Tiqa has leased the Deering Oaks Castle where they plan to operate Tiqa Cafe, reports the Press Herald.
He said breakfast items would consist of bagels and pastries, with coffee by Coffee by Design. Lunches would be sandwiches and salads, and dinners would probably include an item from the restaurant menu along with salads and sandwiches.
Urban Eye has posted an update on Hero.
Hero, opening in early March at 30 City Center, is about to rock your downtown lunch game Portland. Don’t have a lunch game? You soon will.
“Portland is in need of a lunch spot that is consistently producing high quality food,” said co-owner Todd Bernard, who makes diners swoon at Empire on Congress Street with lobster dim sum delights.
The Press Herald reports the Harvest on the Harbor conference has been sold.
The buyers are Stefanie Manning and Gabrielle Garofalo, partners in Portland-based S&G LLC.
Manning is the vice president of marketing and circulation at MaineToday Media and Garofalo owns Gabrielle Garofalo Inc. Consulting & Creative Energy in New York City, where she has worked on the 2012 Billboard Music Awards and New York Magazine’s annual Taste of New York culinary event.
The Press Herald reports that Vinland owner David Levi has decided to name the natural wine bar he has under construction at 3 Deering St Rossobianco. Levi plans to serve Northern Italian food at Rossobianco,
“My family on my dad’s side is northern Italian,” Levi said. “My family’s from Venice and Milan. I’ve spent a lot of time there, and it’s really the cuisine I grew up with. I’ve always had a very deep love for it…
The Forecaster has posted an update on the branch of the Old Port Lobster Shack under construction on Fore Street. It is the 4th location of a California firm owned by a Boston native and former Portland resident.
Russell Deutsch is ready for a homecoming, even if it is a bit later than expected.
“There is no rush, I want to do it right,” he said Monday about his delayed plans to open the Old Port Lobster Shack in late April at 425 Fore St.
It has been almost a year since city councilors approved a license for the restaurant, which would be the first on the East Coast for the California chain.
Food & Wine interviewed chefs David Levi at Vinland and Justin Walker at Earth about ingredients they forage throughout the winter in Maine.
Though his restaurant, Earth, is closed in the off-season, Walker gets inventive with wild Maine moss in winter. “We have a lot of reindeer moss growing on the Hidden Pond property,” he says. “It grows on ledgy areas. If it’s frozen you can reconstitute it in water, or you can burn it into an ash, which you can do a zillion things with. Or you can fry it. It’s very interesting fried,” he says. “But it’s just an addition—you don’t eat a pile of reindeer moss, unless you’re at Noma.”
Chefs Nikos Regas from Emilitsa, Thomas Pisha-Duffly from The Honey Paw and Austin Miller from Mami are competing in the 2016 Lamb Jam in Boston on April 10th. They’ll be competing against 20 chefs from across New England.
Baxter Brewing’s Pamola Xtra Pale Ale (#41), and both Peeper (#7) and Mo (#2) from Maine Beer Company were rated some of the best Pale Ale’s on the market in Paste magazine’s blind tasting.
The verdict: Whoever formulates hop-forward beer recipes at Maine Beer Co. just knows how to push our buttons, but we’re glad to at least note that beer geeks everywhere seem to agree with us. MO is the slightly bigger brother of Peeper, and it’s also the more assertive and unforgettable beer by the same margin…It ends with the immaculately clean crispness we’ve come to expect from MBC. There’s no brewery in 2016 using American hops so well, so consistently.
Here’s a look inside the construction site of Hero, a counter service sandwich shop located at 30 City Center, the former home of Soakology. It is collaboration between Empire co-owner Todd Bernard and Mike Keon and Anthony Allen, founders of Otto Pizza. Hero plans to provide downtown office workers with a new lunchtime alternative, and will also be serving prepared meals like rotisserie chicken to go at the end of the work day.
