This week’s Farm-to-Table episode of Maine Calling with Jennifer Rooks is now online at MPBN. Chef Sam Hayward, author Kathy Gunst and food policy expert Amanda Beal joined Rooks for the show.
Mi Sen & Comment Cards
The Portland Daily Sun has published a profile of Mi Sen,
Mi Sen, one might say, serves food fit for a king. The Thai restaurant opened last July at 630 Congress St. Benjaporn “Ben” Chandpen is from Bangkok, Thailand, and has cooked for the royal family there. She moved to Maine in 1997 with her husband, Chu Chandpen, and their sons, Darit and David.
and the Sun has published part 2 of their series on restaurant comment cards.
Finest Kind Tea in National Competition
Portland-based Finest Kind Tea (website, facebook, twitter) is one of 15 new food companies from across the country that have been selected to participate in the 2013 Next Big Food Thing competition.
The winner will receive $10,000 and their products will be sold through the online grocer Fresh Direct. Competitors are being judged on the their product idea as well as the amount of crowdfunding they raise in the next 28 days and how they interact with public throughout the competition.
Finest Kind is trying to raise $20,000 to
expand our business and develop a new organic, 100% GMO-free & ethically sourced flavor as part of our commitment to natural products and sourcing the best ingredients from around the world. The money we raise will help us fund the process for tracing our tea from field to bottle using established, internationally accredited certifiers.
Owner Jay Lombard launched the company earlier this year with two tea concentrate flavors (blueberry white tea, black tea and lemonade) and is developing new flavors for launch in 2014. You can find Finest Kind Tea on the shelves at Whole Foods.
You can learn more about Finest Kind Tea and make a pledge to help them reach their goal on the RocketHub crowdfunding site.
Tandem Finalist in Good Food Awards
Tandem Coffee is a finalist in the 2014 Good Food Awards competition for their Aylele Yirgacheffe coffee.
Coffee finalists were selected because they had,
…exemplary flavor – sweet, clean, well developed body, balanced acidity and phenomenal aromatics. To qualify for entry, roasters and coffee farmers must emphasize fairness and transparency from seed to cup. This year’s entry criteria seeks to accommodate the enormous cultural diversity of coffee production…
The final awards be announced on January 16th.
Under Construction: Interview with David Levi
The Ink & Pine podcast has posted an interview with David Levi about his restaurant Vinland.
Listen in to hear how top chefs in Italy and Denmark influenced Levi’s decisions about Vinland, how to fill a Maine kitchen with exclusively Maine foods, why lard has a bad rap and much more. Here, David Levi will discuss everything from a future Portland culinary school to foraging for edible mushrooms in New York City’s Central Park to the gourmet preparation of reindeer lichen. What food staples could be locally grown in Maine, but aren’t?
Feed the Monster Reviews
Left coast food blogger Feed the Monster has made a return trip to Portland, having last been here October 2012. From this trip he’s published reviews of the Dry Dock, Grace, Local 188, Local Sprouts and Vaughan Street.
The Moster was particularly taken with Grace,
There are restaurants nestled in Franschoek wine country that take your breath away. Places in the farthest reaches of Peru that are Valhalla amidst the ordinary. Restaurants along the Amalfi only accessible by boat that are pure heaven. And then there is Grace in Portland, Maine and it is every bit as transcendent.
Best Bakery Lists
The December edition of Dispatch includes a list of the Best Bakeries in Maine and NH. Portland area bakeries dominate the list: Scratch, Standard, The Holy Donut, Two Fat Cats, 158 Picket Street Cafe, Aurora Provisions, Bam Bam, Big Sky, Borealis, East End Cupcakes and Rosemont. The article isn’t available online but you can pick-up a paper copy at Longfellow Books.
And in separate news, Standard Baking is #4 on a list of America’s 50 Best Bakeries put together by The Daily Meal.
El Rayo Bartender in GQ
El Rayo’s Henry Jost participated earlier this year in the Bombay Saphire Most Imaginative Bartender competition. Jost (2nd from the left in this segment of the image) and the other 45 bartenders from the competition are featured in a 4-page tableau in the December issue of GQ.
Jost’s entry in the competition was the High Port which is made with “fresh honeydew juice, fresh lemonade infused with three botanicals, juniper berry, coriander seed and orris root; Cocchi Americano Apertif; and Bombay Sapphire gin”.
El Rayo’s holding a release party for Jost on Tuesday, 6-8pm at El Rayo Cantina.
2013 Thanksgiving Resource Guide
As usual a number of Portland area restaurants plan on serving a Thanksgiving dinner. Here are the ones I know about so far. I’ll update the list as more info comes in:
- Eves at the Garden, noon, $45 for adults
- Five Fifty-Five, 1 – 7:30, 4-course dinner, $75; wine pairings and children’s menus available
- Harraseeket Inn, noon – 4:30, $60 for adults, $30 for children
- Holiday Inn by the Bay, 11 – 1, buffet, $28 for adults and $13.50 for children
- Rosie’s, serves Thanksgiving dinner
- Sable Oaks Marriott, $30, buffet
- Saltwater Grille, buffet, 11 – 4, $36.99 for adults, $12.99 for children
- Sea Glass Restaurant at the Inn by the Sea, 11 – 9, 3-course, $62 per person
- Season’s Grille, 11 – 4, $25.95 for adults, $22.95 for seniors, $12.95 for children
- The North Point, 2-midnight, $35
- Twenty Milk Street
- Zackery’s, noon – 4, buffet, $24 for adults, $18 for children
For those of you hosting your own meal at home:
- The Blueberry Files has published her annual turkey buying guide complete with per pound pricing and additional details on turkeys from 10 different farms and stores.
- You can pre-order your free-range turkeys from Aurora Provisions or Rosemont Market. Between the two of them you can source also the pies, rolls, quick breads, side dishes and just about other item you might need for your Thanksgiving dinner.
- Or you can also get turkeys direct from the farm from Frith Farm or Wolfe’s Neck Farm.
- Standard Baking, Scratch Baking, Maine Pie Line, Two Fat Cats, Foley’s and many of the other bakeries in the area are good sources for pies, breads, etc.
- Portland Magazine and The Root have published an article on locally sourcing Thanksgiving dinner ingredients.
- Learn how to put together a holiday cheese plate from Certified Cheese Professional Shannon Tallman.
Community Dinners & Donations:
- The Wayside Food Programs is serving a free Thanksgiving community dinner to an estimated 400+ people.
- To help fight hunger across the state and all year round, make a donation to the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Inspiration:
- Listen to this interview with authors David Buchanan, Sandy Oliver and Michael Sanders about the traditions of Thanksgiving Dinner.
Is there a local restaurant, market, bakery, or Thanksgiving event that’s missing? Post a comment with the info and I’ll add them to the list.
Review of Portland & Rochester
Peter Peter Portland Eater has published a review of the Portland & Rochester Public House.
Reasonably priced, our meal came to just a notch below 70 bucks before tip. Portland and Rochester Public House is definitely onto something. I had heard mixed reviews prior to visiting, but there was no uncertainty on my part. The food was amazing, the service was right where it should be, and the scenery was among the best around. The worst criticism I have is that the beignets were a little short on peanut butter flavor. Other than that, the food was perfect right down to the last lima bean in my succotash.