This Week’s Events: Cajun Cookin’ Challenge, Chopped Champions, Valentine’s Day, Cloak & Dagger, Brush with Love, Flavors of Freeport

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — Rob Evans (there’s an interview with Evans in today’s Press Herald) will be competing in the finals for Chopped Champions on the Food Network, the WMPG 18th Annual Fat Tuesday Cajun Cookin’ Challenge is taking place.

Wednesday —Bunker Brewing is celebrating their 1-year anniversary at Local 188, and Cloak & Dagger is holding their Killing Me Sweetly dinner.

Valentine’s Day — nearly every restaurant in town will be open for Valentine’s Day. Here are the one’s planning Valentine’s Day menus or events:

Friday —it’s the first day of the Flavors of Freeport.

Saturday — there will be a wine tasting at Browne Trading, it’s the last day of the Flavors of Freeport, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — Chefs Nikos Regas from Emilitsa, Pete Sultenfuss from Grace and Mitchell Gerow from East Ender will be competing in Boston at the Lamb Jam, Two Fat Cats is holding a wedding cake tasting, and Petite Jacqueline is screening Ratatouille.

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.

Pocket Brunch: Party Gras

| Posted in Events, Pocket Brunch

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The February edition of Pocket Brunch took place today. The event kicked off at a private home for cocktails, coffee and apps before a jazz band led the assembled guest for a New Orleans style parade down the street to Bubba’s Sulky Lounge for the main portion of the meal was served.

Eric Simeon (who you may remember was the original chef at Grace) and Rhonda Crosson were the guest chefs alongside Josh Potocki and Joel Beauchamp. This was one of my favorite of the Pocket Brunch series so far.

  • Premeal – praline pig, bruleed grapefruit, banana foster bostock, suzette scones
  • Soup – Gumbo Z’herbes with greens and black-eyed peas
  • Salad – endive, chared okra, marinated oysters, blood orange and broiled oysters on half shell
  • Egg – artichoke hearts, white asparagus, stock-poached egg, creamed cress, parmesan hollandaise and country ham
  • Meat – local beef debris, grits 2 ways, crispy sweetbreads, green tomato pickle
  • Dessert – king cake

The meal was accompanied by cocktails by Nan’l Meiklejohn and coffee from Tandem Coffee Roasters.

Check out this big set of images from Zwickerhill Photography for more images from the event, as well as this post from Delicious Musings.

pb_partygras

On a related note, yesterday Food Coma published a write-up of last month’s Pocket Brunch with Rob Evans.

Tandem Coffee at the Flea-for-All

| Posted in Openings

Tandem Coffee is setting up an outpost at the Portland Flea-for-All. They’ll be serving pour-overs and selling bags of whole beans weekly on Saturdays and Sundays beginning today at 10 am. I’d recommend the Whahana natural process from Sumatra.

Chris Stiegler, former roaster at Mornings in Paris, has joined the staff at Tandem and will be manning the new weekend coffee station.

Review of Buck’s Naked BBQ

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of Buck’s Naked BBQ.

If you crave meat, Buck’s Naked BBQ Steakhouse offers it in all forms. With a clear understanding of Portland’s foodie sensibilities, Buck’s expands the barbecue experience to include international influences, and the menu offers a few interesting options for the vegetarian and fish-loving crowd. The atmosphere is fun, kid-friendly (in a non-obnoxious way), and the staff is hilarious.

Broadturn Barns

| Posted in Farming

The Broadturn Farm Blog has a new post about the renovation and repurposing of their barn and other outbuildings.

The buildings at Broadturn Farm have been a consistent focus over the years. The farmstead space is graced with a collection of connected buildings and stand alone outbuildings. It has a quintessential New England working farm aesthetic. Each building has been one thing, an then another. Renovated and re-renovated, torn down and re-built, these structures have evolved as the various enterprises of the farm saw periods of success and growth. Dating back to the early 1800s, the buildings tell us a story of who came before us and the legacy of hard work that is required to make a living off the land.

Reviews of Hot Suppa and Eve’s at the Garden

| Posted in Reviews

Map & Menu has published a review of Hot Suppa,

The ‘About Us‘ page on the Hot Suppa! website reads like every foodie’s fantasy – a culinary adventure across America, hitting all of the best local spots, and eating all of the favorite regional cuisines. Meredith and I can totally get behind an idea like that, and after just a few bites of any of the options on the Hot Suppa! menu, I bet you would too.

and The Golden Dish has published a review of Eve’s at the Garden.

The next assemblage was my entree of duck breast stroganoff.  This wasn’t bad.  It had the classic mushroom duxelles enriched with a rich veal stock and cream sauce served over pasta.  This was well done.  But the  duck was so tough I thought of asking our waiter for a machete.

Portland Whiskey

| Posted in Distilling & Cocktails

The Portland Phoenix has published a feature article about Portland’s budding distilling industry that highlights many of the behind the scenes collaborations between distillers and brewers in Portland.

What’s a beer-loving city to do in whiskey trending times? Distill. And collaborate. With the current popularity of supporting local business and drinking whiskey in general, it is prime time for small-scale distilleries to follow the lead of the microbrew culture and create artisanal spirits. The beginning of this micro-distillery movement in Portland is evident with the work of New England Distilling and Maine Craft Distilling. As these local distillers work to perfect and define their craft, they are finding little or no competition from their distilling and brewing peers, but rather, endless opportunities for collaboration.

This week’s Phoenix also includes a whiskey cocktail crawl by restaurant critic Brian Duff.
Perhaps because its assertiveness stands up to mixing, Bulleit bourbon and rye whiskey show up in many Portland bars’ specialty drinks. In the Wally Hardbanger at Sonny’s, its spice shines through the anise of Galliano and the sour of lemon. In a hot toddy at Figa (now hosting special events like last weekend’s art bar), the Bulleit mellowed as it blended with honey and the expert mix of clove and cinnamon created by Figa’s neighbor, Home Grown Tea. It’s a great winter drink.

Reviews of Local Sprouts & The Frosty Pint

| Posted in Reviews

What’s the Soup has published a review of Local Sprouts,

I sampled two soups on my visit. The first soup was a lemon grass, garlic, and chicken soup; it was reminiscent of pho. The stock was homemade, simmered using free range organic chicken from A Wee Bit Farm. It was a vibrant, colorful soup with tinges of purple, orange, and green. Big pieces of chicken floated amongst rice noodles, pea shoots, cabbage, shitake mushrooms, and carrots. Cilantro lended a more complex layer to the soup. The flavor was light and clean. I really enjoyed the soup and felt like I was eating healthy as well.

and the Press Herald has published a bar review of The Frosty Pint.

One of the best things about The Frosty Pint is the ample parking. I spend too much time circling the streets of the Old Port for an on-street spot, and it’s nice to just pull into a lot, park and walk through a bar’s doors.

West End Deli Profile

| Posted in People, Profiles

The Portland Daily Sun has published a profile of the West End Deli and owner Nancy Arnold.

Nancy Arnold, owner of The West End Deli, is not afraid to speak her mind about how tightly she runs her business, whom she choses to do business with, and how she feels about the customers who frequent the little deli, grocery, and beer and wine establishment she’s owned and operated for eight years.