WLBZ TV has aired a piece on Coffee by Design and their new roasting facility in East Bayside.
Little Jamaica Food Cart
The Little Jamaica (facebook) food cart launched last week. The cart is owned by Derrick Anderson.
You can see a full menu online, it includes items like jerk chicken, escovitch fried snapper, curried goat and oxtail.
I came across them over the weekend in Post Office Park (instagram photo). They typically announce where they’ll be each day on their Facebook page.
Under Construction: Coffee by Design in East Bayside
The Bangor Daily News has published a report on the large roasting facility and cafe that Coffee by Design is constructing in East Bayside.
They are building a futuristic cafe, which opens in early 2014. Anchored by an island bar, it will showcase the latest coffee extraction techniques. Because the coffee industry is changing rapidly, so are they.
“We want to make this fun,” said Spear. “We want people to have choices.”
Customers will be able to make their own blends, join a home-roasting club and, much like a brewery, go behind the scenes to smell, taste and sample beans as they go from bag to cup.
This Week’s Events: Spanish Wine Dinner, Mead Making Workshop, Ice Bar & PSO Wine Dinner Tickets
Tuesday — Bar Lola is holding a Spanish wine dinner. It’s their last one before closing at the end of the week to refocus their energy on a new project.
Wednesday — the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.
Thursday — the Bier Cellar is holding a tasting with the Bantam Cider Company.
Saturday — Bardic Brews is teaching a mead making workshop at The Honey Exchange, Browne Trading is holding a wine tasting, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.
Ice Bar — the 10th Annual Ice Bar is taking place January 23-25 at the Portland Harbor Hotel. Tickets are now on sale.
PSO Wine Dinner — the 13th Annual Portland Symphony Orchestra wine dinner will be featuring wines from Greece. Chefs from Fore Street, Emilitsa, Piccolo, the Inn by the Sea and the Harraseeket Inn will collaborate on the 5-course dinner. Tickets are now on sale.
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.
Review of Sea Glass
The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of the Sea Glass restaurant at the Inn by the Sea.
For stylish seaside dining in one of Maine’s premier inn resorts, Sea Glass offers a menu of admirable dishes that are well prepared. The wine list is extensive and offers superb choices in all price ranges. Best dishes include gaucho steak, mushroom tart, roast chicken under a brick and any of the desserts by pastry chef Karen Voter.
Review of The Holy Donut
Fettle Vegan has published a review of The Holy Donut.
Opened for about a year and a half, The Holy Donut began as one woman’s mission to create a better-for-you, traditional style donut with tons of flavor. Leigh Kellis teamed up with her Dad to start producing what I now know as vegan donut gold after longing for far too long for delicious donuts near where she lived.
Review of Cafe Crepe
The latest episode of Booze, Fish & Coffee includes a review of visiting food truck Cafe Crepe.
New to the area, this food truck is the real deal. Lauren certainly knows how to make a crêpe that rivals those in France–hers are light and perfectly cooked. As for ingredients, she isn’t playing around here. Tons of variety, and you can get both sweet and savory crêpes — for the savory, there’s one with baked brie, another with mozzarella, spinach and pesto, and another with goat cheese and caramelized onions with balsamic reduction.
For more on Cafe Crepe visit their Facebook page.
A Locally Sourced Focus at Small Axe
Kate McCarty has written an interesting article for the Portland Phoenix about the Small Axe food truck and the chefs’ use of local farms and purveyors when sourcing ingredients for their menu.
The meat, fish, dairy, and produce Small Axe serves is all from local sources, drawing on Deuben’s and Leavy’s longstanding relationships with nearby purveyors. Small Axe’s vegetables come from two farms, one in particular that focuses on unusual varieties appealing to chefs: Green Spark Farm. Deuben first noticed the attractive display of Green Spark Farm’s produce at the Portland farmers’ market while shopping for Miyake’s tasting menu. He was further drawn to the farm for the varieties of produce growing there, in particular Asian greens and cabbages like totsoi and red choi.
McCarty is also the author of The Blueberry Files. This piece is the first of a monthly column she’ll be writing for the Portland Phoenix.
Review of Piccolo
Map & Menu has published a brief (beautifully illustrated) review of Piccolo.
Photo Credit: Map & Menu
A visit to the SMCC Training Restaurant
The Golden Dish has written about a recent meal at the SMCC Culinary Arts Center where students prepare and serve meals to the public as part of their education.
The choice of starter offerings included either clam chowder or house-cured gravlax. My guest chose the soup and I opted for the salmon. The chowder was too thick for his tastes, without much clam flavor. My salmon, however, was beautifully cured (nicely citrusy) and accompanied by perfectly diced egg yolk, onions and capers. There was herbed cream cheese (very tasty) to spread on crostini. This was a good dish.