The folks over at gBritt PR have tweeted that “Tony’s Donuts is crossing the bridge to South Portland, the former Irving on Broadway.” I’m not sure whether that means they’re moving or opening a second location.
Gogi Closed
According to a report in the Portland Daily Sun, Gogi has gone out of business but one-time co-owner Ian Farnsworth hopes to reopen later this year.
Farnsworth said he sold his interest in Gogi Restaurant to his business partner Hwamin Yi, and that she closed the restaurant, despite his desire to see it continue.
“The dream of this type of restaurant is still alive and I am hopeful I can re-open in a different location by the end of 2012,” Farnsworth wrote on Facebook. (Efforts to contact Yi for comment were unsuccessful.)
Salt Stories: Harbor Fish & Becky’s
Students from the Salt Institute have published a pair of short audio profiles about Becky’s and Harbor Fish Market on Down East magazine’s website.
Stonyfield/O’Naturals Closed
According to a report in The Forecaster the last of the Stonyfield Cafes (Formerly O’Naturals) closed today.
“We fought through (the downturn) with the optimism it would come back,” McCabe said, noting dinner business never picked up. “It’s too big a space for the kinds of revenues we were putting through there.”
The shutdown leaves 14 people out of work. McCabe said their average tenure was 6 1/2 years; two people were employed for 11 years.
Photos from The Holy Donut
Edible Obsessions has published a set of photos from her Sunday morning visit to The Holy Donut.
New Food Blogs: Diningsense and Map & Menu
There are two new food blogs writing about food in and beyond Portland:
Perceptive DiningDiningsense plans on examining “the ways in which Maine restaurants inscribe themselves within the national culinary landscape.” The author has kicked off the blog with a review of Back Bay Grill.- Map & Menu is produced by a Portland-area couple to share their travel and dining experience in Maine and across the country. They’ve recently posted a review (and some beautiful photos) of Petite Jacqueline.
Post updated to reflect name change for Perceptive Dining to Diningsense.
This Week’s Events: Loire Wine Seminar, Edible Festival of the Book, Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Monday — Devenish Wines and Caiola’s are collaborating on a Loire wine seminar.
Thursday — Dave Geary will be at The Great Lost Bear for a brewery showcase, and the Public Market House is holding a wine and cheese tasting.
Friday — The Edible Festival of the Book will be taking place at the Public Library. Aurora Provisions and the West End Deli are holding wine tastings and The Salt Exchange is holding a bourbon tasting.
Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place at the Irish Heritage Center.
Sunday — Space Gallery is screening the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
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.
March 2012 Monthly Stats
The 10 eateries looked up most often in March on Portland Food Map were:
- Schulte & Herr (1)
- Hot Suppa (8)
- Back Bay Grill (23)
- Bar Lola (12)
- The Salt Exchange (7)
- Petite Jacqueline (6)
- Sabor Latino (5)
- Blue Spoon (2)
- David’s (35)
- David’s 388 (>50)
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
The Menu
Aurora Provisions has published the menu from the dinner they catered last night for President Obama at the Portland Museum of Art. From what I’ve heard it all went off without a hitch. Here’s a photo of the menu card used at the event.
According to the AP Facebook wall, you can stop by their location on Pine Street today to sample some of the dishes from the dinner.
Neal and Ricky
Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes an article on Portland’s prohibitional past and a story about the naming of Rockin’ Ricky’s Tavern,
Back to famous bars though. One of my favorite bar stories is one I was told about Ricky’s, on Portland Street, across from the post office. It seems that when Italy changed sides in the Second World War an Italian submarine navigated into Portland Harbor and turned itself in, and because Italy was in dire straits at the end of the war some of the Italian crewmen decided to stay in this country. They were each given a stake by the federal government to establish themselves in their new country and the story goes that a man named Ricci used his cash to start a tavern on Portland Street, which he named after himself, and over time Ricci’s became anglicized to Ricky’s. Rockin’ Ricky’s Tavern, who would’a thought.