This Week’s Events: BRGR Bar, PSO Wine Dinner, Baharat

MondayBRGR Bar (facebook) is scheduled to open at 5 pm at their new location, 11 Brown Street.

Wednesday – the 16th Annual Portland Symphony Orchestra wine dinner is taking place with featured chefs Krista Kern Desjarlais from The Purple House, Brian Hill from Francine Bistro, Sam Hayward from Fore Street, Cara Stadler from Tao Yuan/Bao Bao/Lio and Troy Mains from the Harraseeket Inn. Grace is holding a Titanic-themed dinner, and Terlingua is hosting a Bissell Brothers beer dinner.

ThursdayBaharat (facebook) is scheduled to open at 5 pm at their new restaurant in East Bayside on the corner of Anderson and Fox Streets, and Fore River Brewing will be at Bao Bao for a tap takeover.

Friday – it’s Saint Patrick’s Day. Consult the website of your favorite Irish bar for plenty of green beer festivities.

Saturday – the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place, as is the spring market at Fork Food Lab.

Sunday – the 2nd Annual Cream of the Crop dinner 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.

Reviews: Isa, Liquid Riot, DiPietro’s

The Bollard has reviewed Isa,

My croque madame ($11), an open-faced sandwich of prosciutto, Swiss cheese and a sunny-side-up egg, was positively otherworldly, with a balance of flavor and texture that was damn near perfect. Even the lightly dressed salad greens on the side were outstanding.

the Press Herald has reviewed DiPietro’s,

The chicken Parmesan sandwich at DiPietro’s is one of my favorites, and I’ve tried many. The chicken is tender with a crisp breading. It comes with a lot of sauce and cheese, melted well, but it’s wrapped in foil so you don’t have to mess up your hands too much.

and Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Liquid Riot.

Liquid Riot was really good. The only concern I had was that the burger was 16 bucks and I think for that price, it has to be a little more spectacular. It was a solid offering, but even with the fries and awesome mustard, I didn’t quite have the feeling I got what I paid for. Either way, I’ll be back to try some of their other food. It was excellent overall and I found it a fun place to hang for a while.

D.L. Geary Being Sold

The Press Herald reports that D.L. Geary Brewing is slated to be sold to Alan Lapoint.

D.L. Geary Brewing Co. is being sold to a Freeport businessman who has taken over the management of Portland’s first craft brewery and intends to complete the acquisition before the end of the year.

Kelly Lucas, whose parents, David and Karen Geary, co-founded the brewery in 1983, identified the buyer late Thursday evening as Alan Lapoint of Freeport.

Under Construction: BRGR Bar

Urban Eye has published an update on BRGR Bar, the New Hampshire casual restaurant that’s scheduled to open their second location Monday in Portland.

Just when you thought Portland’s dining scene had no holes left to fill, along comes BRGR Bar. Opening Monday in the former Margaritas space on Brown Street, this sleek, art-filled burger bar is a modern Golden Arches for urbanites.

Greater Portland’s Best Bagel

The Press Herald convened a panel of judges to evaluate and rank Portland-area bagel options.

Southern Maine has more sources for good bagels than ever before. So much so that in October Saveur magazine gave one Maine bagel maker major props, calling the wood-fired sourdough bagel from Forage Market in Lewiston one of the best in the country, “good enough to melt the heart of the most hardened New York bagel snob.”

This explosion of bagel love made us wonder: Which local bakery is producing the best bagel? And what makes a bagel a good bagel, anyway?

Results: Bagels from Scratch Baking came out on top with ones from The Purple House, Maple’s, 158 Pickett Street Cafe, Rosemont and Union Bagel Co. in second through sixth place respectively.

4th Annual Maine Beer Madness

Round 1 of the Maine Beer Madness tournament has kicked-off.

It’s finally here, the true Big Dance: the 4th Annual Maine Madness Beer Tournament, where 64 Maine beers compete for glory in a month-long bracketed tournament voted on by the public.

This year’s field of competitors is the best we’ve seen, and it’s all thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in making Maine’s beer scene world-class.

Cast your vote in round 1.