Booze, Fish & Coffee has reviewed Taco Trio.
THIS is the real deal. When you’re looking for authentic Mexican eats in Maine, this is the place: house-made corn tortillas, unbelievable salsas, and slow-cooked flavors like you wouldn’t believe. Our favorites were the pastor (pork in pineapple adobo sauce) and carnitas (seared pork). A close second: carne asada. Honorable mention: goat barbecue. Don’t forget to hit the salsa table.
MPBN has interviewed chefs Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley about the cancellation of this year’s Maine shrimp season.
Wiley says shrimp have been scarce the last couple of years, but to have to take them off the menu this winter is disappointing.
“It means one less exciting local product to work with,” Wiley says. “That’s certainly a bit of a drag, but we’d like to see Maine shrimp on menus 10 years from now more than we need to have it on the menu this upcoming year.”
Hilltop Coffee (facebook) is moving from it’s present location next to Rosemont Market on Munjoy Hill to 100 Congress Street, the former home of Bar Lola. This will be the 2nd move for Hilltop. It was originally located at 99 Congress, the current home of Willa Wirth.
Hilltop is owned by Guy and Stella Hernandez. The pair recently shutdown Bar Lola and are working on a new restaurant project that will open next year.
In additional coffee news, the Coffee by Design building on Washington Ave is available for lease. CBD has moved their roasting operation from that building to East Bayside and will soon be opening a coffee shop in that neighborhood as well.
This week’s Portland Phoenix provides advice on making oysters part of your holiday party,
To successfully shuck your own oysters, you’ll need an oyster knife ($10), available at the seafood market where you purchase your oysters. Above all, be careful. Shucking oysters is supposed to add to a holiday party, not interrupt it with an emergency-room visit. Wash your oysters well to remove the grit on the shells. Use the tip of the oyster knife to pry open the two shells of the oyster at the hinge using leverage, not brute strength. Watch a few videos online to get the basics, and practice your technique until you’re shucking with ease.
and an article about the new East Bayside location for the winter farmers market.
This winter, the Portland Farmers’ Market will be in a new location in a neighborhood known for its food and beverage businesses. It won’t be the first time the farmers’ market has moved to complement the growth of an area. In 1990, the Wednesday market moved from Federal Street to Monument Square to counteract the loss of the Porteous department store (where the Maine College of Art is now). It makes sense now that the winter farmers’ market is moving to East Bayside, Portland’s most up-and-coming neighborhood.
Both articles are by Blueberry Files author Kate McCarty.
Update: for additional reporting on the winter market see this article in the Bangor Daily News.
Mainely Wraps (website, facebook) will open their Portland cafe at 339 Fore Street in Boothby Square today. This will be the 3rd location for Mainely Wraps which also has shops in Old Orchard Beach and Scarborough. Mainely Wraps was founded by Rich & Naphtali Maynard.
In separate news, Bangor Daily News reporter Kathleen Pierce has tweeted that Daily Greens, will also be opening today in the Public Market House. Presumably this is the much improved name of Azure, the new salad booth that’s been under construction since late August at the Public Market House.
The Bangor Daily News has published an article about Sergio Ramos, the certified tequila sommelier and managing partner at Zapoteca.
The beverage formerly inspiring the cry “let’s do shots” is now a top-shelf contender. In a corner restaurant in Portland, one man is doing his part to bring tequila to its richly deserved prominence.
“I’m a defender of the spirit,” said Sergio Ramos, who notes he is one of only four tequila sommeliers in the country.
The Press Herald has tapped Vince Maniaci, co-owner of The Cheese Iron, and Shannon Tallman from Whole Foods, for their expert holiday cheese buying advice.
Cheese has become a much more popular addition to the holiday table, but standing in front of a cheese counter these days is like standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store – so many choices, the head starts to spin.
The Portland Hunt & Alpine Club has found two reasons to celebrate on Thursday, the launch of New England Distilling’s Gunpowder Rye and the 80th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition. NED’s master distiller will be on-hand and the bar will be serving a special menu of Gunpwder Rye and champagne cocktails.
The Bangor Daily News is reporting that regulators have cancelled the 2013-2014 Maine shrimp season.
Northeastern regulators shut down the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery for the first time in 35 years Tuesday afternoon, worried by reports of what researchers called a fully “collapsed” stock that could be driven to near extinction with any 2014 catch.
Update: You’ll also want to read the article in Wednesday’s Press Herald.
While the restaurant still has a few last steps before they’re fully open,