This Week’s Events: Big Night, Bourbon Certification Class, Flea Bites

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – the Roma is holding a Big Night themed dinner.

Wednesday – the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Thursday – The Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from Lone Pine Brewing.

Friday – there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont on Brighton.

Saturday – a Bourbon certification class, a Black Dinah pop-up at LeRoux Kitchen, the grand opening of Forage Market, and the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market are taking place.

Sunday – the August edition of Flea Bites will be gathering food trucks in Congress Square Park.

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.

Forage Market Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Forage Market (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) opened their new Portland location at 123 Washington Ave yesterday and sold out before the day’s end. They are open for a second soft opening day on Sunday with a grand opening slated for Saturday.

Forage is perhaps best know for the bagels which Saveur tipped for the best in the country. In addition, Smith and his team lead by Portland store manager Laura Posiak also plans to serve breakfast sandwiches and hand-made pastries in the morning and European-style market sandwiches along with soups and salads for lunch

Reviews: Lio, Solo Italiano, Drifters Wife

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has reviewed Lio,

Not to be missed at Lio, either, are the house-made pastas and thoughtfully constructed desserts. A dish of pappardelle with duck confit, artichoke, tarragon, Kalamata panko and lemon would make an excellent solo dinner. Follow it up with a dessert of Moscato Zabaglione — an Italian take on the French sabayon with poached peach, blueberry basil sorbet and elderflower — and you’ll be hard-pressed to find something to complain about.

Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Solo Italiano, and

I was quite impressed every step of the way. You can’t go wrong with the pesto, so I highly recommend that, but I enjoyed everything we ordered. Solo Italiano is definitely worthy of a visit and I recommend trying as many items as you can handle, or maybe even more.

The Golden Dish has reviewed Drifters Wife.

We snacked on a bowl of pickles, which was the best dish; but I like anything sweet, and these pickles would win first prize at a county fair. Another dish of mushrooms was splendid as was an entrée of scallops in a tomato broth and a half chicken with buttery braised cabbage and plums. The leg and breast were so big it might have come from a condor. But it was earthy and tasty, a bit dry perhaps and the plums should have added more sweetness.

Under Construction: Dizzy Bird, Time & Tide

| Posted in Under Construction

Two new businesses are under development in Biddeford:

Dizzy Birds Rotisserie (facebook, instagram) has leased 2,500 sq ft of space at 59 and 65 Main Street where owners Tom and Barb Peacock plan to open 50-seat counter service restaurant in October. Dizzy Bird will serve, ” ‘honest to goodness’ elevated scratch comfort foods [prepared] in small batches all day long. There will be a live carvery featuring rotisserie beef, lamb, pork, turkey and anything else that is delicious off the spit…and hot and cold sides complementing the daily menus. Hand-crafted rotisserie sandwiches, entrees, tossed salads, soups and freshly baked goods will be available daily.” Dizzy Bird also plans to sell prepared food to take-out or finish up at home (e.g. frozen individual and family-sized pot pies).

A new coffee shop and roastery, Time & Tide (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) is under construction on lower Maine Street. Co-owners Briana and Campbell and Jon Phillips hope to open sometime in October. Phillips formerly worked as the Director of Specialty Coffee for Dallis Brothers Coffee.  Phillips and Campbell plan to focus on single origin and blended specialty coffee with a focus on making the coffee and coffee house experience more accessible.

Allen’s Coffee Brandy

| Posted in General News

The Daily Beast has posted an article about Maine’s abiding love for Allen’s Coffee Brandy.

As it turns out, Fireball is actually made in Maine—at a Lewiston facility that the Sazerac Co. acquired a few years ago. Allen’s Coffee Brandy is made in Massachusetts, the state to the south that many Maine residents consider loathsome. Offering a potential future challenge, Sazerac Co. has stepped up its production of Mr. Boston Coffee Flavored Brandy, using coffee extract made in nearby Portland and touting “Made in Maine” on the label. (Sales of Mr. Boston coffee brandy to date remain less than one-tenth of Allen’s.)

Outdoor Dining in Westbrook

| Posted in General News

Legends Rest is launching their outdoor seating area tonight along River Walk in Westbrook at 4 pm.

What makes this notable is that there outdoor dining option takes advantage of a new state law that allows restaurants to serve alcohol outdoors even when the dining area isn’t immediately adjacent to the restaurant. Legends Rest may in fact be the first  restaurant in the state to make use of the new provision.

Chef Paolo Laboa & Restaurant City of the Year

| Posted in Reviews, People

Today’s Press Herald includes a feature on Paolo Laboa, the chef at Solo Italiano,

Spend a little time with Paolo Laboa, the executive chef at Solo Italiano in Portland, and you’ll probably discover you’ve been doing pesto all wrong. You’ve been using the wrong basil, or too much basil. You’ve been heavy-handed with the garlic. Or you’re serving the pesto in the wrong way.

But that’s OK. Laboa, 55, considers himself a teacher and is happy to share his family’s pesto recipe and explain the right technique so your summer pesto doesn’t turn out too garlicky or bitter, or with a coarse texture. Since at this time of year, the basil is practically bursting out of the garden, we asked him for a lesson.

and a follow-up on yesterday’s news that BA has named Portland the 2018 Restaurant City of the Year.

Certainly, the number of restaurants in Portland has grown significantly over the past 20 years. In 1998, just 27 Class 1 restaurants were licensed in the city, defined in part as those that sell at least $50,000 worth of food annually – places such as Back Bay Grill, Fore Street, David’s, Sapporo and DiMillo’s. By July 2018, that number had grown to 113, with another seven licenses pending. The number of restaurants with Class XI licenses, the other major restaurant category for the city, also grew dramatically, from 14 in 1998 to 53 in July 2018.

“I’ve heard Portland people say there are too many restaurants, there are not enough people to go around,” Knowlton said. “Sometimes I think Portland people don’t realize how good they have it.”

BA Restaurant City of the Year

| Posted in Reviews

Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appétit has named Portland the 2018 Restaurant City of the Year,

For starters, it’s the sheer number of outstanding openings—from a tiny pastry shop that serves knockout Roman pizza to a Jewish-style deli that ranks up there with New York and L.A.’s best. And while you can still get an Instagram-worthy lobster roll and a dozen local oysters, you’re missing out if you skip the killer pho spot or the guy selling hand rolls out of a Yeti cooler.