Casa Novello received 3½ stars from this week’s Taste & Tell column in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
This utterly solid resource for inexpensive Italian-American dinners, so welcome in the winter, has the added attraction of exceptional service.
Co-ops are Sprouting
Both Local Sprouts and the Portland Food Co-op got ink in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram as part of an article on the increasing interest in co-ops.
Chicken Farmers Corner Grace
There are several articles of interest in today’s Portland Daily Sun:
- A feature article on the new restaurant initiatives that are proceeding during a downturn in the economy. The optimists behind The Corner Room, The Farmer’s Table and Figa were all interviewed for the piece.
- An update on Grace, the new restaurant being built in the renovated Chestnut Street Church.
- An article on Portland’s local food movement and the new Portland chicken ordinance.
Portland City Council
This week’s meeting of the Portland City Council resulted in the passage of an ordinance to permit Portlanders to raise chickens, denial of a liquor license for Cactus Club (which will stay open pending an appeal), and passage of liquor licenses for two new establishments, Pearl and The Farmer’s Table.
Borealis Review
Borealis Breads received 3 stars from this week’s Eat & Run column in the Press Herald.
Whoever made this chowder did everything right. The flavors were well-balanced, and the consistency just right. The herb wasn’t overwhelming, and the potatoes were neither over- nor undercooked. And did I mention there was lots of shrimp? At $6.50 for a 12-ounce bowl, it was worth every penny.
I was less impressed with my sandwich. The roast turkey with onion jam and cream cheese (sounds good, doesn’t it?) came without the onion jam because they were out of it that day. Some kind of caramelized onions was substituted.
Later, I also discovered there was no cream cheese.
Blue Spoon Review
The Portland Phoenix has reviewed the prix fixe option at Blue Spoon.
Our salad offered an even more generous helping of mushrooms — in this case an interesting variety from the mushroom-masters at Oyster Creek, where they combine foraging and cultivation. The best was the earthy-sweet hedgehog mushroom, shaped like an ugly fist. The subtle bitter of baby arugula would have worked better with the earthy fungi if the vinaigrette dressing had been a bit less sweet.
Pazzano's Coffee Shop
Pazzano’s Coffee Shop opened for business last night in Bramhall Square. Hopefully they can bring a little life to that corner that was hit by a fire that knocked out Binga’s Wingas and Al-Mustaqim Halal.
Food Film Series
One Longfellow Square in association with Rabelais Books and the Maine Institute of Food and Drink is launching a Food Film series. The movie series will kick off on March 8 with a showing of Big Night and food provided by Paciarino. There will be a new showing the first Sunday of each month with a theme appropriate restaurant partnering with each one. The upcoming schedule consists of:
March 8 – Big Night with food from Paciarino
April 5 – Diner with food from Miss Portland Diner
May 3 – Tampopo with food from Food Factory Miyake
June 7 – Babette’s Feast with food from Evangeline
Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors
This week’s edition of The Maine Switch includes an article on the Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors program recently launched by Margo Mallar.
When Margo Mallar volunteered at last fall’s Harvest on the Harbor festival, she realized Maine is filled with enthusiastic food lovers, but few have formal culinary training. So she’s decided to do something about it. The result is a brand new program called the Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors, which kicks off at the beginning of March with a series of classes exploring Maine-made cheeses.
What's New in the Old Port
Portland in a Snap has a report on a number of new eateries that are under construction in the Old Port: Bard Coffee Roasters, Luna Rossa, Wasabi, The Corner Room and The Farmer’s Table.