Arcadia has announced plans to move their Preble Street barcade to new, much larger digs in the 17,000 sq ft space formerly occupied by Port City Music Hall at 504 Congress St.
To help fund the move, Aceto has launched a $40,000 crowdfunding campaign on Go Fund Me. As of the writing of this article, supporters have already raised $20,000+ of the goal. To make a contribution visit the Go Fund Me page for Arcadia.
As reported back in January, a new brewery called Belleflower Brewing (website, facebook, instagram) has taken over the former Brewery Extrava space in East Bayside. Owners Zach Page, Melissa Page, Nick Bonadies and Katie Bonadies plan on launching later this year producing a line-up of hoppy beers and stouts to start.
Belleflower has now applied for a liquor license. In the cover letter submitted with the application they’ve indiciated that they will offer wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks in addition to their house-made beer, and will have a changing menu of “pre-packaged snacks from local vendors”. The draft menu includes a cheese and charcuterie board from The Cheese Shop.
Novare Res is one of 20 venues across the country that are nominees in the USA Today Best Beer Bar readers choice initiative.
Take a moment to go over to the USA Today 10 Best site to vote for the hometown favorite.
Additionally, Portland is a contender for Best Beer City. Cast your vote for our town.
Wyoming-based Vertical Harvest which is breaking ground on a 70,000 sq ft greenhouse in Westbrook this year has gotten some ink in Fast Company where they’ve shared plans to add greenhouses in Chicago and Philadelphia to their future construction schedule.
The Press Herald reports a decision by the city to close Dana, Milk and Wharf Streets as well as a part of Middle Street to car traffic but to re-open Exchange Street for regular vehicular traffic.
The barricades last year allowed some businesses to expand outdoor seating or shopping into the empty street, so customers could avoid coming indoors and practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some businesses, especially restaurants, took advantage of that option. Others, particularly retailers, said their foot traffic dropped. The city reopened the streets when the temperatures dropped in November but allowed outdoor dining to continue.
Chaval is launching a new takeout pop-up series called Con Todo (instagram). The pop-ups will be taking place every 3-4 weeks and each one will have a different theme.
The first Con Todo will be taking place Monday March 1st and the concept is Chef’s Night Out in KTown. Chaval has been barrel fermenting kimchee for the last 2 months and they’re excited to use it in the upcoming Con Todo menu. Future ideas for pop-ups include a Quebec sugar house menu, and a Piccolo dinner.
Follow Con Todo on instagram to get alerted when pre-orders go live.
Sam Sifton will be the featured guest in a Press Herald Maine Voices Live event taking place April 6th. Register online to attend.
Sam Sifton is the assistant managing editor of The New York Times, overseeing culture and lifestyle coverage. He is the founding editor of NYT Cooking, writes a food column for The New York Times Magazine. While based in New York City, Sifton has spent time in Maine every year of his life. His love of the state and its food heritage frequently shows up in his popular NYT Cooking email newsletter.
Sifton was originally scheduled to speak on March 16th, 2020, but the event was postponed due to the pandemic.
The Portland Phoenix has published an update on Newscape Brewing.
Today is National Random Acts of Kindness Day, and in keeping with the spirit of that holiday, hospitality and marketing pro Jennifer Trebino Wyllie (instagram) is launching the Kindfulness Service Challenge.
Wyllie shared the definition of Kindfulness which is “the quality or state of being mindful of the people around you + bringing kindness to their day”.
For her program she’s challenging us all for the next 10 days to “consciously + purposely be kind to service workers. It costs nothing to be kind and I know that not only will service workers have better days, but everyone will feel happier + lighter and hopefully continue doing so. This is meant to be a habit breaking challenge that spreads kindness and love.”
For more information see the steps in the graphic shown here and view the program announcement on instagram.
The Press Herald has published a report on Maine’s sea urchin fishery, and efforts to develop an sea urchin aquaculture industry.
Though sea urchins may seem an unlikely focus for Maine’s burgeoning aquaculture industry, “uni,” also known as urchin roe or gonads, is considered a delicacy in many Asian and some European markets. Steve Eddy, director of the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, believes urchin could become a valuable economic driver for the Northeast region.