Travel and Leisure has included Cinque Terre on their list of Great Farm-to-Table restaurants.
When chef Lee Skawinski travels around Italy each year, he′s not just sourcing recipes. Strains of beans, squash, and lettuce from the area wind up on a five-acre farm in Greene, Maine, then at his Italian restaurant 45 miles from there, in downtown Portland—proving that farm-to-table cooking can have geographic underpinnings an ocean away.
MPBN had a report yesterday on the Calendar Island Lobster Company. The new company will be selling their lobsters with numbered claw bands that you can look up online to learn about the lobsterman who caught it.
Jordan says retail lobsters will be hand-selected for quality, and wear bands bearing a number code representing the fisherman who caught the crustacean. “So that if somebody in Dallas buys these lobsters, or somebody in Denver, they can type in the number code and go on to our Web site, so they can read about the lobsterman that actually caught their lobsters, learn a little about their lives and more about their product and everything and really know right where their lobster came from,” Jordan says.
Three more Portland restaurants have joined the OpenTable online reservation service: Bresca, Evangeline and The Salt Exchange. The website enables you to quickly find a table without having to call around to see where’s there’s space available.
Geo’s Patisserie sent out an email communication to their customer’s today which states “It is with much regret that I am announcing the closing of geo’s.” It goes on to thank customers for “all the support all of you have given me, couldn’t have gotten this far without you” and closes with “Live well, smile often, eat good food!!!”
Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Parker’s.
My heavily bearded, lumberjack of a neighbor slams an enormous paw on the bar and roars “Get ouuuta heeere!” as though a bloodlust for all things Oriole had overtaken him. Nobody notices the outburst, in part because Parker’s is this year celebrating its 20th anniversary of such displays. We’ll call this Cheers parallel #1. In the fervor of the moment, I quick-grab the menu and scan for the sportsiest possible appetizer, in this case, the first thing containing the word “buffalo.”
The next Food Film Series meal is taking place tonight at One Longfellow Square, Mostly Martha is the movie and Krista Desjarlais from Bresca is preparing the meal. Stephen Lanzalotta’s weekly series of cooking classes, Piatto per Tutti, restart for the fall this evening. Also tonight, the weekly Food and Drink Trivia Contest is taking place at Bull Feeney’s. The Salt Exchange is holding a craft beer and cheese social Tuesday night featuring beer from Redhook and their weekly wine event on Wednesday night. The next Wine Flight 5k Training Run is scheduled for Tuesday. There are wine tastings taking place at Leavitt & Sons, Public Market House and Black Cherry Provisions on Thursday. Also on Thursday, The Great Lost Bear is showcasing the beer of DL Geary. Portland’s weekly Farmers’ Markets are being held in Monument Square on Wednesday and at Deering Oaks Park on Saturday. This year’s MunjFest is taking place on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Raw food chef Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt is teaching a class at Whole Foods. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
Wednesday’s edition of the Portland Daily Sun included an article by Margo Mallar on mushroom foraging in Maine,
There are many who don’t mind a little rainy weather: book-lovers and sellers, movie theaters and mushrooms. Although the record setting summer rains haven’t resulted in record setting harvests, goldenchanterelles, black trumpets, and hens of the woods are making their way from forest floor to dinner plates across Maine.
and an article about Shima, the new Japanese restaurant under construction on Fore Street. The Shima article unfortunately hasn’t made it online so here’s some of the key points:
The Forecaster reports that state Representative Charlie Mitchell and state Senator Justin Alfond are working on a project to bring a bowling alley/restaurant/bar to Bayside. (via Psst)
Bowl Portland wants to install 12 lanes for bowling in the building’s warehouse, and a bar, lounge, restaurant and stage in the front, two-story portion of the building.
Mitchell said the plan is to have live music a few nights a week, along with DJ nights. The restaurant will serve pub-style food. Mitchell said he and Alfond both spent time in New Orleans when they were younger, and were fascinated by Mid-City Lanes Rock ‘n’ Bowl, a bowling alley/club in that city.
The Munjoy Hill Observer has published an article about Thomas Yordprom. He explains his reasons for closing Siam Grille and his plans for the future.
The even better news is that Thomas, originally from Thailand, gives himself between 4 months to one year before he’ll start up another restaurant in the area. Not far from his lounge chair is his completed business plan. The menu is complete; it will be about 80% different from that of the Siam Grille.
This week’s edition of the Portland Phoenix includes an interview with Steve Corry, chef/owner of Five Fifty-Five.
As a chef in Portland, one of the challenges has been striking a balance between the local and tourist communities. “In trying to please those from afar, it’s hard to anticipate when and how to adjust the menu and still keep the savvy Portland community happy,” he said. A spike in culinary awareness in the city, thanks largely to national and local media attention as well as a thriving culinary-focused blogosphere, has increased expectations among patrons — local and visitor.