2023 Portland Wine Week

| Posted in Events

Portland Wine Week 2023

The 2023 Portland Wine Week (website, facebook, instagram) is taking place this summer June 12th to 18th at various locations across the city. There are 56 events and weeklong offerings on the calendar—be sure to check out the 33 events in the Women in Wine track.

Listed here are some of the highlights, see below or visit the Portland Wine Week site to see  the full list of events.

Portland Wine Week Schedule

Upcoming Events

| Posted in Events

Monday – Turamali is serving a 4-course Mexican dinner at Cabana.

Thursday – the second Maine Food Convergence session is taking place.

May 29 – Wilson County Barbecue is holding a pig roast.

May 29 – Chefs Cara Stadler and Leon Vuong are collaborating on a Memorial Day Brunch at Tao Yuan.

May 30 – GMRI is leading an Alewife Migration Walk at the Mill Brook Preserve, and Vena’s is leading a Tiki Cocktail Workshop at Liquid Riot.

June 2 – Liquid Riot is celebrating their 10th anniversary, and Full Plates is holding a Haute Lunch event at the Yarmouth High School.

June 4 – the Casco Bay Seafood Festival is taking place in Brunswick.

June 5 – The James Beard Awards ceremony will take place. Nezinscot Farm will receive an American Classics award and The Quarry in Monson will learn if they have won in the Outstanding Hospitality category.

June 9 – Chef Josh Berry and Mast Landing are collaborating on a 4-course beer dinner at The Maker’s Galley.

June 11 – Big Tree Hospitality is holding a farm to table dinner at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

June 12-18 – Portland Wine Week is taking place with events at restaurants all over the Portland area.

June 22-24 – the Holy Trinity Church is holding their annual Greek Festival.

July 23 – Maine Open Farm Day is taking place.

August 23 – An Outstanding in the Field dinner is taking place at Dandelion Spring Farm with guest chef Neil Zabriskie from Regards.

September 10 – Maine Cheese Festival.

September 24 – The Saltyard is holding a cocktail brunch at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

September 30 – Tender Table is holding their 3rd annual food and art fair in Congress Square Park.

October 8 – Maine Open Creamery Day is taking place.

November 5 – Chaval is holding a late harvest dinner at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

Tally’s at Stevens Square

| Posted in Openings

Tally’s Kitchen (website, instagram) has opened a second location in the Stevens Square Community Center. The new Tally’s serves the same menu (see below) as their original location on Marginal Way which includes breakfast sandwiches, bakery items, salads, wraps and lunch sandwiches. It features seating in the entry courtyard and in a sunny balcony overlooking the cafe.

Tally’s Kitchen was founded by Julie Taliento Walsh in 2018. The Stevens Square Community Center is a new mixed use development located in the former Catherine McAuley High School.

The Stevens Square Tally’s is open 7 am – 3 pm (and until 6 for prepared meal pickup and 2DineIn meal deliveries) on weekdays and 9 am – 3 pm on Saturdays.

Tasting Table: Room for Improvement

| Posted in Reviews

Tasting Table has included Room for Improvement in their list of the 17 New US Bars You Can’t Miss In 2023.

All that said, it’s difficult to nail down what kind of experience imbibers are looking for these days, but for these newcomers on the U.S. bar scene, the common thread is clear: A heavy pour of nostalgia with your Negroni cocktail. Whether it’s a low-lit spot that recalls jazz-age NYC, disco ball-adorned digs, vinyl-stocked revivals of the Japanese listening bars of the ’50s and ’60s, or hideaways that look like your parents’ basement in the best way, the spots on our list range from classy to cheeky. No matter what your preferred sipping style is, you’ll find a bar where you’ll want to pull up a stool.

Cherished Possessions & Pub

| Posted in Under Construction

A new business is under development in Allen’s Corner. A group of owners led by Samuel Eakin from Cherished Possessions plan to launch a diner and pub in 1,805 sq ft space at 64 Auburn Street.

The 40-seat establishment (see floor plan below) will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast and lunch will be modeled after Bayou Kitchen in Woodfords Corner. Eakin has reached an agreement with Bayou Kitchen to license their recipes and name for the daytime service (6 am to 2 pm), and Bayou will be providing training to the CP staff as part of the deal. In the afternoon and evening (2 to 10 pm) the pub will offer drinks and a menu inspired by Eakin’s home state of Louisiana.

Renovations to the building are underway. The final space will include general table seating and a bar. Furnishings from Cherished Possessions are being incorporated into the room’s design. Part of the yard facing Auburn Street will be landscaped to provide a spot for outdoor seating. The menu will be also be available for takeout.

When it opens later this year the restaurant will be open Wednesday through Monday, 6 am – 10 pm. Live music at the pub is part of the plan for weekend evenings.

Upcoming Events

| Posted in Events

Wednesday – La Gallera is holding a Puerto Rican takeout pop-up from the Belleville kitchen door on North Street.

Thursday – Mrs. Gee Free Living and Sur Lie are collaborating on a gluten-free dinner, and the first Maine Food Convergence session is taking place.

Friday – Onggi will be hosting Hana Makgeolli for a makgeolli brewing workshop.

Saturday – Maine Wild Wine Fest is taking place in Freeport.

Sunday – Judy Gibson is serving a 4-course dinner featuring wines from Italy.

May 21 – Coffee By Design is hosting coffee importer Jean Christophe Rustatira, owner of Umoko Coffee for a tasting and a talk and later in the day CBD is holding a tasting of three African coffees from Ethiopia, Burundi and Congo.

May 22 – Turamali is serving a 4-course Mexican dinner at Cabana.

May 25 – the second Maine Food Convergence session is taking place.

May 30 – GMRI is leading an Alewife Migration Walk at the Mill Brook Preserve.

June 4 – the Casco Bay Seafood Festival is taking place in Brunswick.

June 5 – The James Beard Awards ceremony will take place. Nezinscot Farm will receive an American Classics award and The Quarry in Monson will learn if they have won in the Outstanding Hospitality category. Scratch Baking is teaching a (sold out) bagel baking class,

June 11 – Big Tree Hospitality is holding a farm to table dinner at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

June 12-18 – Portland Wine Week is taking place with events at restaurants all over the Portland area.

July 23 – Maine Open Farm Day is taking place.

August 23 – An Outstanding in the Field dinner is taking place at Dandelion Spring Farm with guest chef Neil Zabriskie from Regards.

September 10 – Maine Cheese Festival.

September 24 – The Saltyard is holding a cocktail brunch at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

September 30 – Tender Table is holding their 3rd annual food and art fair in Congress Square Park.

October 8 – Maine Open Creamery Day is taking place.

November 5 – Chaval is holding a late harvest dinner at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport.

New Cook Bootcamp

| Posted in People

The Press Herald recently published a report on the New Cook Bootcamp program run by HospitalityMaine in collaboration with York County Community College.

The course is taught by Joe Pirkola, a chef and longtime college and high school culinary teacher, who seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, able to teach the students – almost simultaneously – how to neatly slip a stuffed crepe from a china plate to a steam table pan and how to clean up a plate that had shattered on the floor (a broom! Don’t use your hands!), while reminding them to provide utensils for each of their dishes and to sprinkle chicken wings with sesame seeds. In the restaurant world, presentation matters.

Read more about the program and register to attend.

Le Family, Local English Muffins

| Posted in General News, People

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes an article about the Huong Le and her family, and

She would go on to have three more children in Portland (and now two granddaughters, as well); to help them get the education she never could; to work long hours in odd jobs to support her family; to open Huong’s, the city’s first sit-down Vietnamese restaurant, and run it for almost two decades; and to see two of her girls open Vietnamese eateries of their own. As her daughter Tuyet “Snow” Thi Le posted on Instagram earlier this spring, “She never stopped working to give her kids a better life the ‘American dream.’ ”

a survey of locally produced English muffins.

Tasting and re-tasting my way through some of the area’s best English muffins has been no hardship. As I’ve done so, I’ve spent time thinking about how differences in flavor, size and format imply a range of different uses. We’re living in a golden age of baking where there’s an English muffin for every occasion. Here are just a few of my favorites.