Coming, Going and Expanding

| Posted in Under Construction, Closings

Here are some under construction update:

  • Mexico Lindo has closed up shop at their location on Forest Ave. There’s a sign up promoting a turnkey ready space for a someone looking to open a new restaurant.
  • A new sandwich shop to be called Mr. Sandwich & Mrs. Muffin is under construction at 3 Deering Ave. That space was formerly occupied by Pazzano’s Coffee Shop and still has the orange facade from when Percy’s was their. In the more distant past it had been the home of Honey’s Place.
  • Shima is planning to expand into the vacant space in their building on Fore Street. From what I can determine from the blueprints, the two spaces aren’t adjacent to one another but would be joined on the basement level where Shima’s kitchen is now.
  • Local Sprouts supplied a draft menu as part of their liquor license application. You can take a look at it on page 34 of the agenda for the upcoming Portland City Council meeting.

Twins, Triplets and Quads

| Posted in Profiles

The recent launches of Boda and Sonny’s are reminders that a growing number of Portland area food business are tied together by some degree of common ownership. Some of the connections are readily apparent such as Harding Lee Smith’s three ‘Room’ restaurants which share a single website and others are little less visible.
Note: I’ve continued to keep this list up to date as the business landscape continue to evolve (March 2011).
Here are the budding food empires that I’m aware of:

There are probably others, what am I missing?

Bar Review of Sonny’s

| Posted in Reviews

The Press Herald has published a new Bar Guide write-up on Sonny’s.

With the same style of cooking as Local 188, but with that South American flavor, Sonny’s uses local sources, organic foods and humane meat choices. Chances are you have already heard raves about the yam fries ($4), but the acarage (it resembles a black bean and shrimp fritter, $10) also is a nice place to start. It’s cold outside, so try the pozole rojo (chicken stew) for $9 or the mariscada del noche, a portion large enough for two, filled with scallops, mussels and clams.

Review of Yosaku

| Posted in Reviews

Yosaku has received a B grade in a review that appeared in the new edition of the USM Free Press.

If you’re craving Japanese cuisine, or just looking for a new spot for a night out, be sure to check out Yosaku. Just make sure to go on a day you aren’t in a rush. The food is always great, but the service is 50/50.

IIK: Vietnamese Papaya Salad

| Posted in Cooking

Lindsay Sterling has published another installment in her collaborative ethnic cooking project Inside Immigrant Kitchens. This time she learns from Hop Nguyen of Yarmouth how to make “green papaya salad from Bac Ninh province in northern Vietnam”.

But what’s really amazing is the story how she ended up here. Thirteen years ago in January in Vietnam, she was riding her bike home from English class in a short-sleeve shirt and jeans. The air was smoky, the gutters next to the road filled with trash. All the motorbikes honking their horns looked like a stream of fish rushing to spawning ground. As she came up to the archway at the Temple of Literature she saw a letter that someone had dropped on the sidewalk…

Vegan Chocolates & Worker Pay

| Posted in General News

Today’s Press Herald promotes the positive health benefits of vegan chocolates. The article includes a list of local establishments where you can find dairy-free food of the gods.

Researchers say chocolate gives us a heart-healthy antioxidant boost, but only if we enjoy it without a side order of dairy. With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, the heart-shaped boxes will be flying off the shelves, but for those of us who want to cater to our loved ones’ tickers (and not just their sweet tooth), we’ll be seeking out chocolates made without milk.

Today’s paper also reports on the results of a study on worker pay in Maine’s restaurant industry.

Using a sampling base of 525 surveyed workers – 1.1 percent of the Maine restaurant work force – the study found that in 2008, 16.3 percent earned a living wage, defined as $17 or more an hour. The largest group – 59.7 percent – fell into the “low wages” category, defined as $8.46 to $16.99 an hour.

The study found that 20.9 percent of restaurant workers earned between $7.25 and $8.45 an hour – a rate that puts them below the poverty line – and 3 percent made less than the then-minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.