Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd makes some observation on the intersection of prom season and restaurants.
Prom season hit Greater Portland with a corsaged-vengeance these past few weekends, and along with it the annual grievances that plague high-end restaurants when Johnny’s mom calls to make a reservation for an unknown number (Billy isn’t sure his date has enough money to pay for her own dinner and Wendy is a raw food vegan this week) of 16- and 17-year-old kids.
Bon Appetit has included Miyake in their list of the top 10 new sushi restaurants in the country.
Some of the best sushi on the East Coast is at Portland’s Miyake–a former BYOB operation hoisted from its tiny digs and installed in a remarkably elegant new space. There’s a gorgeous geometric birch dropped ceiling, comfy black chairs, and Masa Miyake himself.
The Blueberry Files has posted a report from her first visit to the LFK.
Spread is now open for dinner. The restaurant is located at 100 Commercial Street in the former location of Gaucho’s and Oolong.
Bier Cellar is under construction at 299 Forest Ave across the street from Glickman Library. As the name suggests the store will retail craft beer as well as a big selection of craft beer, as well as wine, cider and mead. Owners Greg and Katie Norton “are optimistically shooting for June 1” for an opening day.
Tuesday — Sea Change Cooking is holding an olive oil tasting at the Woodlands Club in Falmouth.
Wednesday — Frog & Turtle is hosting a beer dinner and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.
Thursday — there will be a wine tastings at Rosemont on Brighton and at Browne Trading, and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing a selection of beers from the Sixpoint Brewery.
Saturday — the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.
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.
Tandem Coffee Roasters is under construction at 122 Anderson Street in Bayside. Involved in the new venture is Kathleen Pratt who resume includes the highly regarded Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco.
You can follow their process of getting the operation up and running on their Tumblr and see some additional photos om the More & Co. blog.
The Portland Phoenix has proposed a system for ranking applicants for open slots at the farmers market.
The idea would be that, upon the opening of a slot at one of the markets, every applicant would be scored according to this chart (or whatever this chart is revised into). The highest-scoring vendor would be first admitted. If there were more than one slot available, then the slots would be assigned based on score.
The Golden Dish has posted a report on the opening of the LFK.
Without question LFK is also highly idiosyncratic. Vintage Remington Rand style typewriters are scattered about the room. And when at first I saw a young man at the typewriter I thought central casting had sent him over to perform. But during the course of the evening a sundry succession of typists took turns as though belting out pages of a collective work in progress.
The Portland Daily Sun has published an article on the City’s process for regulating food trucks in Portland.
“It sounds like we’ve still got a few moving parts here,” said Councilor John Coyne. He said after hearing the proposal and public comments, he thinks there are still some unanswered questions.
“I think it’s important to have the opportunity to have the detail flushed out,” said Councilor Jill Duson. She said if the committee takes the time to carefully address any questions about the proposal, it will be easier to win the support of the full council.