Roustabout(twitter, instagram, facebook, website) is now open. Last night’s menu includes dishes such as Pasta Fagioli, Seafood Salad with octopus, chickpeas chilies and bitter greens, Bolognese with garganelli, fonduta and basil, Roast Chicken Fra Diavolo, Skate Piccata and Eggplant Parmesan.
The 75-seat restaurant and bar is located at 59 Washington Ave near Oxbow, Tu Casa and Terlingua and immediately next to Maine & Loire.
Monday — Portland Beer Week kicked off yesterday. There’s a plethora of beer tastings, tap takeovers, lunches, dinners and lectures taking place over. The next 6 days. Checkout the PBW website for a full list of events.
Tuesday — 11 professional/amateur beer collaborations will be on tap at Salvage.
Wednesday — Bao Bao is hosting a Bissell Brothers beer dinner, Novare Res is holding an Oxbow bottle tasting, and the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Thursday — The Maine Center For Creativity is holding a talk on the Art and Science of Brewing, and there will be a wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House.
Friday — Master Brewer/Co-Founder Jean François Gravel from Brassserie Dieu du Ceil will be Novare.
Saturday — the 2015 edition of Where the Wild Biers are is taking place at Novare and the 22nd Annual Maine Brewers Festival is taking place at the Portland Expo, Rising Tide is holding the bottle release for Hesperus, there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont on Brighton, and the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Sunday – Slab is hosting a Hangover Brunch, and Aurora Provisions is teaching a pie baking class.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away. I’m assembling a list of Thanksgiving dinners and local resources for home cooks and related events. Here’s what’s surfaced so far:
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.
Today marks the first full day of Portland Beer Week. Dozens of tap takeovers, beer tours, dinners, classes andd presentations are taking place at restaurants and bars all over Portland for the next 7 days.
Check out the full schedule on the PBW website.
The 10 restaurants PFM readers checked out most often last month were:
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
Orenda and Peter Hale have submitted a liquor license application for their natural wine bar, the Drifter’s Wife(instagram, website). The bar will be co-located with the Hale’s wine shop Maine & Loire. The draft menu (page 35) includes items such as shaved fennel with meyer lemon and aged gouda, and mushroom toast with eggs and herbs.
The natural wine bar will have seating for about 20 including a small 8-seat bar. The Hale’s are aiming to craft a space that be both a “convivial hangout with the energy we feel when we drink at our favorite places” and a place where people can have direct experience with the natural wines they specialize in.
A new bar called the Munjoy Hill Tavern is under construction at 189 Congress Street in the former Mama’s Crow Bar space. The draft menu (pages 72-73) includes items such as stuffed mushroom caps, chicken tenders, flatbread pizza and a boneless chicken breast sandwich.
According to the liquor license application, owner Stanley Dobson hopes to open the tavern in November.
Portland Magazine has reviewed Union,
Next up, native beet salad–a bountiful bowl of perfectly cooked red and golden beets glowing atop a delectable dressing of local yogurt, curry oil, and ginger emulsion. This dish alone is proof the Union lives up to its self described “farm to table hotspot.”
and Drink Up and Get Happy has reviewed The King’s Head.
The King’s Head brings a unique take to a city with a reputation for bars with quality beer offerings. As a gastropub they have 40 taps filled with craft beer to be paired with their delicious food.
Travel + Leisure has posted a “Glutton’s Guide to Portland, Maine”.
The nation’s first, and easternmost, city of Portland may not have a TV show, but it does have a food and beverage scene to rival any American destination. From fresh oysters topped with kimchi shaved ice to banana-flavored beer, here are some of our favorite Portland places to indulge your inner glutton.
Mentioned in the article are: Allagash, Bissell Brothers, Central Provisions, Duckfat, Eventide, Fisherman’s Grill, Foundation Brewing, Grace, Green Elephant, New England Distilling, and Shipyard.
The Bangor Daily News has published an update on Farm Truck Juice.
Focused on farm-direct purchases, founder Walter Loeman says the stand will source from 30 Maine farms in season. Organic apples, blueberries, kale and carrots grown from Palermo to Dresden to Camden will be blended with more exotic fruit such as kiwi and roots like ginger. The oranges in his sunny bunny concoction will hail from down south. “We will have six or seven proprietary drinks,” said Loeman, who is no stranger to the Portland food scene.
Restaurateur Walter Loeman who founded Walter’s, Perfetto’s, Mazza, Cotton Street Cantina and several other restaurants is part of the cooperative team launching Farm Truck Juice(facebook, website, twitter, instagram).
The Golden Dish has reviewed Abilene.
We started off with the appetizer, Manchego Toast. The dish was inspired by a chef Colgan knew in New Orleans. House made focaccia, lightly toasted, is topped with the melted Spanish Manchego cheese, with judicious hints of garlic and shallot and topped with a duxelle of mushrooms soaking in a sauce of Sherry and mushroom broth. I could have this ten times over and never tire of the dish.
For more information on Abilene, read this interview with the owners in the Portland Phoenix.