To celebrate their 40th anniversary, The Great Lost Bear has hidden 100 small stuffed (lost) bears all over Portland which are redeemable at the TGLB for a prize.
Review of Other Side Diner
The Press Herald has reviewed the Other Side Diner.
I went with the omelet, which was cooked perfectly and filled with fresh, sauteed spinach. Instead of toast I asked for an English muffin, which was split and toasted on the griddle, and slathered in butter. Thin and crispy; so simple yet so good. The hash browns come in a ball shape – somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball – and are crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside.
A&C Food Factory Launches Tuesday
A new food cart called A&C Food Factory (instagram) is scheduled to launch on Tuesday at Austin Street Brewing. According to their press release,
A&C Food Factory builds on the success of the Luncheonette at A&C Grocery on Washington Avenue. After two years of almost non-stop road work, A&C has proven that its reputation for quality, value and deliciousness continues to attract discerning customers with great taste. With A&C Food Factory the battle is over! Starting Tuesday, June 4th, A&C Food Factory will allow more folks to enjoy the A&C experience at both popular destinations and at the finest Breweries in Portland, Maine.
The A&C Food Factory is a collaboration between A&C Grocery owner Joe Fournier, chef Ben Slattery and Joe’s brother Mike. Slattery was formerly the garde manager at Chaval.
Under Construction: Tacos La Poblanita
A new food truck called Tacos La Poblanita (instagram) is under development and the owners hope to open in the next few weeks. They’ll be serving “authentic Mexican street food” including tacos, burritos and quesadillas.
Poke Maine Opens Next Week
A new food truck called Poke Maine (instagram) plans to launch next week. You will be able to find them on Tuesday through Thursday, 10 – 2, on Spring Street. Here’s a look at their menu.
Flood’s Opens Today
Under Construction: Candy’s
Candy’s (website, instagram) has leased the 3,724 sq ft 3-story building at 34 Portland St for their queer community hub which will include a cafe and a bar.
Milo Degoosh will be joining the Candy’s team as the Director of Coffee where he plans to serve coffee from Onyx Coffee Lab, a roaster from Arkansas.
Candy’s hopes to open sometime in late summer.
Portland Wine Week
The 2nd Annual Portland Wine Week (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) is taking place June 17 – 23 at various venues across the city. 73 events are on the calendar. Here are some of the highlights:
- A grand opening Women in Wine dinner featuring 5 women chefs (Cara Stadler, Melissa Kelly, Ilma Lopez, Paige Gould, Shanna Horner O’Hea) and the 10 women sommeliers.
- Classes and seminars such as one on Rancio wine by Patrick McDonald and Lauren Clarke, and a panel discussion on “What Really is Natural Wine?”
- Numerous special events and tastings including the opportunity to meet winemakers like Brianne Day who will be at Maine & Loire and Cedric Guyot who will be at Eventide, as well as importers like Karen Ulrich from T. Edwards Wines
- There’s a Women in Wine track running through all 7 days of Portland Wine Week
- 22 wine lunches and wine dinners. A few highlights include a Chateau Musar lunch at Evo, a 4-course dessert and sherry tasting at Chaval, a 3-course dessert, port and madeira tasting at Gross Confection Bar, and a 5-course dinner at Lio featuring wines from Patricia Green Cellars
- And for those of you who want to enjoy your wine and work off a few calories too there’s a PWW run with Ned Swain as well as a Barre and Bubbles class.
- And a wide variety of non-ticketed events that you can take advantage of throughout the week.
- 25 restaurants are participating in a wine passport program
In short, unless you really don’t like wine at all (and really, how could you not?) there’s something for everyone in the PWW calendar.
This Week’s Events: Flood’s Opening, Street Eats and Beats, Crawfish Boil, Rum Riot Rum, Koji Workshop, Caffeine Crawl
Monday – It’s Memorial Day, the informal start of Summer.
Wednesday – the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Friday – Flood’s (website, instagram, facebook) will open its doors to the public, and there will be a wine tasting at the Brighton Ave Rosemont Market.
Saturday – Caffeine Crawl has produced four different tours of Portland coffee shops, the 2019 edition of Street Eats and Beats is taking place, as is the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market.
Sunday – Po’ Boys is holding the 8th Annual Crawfish Boil, Cong Tu Bot will be on the road for an event at the Oyster River Winegrowers, 3 Portland distillers are releasing their collaboration spirit Rum Riot Rum and raising a toast to the memory of John Robbins, the 22-year-old sailor from Deer Isle who died in the 1855 Portland Rum Riot. Hugo’s and OurCookQuest are collaborating to offer a Koji Workshop.
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.
Review of Three Dollar Deweys
The Press Herald has reviewed the Three Dollar Deweys.
The new and improved version of Three Dollar Deweys includes some slight layout changes, nicely renovated bathrooms and a menu revamp that I’ll discuss later, but by far the most exciting development, in my opinion, is that there’s now a specialty cocktail menu featuring 10 drinks ranging from $8 to $13. I went with the $11.50 blood orange martini, one of my drinking companions ordered the $13 Commercial Street (tequila, apricot brandy liqueur, cranberry juice and fresh lime juice), and my other friend chose the $12 Paloma (tequila, grapefruit juice, agave nectar and soda water).