This Week’s Event: Resurgam, Austrian Wine, High & Mighty, MSBA Annual Meeting, Caledonia Happy Hour, Harvest, Natural Wines, Miyake Farm Dinner

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — Allagash is releasing the latest batch of their Resurgam coolchip beer, and Local Sprouts is hosting the monthly Local Foods Networking Breakfast.

Wednesday — Hugo’s is serving an Austrian wine dinner, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place in the morning.

Thursday — the Bier Cellar is holding a High & Mighty beer tasting, the head distiller of Caledonia Spirits in Vermont will be Hunt & Alpine for a special Caledonia themed happy hour, there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House, and the Great Lost Bear will be showcasing the beer of Otter Creek.

Friday — Novare Res will be serving a wide area of ciders at their Fall Harvest event.

Saturday — the annual meeting of the Maine State Beekeepers Association is taking place, Tandem and Rosemont are collaborating on an Austrian wine tasting event, there will be a wine tasting at Browne Trading, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — Miyake will be serving a farm dinner in Freeport at Wolfe’s Neck Farm, Fernet Branca Industry Night is taking place at Hunt & Alpine, and American Sommelier is teaching a class on organic and biodynamic natural wines.

Portland Taste Tours (facebook, twitter) launched recently. On October 22 they’re organizing a tour of the Rooms restaurants led by Harding Lee Smith. They’re also partnering with the Maine Brew Bus on a traveling beer dinner on featuring Rising Tide beer and food at Outliers Eatery, Little Tap House, Portland and Rochester and Love Cupcakes.

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.

Anna E. Russo, 93

| Posted in People

Anna E. Russo (article, obituary) passed away last week. Russo and her husband Alphonso ran Al’s Luncheonette on India Street from the 1940s until 1964.

She married Alphonso Russo in 1942, and the couple had six children. Together they operated Al’s Luncheonette at 45 India St. until 1964, when they sold the business to a neighborhood man who was hawking Italian items from the trunk of his car, said her son Joseph Russo. It would become Micucci’s grocery.

Review of Babylon

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of Babylon.

Babylon is one of very few restaurants in Maine that serves halal meat, important to devout Muslims. The atmosphere is a bit shabby, but the judicious use of unusual and traditional spices keeps the meal interesting. Prices are low, and a couple of deceptively simple dishes, such as the fowul, are quite good.

Portland Food: The Culinary Capital of Maine

| Posted in General News

Kate McCarty, author of The Blueberry Files, is working on a book about the Portland food scene entitled Portland Food: The Culinary Capital of Maine.

The book is published by The History Press and due out June of 2014. In 40,000 words, I’ll tell the history of the Portland food scene and highlight some of its interesting players. I’ve been interviewing farmers, fisherman, chefs… all of whom bring something different and interesting to our vibrant food scene.

Mike Roylos and the Buttler

| Posted in General News

Mike Roylos, owner of the Spartan Grill, was in today’s Press Herald in connection with his invention of the Buttler, a device to collect cigarette butts outside his restaurant in Monument Square.

Roylos’ invention, which he calls the Sidewalk Buttler, is a tubular container, painted to look like a mustachioed butler in a bow tie and bowler hat. It’s capped on both ends, strapped by metal to a utility pole, and has a circular hole where the butler’s mouth would be. Smokers deposit their spent cigarette butts there.