Map & Menu has published a review of The Crooked Mile Cafe.
In cliche food blogger parlance, it was love at first bite. Serving up a variety of sandwiches, wraps, soups, and salads from their blackboard wall menus, and always with one or two tasty daily specials, The Crooked Mile is typically easy enough to pick out, just by the line of people out its front door.
Photograph courtesy of Map & Menu.
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald interviews several local chefs to get their perspective on photography in the dining room,
“We get a lot of people who photograph the food,” says Krista Desjarlais, the chef-owner of Bresca in Portland. “I guess I have mixed emotions about it sometimes, but ultimately I’m glad that they’re happy and want to do it. At night it gets trickier, and we grimace if someone uses a flash, being such a small room. I think people are understanding how intrusive it is, especially at night, to use a flash.”
and the Natural Foodie article for a few months before Avery Yale Kamila heads out on maternity leave.
As a vegetarian for more than 20 years, I’ve had numerous people ask me if I’ve had cravings for steak or ice cream or nacho cheese. The answer is no, no and no.
Instead, my only cravings center around savory home-cooked meals that I sometimes can’t seem to get enough of. (Yes, I did go back for a fifth helping of black beans and brown basmati rice during a recent dinner.)
Maine a la Carte has posted a report from the Monday night’s Sonnet dinner.
It was the latest pop-up dinner prepared by chef Damian Sansonetti, a newcomer to Portland who plans to open his own place in the city this spring, serving Italian farmhouse cuisine. Sansonetti, 35, worked for years at Daniel Boulud’s restaurants in New York.
The North Point has published a set of photos of their newly completed interior. They began interviewing potential new staff over the weekend and hope to open in mid-February.
Chef Chris Gould is making progress on the new Portland restaurant he has under development and is aiming for a July 1 opening day. Gould tells me he’s very close to signing a deal for a location in the Old Port. In the meantime he’s spending time lining up contractors, suppliers and key staff so the work of building and fitting out the restaurant can get off to a fast start once the space is secured.
Gould plans on serving a menu of international small plates that will in part draw on his interest in Spanish cuisine. 44 North will be creating a custom blend for the coffee service. The name for the restaurant is still under wraps. Might & Main, the folks who developed the branding for Eventide, have been hired to handle marketing for the restaurant.
Gould is currently working at Eventide with his friend and former colleague chef Andrew Taylor. He moved to Portland last year from Boston where he worked for Ken Orringer’s restaurants Uni and Coppa.
He was the winner of the 2012 Shucks Maine Lobster Chef World Series with a dish of “butter-poached lobster with ragout of sauteed knuckles, roasted fingerling potatoes, cinnamon-roasted carrots, roasted corn and sweet miso puree, and piquillo pepper”.
Monday —chef Damian Sansonetti is holding a Sonnet pop-up dinner.
Tuesday —chef Rob Evans is appearing on Food Network for an episode of Chopped Champions. El Rayo is kicking off their language exchange program; every Tuesday 3-4 pm El Rayo will host this event to connect English and Spanish native speakers. Participants will have a chance to learn from each other while enjoying half-priced drinks from the bar.
Thursday — the Great Lost Bear is showcasing Bray’s Brewpub.
Friday —in a continuation of their monthly international dinner series Eve’s is featuring Aphrodisiacs from Italy and Greece.
Saturday — Rosemont is holding a wine tasting, and the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.
Sunday — chefs Sam Hayward, Rob Evans and Chad Conley will be cooking at Flatbread to raise money for Share Our Strength, The Chinese Laundry will be serving up tea and dumplings at Speckled Ax, the (sold out) February edition of Pocket Brunch is taking place, Petite Jacqueline is screening Sabrina, Two Fat Cats is teaching a baking class.
Figa — starting this week Figa is reopening, by reservation only, on Fridays and Saturdays.
Valentine’s Day — restaurants have started posting their plans for Valentine’s Day. The holiday falls on a Thursday this year and nearly every restaurant will be open. Here are the one’s planning Valentine’s Day menus or events:
Modern Vegan Cooking School — throughout February and March, Modern Vegan is teaching a series a cooking classes on winter soups, cooking for weight loss, cooking with greens, vegan entertaining and more.
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.
A new shop called Cia is under construction at 72 Ocean Street in South Portland. Cia will be selling Coffee, Ice cream and Art, hence the name. They plan on opening this spring.
What’s the Soup has published a review of Sonny’s.
We were brought the two soups of the night, a vegetarian Harira, a Moroccan style chickpea stew and…The chickpea stew was outstanding! It had layer upon layer of flavor. The base of the soup is onions, tomatoes, and garlic brightened up with golden raisins, apricots, sweet potato, red lentils, and coconut milk. It gets spiced with cumin, paprika, and coriander and cardamom that lends a perfume essence to the stew.
An article on Serious Eats entitled “3 Reasons to Be Excited about Coffee Right Now” cites Tandem Coffee as an example of the “rising tide of great new roasters” springing up across the country.
Malcolm Bedell, co-creator of From Away, will be appearing on NBC’s Today show this morning prepare his Apricot Shellacked Ghost Chile Chicken Wings. His wings along with those of two other cooks will then be judged by Sunny Anderson.
Malcolm’s segment should air sometime between 8 and 9 am.
Update: Malcolm won the competition. Watch the cook-off on Today.com.