- Leavitt and Sons is “offering side dish catering (everything but the bird)”
- Standard Baking on Commercial Street, Scratch Baking in South Portland, and many of the other bakeries in the area are good sources for pies, breads, etc. They probably produce some holiday themed options in addition to their usual offerings.
- Black Tie Bistro is “offering everything from fully stuffed and cooked birds, to all the side dishes and trimmings. Desserts from bread puddings to classic pies, everything from scratch and available to pick up.”
UPDATE: The Press Herald has also published a list of sources for Thanksgiving, pies, side dishes, etc and it includes a number of options not already listed above as well as additional details on the ones that are.
Is there a local restaurant, market or bakery that’s missing? Post a comment and I’ll add them to the list.