Piccolo Opening on Friday

| Posted in Under Construction

Piccolo (twitter) is scheduled to open this Friday. the new Italian restaurant is located at 111 Middle Street in the former home of Bresca.

Piccolo is the creation of chefs Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez. Sansonetti is also one of the founders of Blue Rooster and until earlier this year Lopez was the pastry chef at Grace.

The menu at Piccolo is inspired by the cuisine central and southern Italy and features an all-Italian wine list. The restaurant will be open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner; they’ll begin taking reservations early this week (207) 747-5307.

Food Truck Regulations

| Posted in General News

Today’s Press Herald reports that the Public Safety, Health and Human Services Committee will be meeting on Tuesday to review changes to food truck regulations.

Those changes, which were crafted by Associate Corporation Counsel Jennifer L. Thompson, include reducing the fee required to relocate a food truck and allowing food trucks to cluster or operate within close proximity to one another.

This Week’s Events: Natural Wine Dinner, Empire and Piccolo Opening, Zwanze Day, Farm Dinners

| Posted in Events

Wednesday — The Well and Devenish Wines are holding a natural wine dinner, there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont, Black Tie is holding a farm dinner in New Gloucester, the Makers Market is taking place at the Urban Farm Fermentory in the afternoon and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place in the morning.

Thursday — it’s the grand opening of Empire Chinese Kitchen (photos) doors open at 11:30am, there will be a blind IPA tasting at the Bier Cellar, and The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing beer from Sebago Brewing.

Friday — it’s opening day at Piccolo, there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont.

Saturday — Novare Res is one of only 2 dozen locations in the US participating in the 2013 Cantilloon Zwanze Day, LeRoux Kitchen is having a grand opening for their store in Scarborough, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — Wine Wise is holding their 4th Annual Fall Wine Cruise, the 6th Annual Eco Appetito is taking place, and Rosemont is holding a farm dinner in Freeport, Kitchen & Cork in conjunction with King Arthur Flour is running a cupcake/pie baking contest.

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.

Reviews: Portland & Rochester and Small Axe

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of the Portland & Rochester Public House,

Lobster cakes were served with a searing hot smear of red chili harissa and pink pickled shallots. The sauce and the breading of the cake obscured the flavor and texture of the lobster a bit, but it was still a nice dish. The scotch eggs, quail eggs encased in ground lamb, are served with the meat very rare on the inside. The lamb is nicely seasoned and works well with some bitter curly endive.

and Serious Eats has published a review of the Small Axe burger.

A few weeks ago, the Small Axe Truck debuted its burger, the Smokestack Lightning ($8), and proclaimed it the best burger around. Ordinarily, I’d say that’s a bold statement to make, but in this case it might well be true.

Elsmere & Salvage: A BBQ Comparison

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has compared and contrasted Elsmere’s and Salvage’s approach to barbeque.

Elsmere and Salvage will not havee to duke it out tfor the number one spot because they are two equally great additions to our dining Mecca.  Whether you take the bridge to the outer limits of South Portland’s Elsmere BBQ or traverse the seedy byway of Lower Congress Street to reach Salvage BBQ each is a rewarding pilgrimage.

Portland Hunt & Alpine Club Now Open

| Posted in Openings

The Portland Hunt and Alpine Club (website, facebook, twitter) held a soft opening on Tuesday and their public grand opening starts today at 4pm. Portland newest venue diverse menu of well-crafted cocktails (be sure to try the Chartreuse Swizzle) and as a set of Scandinavian-inspired small plates all presented in a thoughtfully designed modern space on Market Street.

Hunt & Alpine is run by Andrew and Briana Volk, who ran the popular Hush Hush series of events earlier this year.

For additional photos and commentary see the latest post on Map & Menu.

Images: a Left Hand cocktail, the view from inside the Lodge Room towards the bar, table and counter seating, charcuterie and cheese plates.

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Review of Salvage BBQ

| Posted in Reviews

Meredith Goad has penned a southern-fried review of Salvage BBQ for Maine a la Carte.

The hush puppies had obviously just come out of the fryer, so while I waited for them to cool down enough to handle I stole a bite of the barbecue and lawd have mercy…..Portland finally has some decent, southern-style pulled pork! No more abominations forced upon us like pulled pork sandwiches covered with slices of tomato and onion! That’s just so, so wrong.

Under Construction: Empire

| Posted in Under Construction

According to a report on Maine a la Carte, Empire plans to open next week on September 12.

The menu, a press release sent out today says, will feature “truly authentic Chinese cuisine and Dim Sum. The menu of traditional and modern ‘Chinese soul food’ will feature local meats, seafoods, and seasonal produce. The kitchen will be headed by a Dim Sum Master Chef with 40 years’ experience creating specialty dumplings in world class kitchens around the world.”