Anna Horne Wingren passed away earlier this month at the age of 100.
3 from Maine Win at the Good Food Awards
Congratulations to the three 2017 Good Food Awards winners from Maine announced last night at the GFA Awards Gala in San Francisco:
- Speckled Ax – Ethiopia Bekele Dukale Coffee
- Bard Coffee – Hambela Estate Coffee
- Gold Star Honeybees – Gold Star Honey
The winners in all 14 categories were chosen from 2,059 entrants from across the country.
First Review of Sichuan Kitchen
Eatcentric Me has reviewed Sichuan Kitchen.
I will be returning over and over again for the dan dan noodles, but I am also thrilled about getting some of the other dishes again as well as trying others! Thank you, Sichuan Kitchen. You’ve filled a hole in the food culture scene of Portland, and you did it without sacrificing the flavors, integrity, and taste that makes Sichuan food so tantalizing.
Sichuan Kitchen is located at 612 Congress Street opposite the State Theatre building. Here’s a link to their menu.
Under Construction: Good Fire Brewing
A new brewery called Good Fire Brewing (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) is under construction in East Bayside, reports the Press Herald.
Cardente Real Estate announced Wednesday that it’s leased a nearly 4,000-square-foot space at 219 Anderson St. to Goodfire Brewing LLC for a brewery and 39-seat tasting room. The brewery, located just behind U-Haul on Marginal Way, is expected to open in June.
Fyood Kitchen Kickstarter
Fyood Kitchen has launched a $16,000 Kickstarter campaign to help grow their community cooking competition program.
Diesel to Dining Room & Fettle Vegan
Today’s Press Herald includes a feature story about Maine food trucks that are making the transition into a traditional restaurant or adding a brick and mortar venue to their business plans.
So it was a no-brainer that when he and his wife, Jenna Friedman, decided to open a food truck in Portland, they settled on serving Middle Eastern food. CN Shawarma, which advertised its food as “Arabian BBQ on wheels” when it debuted in June 2014, proved so popular that the developers building the new apartment complex at the corner of Anderson and Fox streets in East Bayside approached the couple and asked if they would be interested in opening a restaurant in the building.
The Food & Dining section also reports on Maine native Amber St. Peter who has a career as a vegan food writer from her home base in LA..
Fettle Vegan is now known for both, as well as being on-trend in terms of both ingredients (think jackfruit, cauliflower and chickpeas) and dishes (fig + almond chia oat pudding; San Pedro style fish-less market tray; and shredded kale and Brussels sprouts salad).
All-Star Bake Sale
Bakers and pastry chefs from more than 15 restaurants and bakeries are collaborating on bake sale. The list of participating establishments includes Ten Ten Pié, Aurora Provisions, Fore Street, The Purple House, Central Provisions, Caiola’s/Piccolo, Bao Bao and many more.
The $40 boxes of baked goods will be on sale on Friday at Aurora Provisions, Little Giant and East End Cupcakes. The initiative is a fundraiser for Maine Planned Parenthood.
Food Trucks Add Brick and Mortar
The Bangor Daily News has published a report on the growing number of mobile food operators that have expanded to include a brick and mortar establishment or traded in their truck as they grew into a traditional restaurant.
As more and more of Maine’s food trucks morph into bricks-and-mortar eateries, their owners offer a variety of reasons that shifting from four wheels to four walls suddenly makes sense: The “right space” became available, tight quarters came to feel too stifling, the initial venture was successful enough to bankroll a bigger, more traditional restaurant.
The most recent development was Bite Into Maine’s decision to open a location on in Scarborough. Bite Into Maine will join fellow mobile food vendors Mami, Small Axe/East Ender, Love Kupcakes/Baristas+Bites, Hella Good Tacos, Mainely Burgers, Urban Sugar and CN Shawarma/Baharat in converting to or adding a brick and mortar capacity.
First Look at The Purple House
The Golden Dish has published a first look at The Purple House.
From early morning until 11:00 AM you’ll literally join a crowd who are already jamming this charming café for the Montreal style bagels that owner/chef Krista Kerns Desjarlais has hand-rolled and baked in the brick wood oven, which imparts a very particular patina to America’s favorite breakfast bread.
This Week’s Events: Sticky Sweet, Good Food Awards, Barrel Aging Tours, The Locker Project
Tuesday – a new food vendor under construction in the Public Market House called Sticky Sweet will be handing out free samples starting at 11am, and Vena’s will be teaching a cocktail making class.
Thursday – Bao Bao is hosting an Oxbow tap takeover.
Friday – 3 Maine companies will be waiting to hear how they fair in the 2017 Good Food Awards taking place in San Francisco, Woodford F&B is celebrating their 1-year anniversary by raising money to fight hunger in Maine through The Locker Project, and Rising Tide will be leading 30 minute tours of their new West Wing barrel-aging space.
Saturday – the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Sunday – Two Fat Cats is starting their celebration of National Pie Day a day early with the launch of their pie buffet.
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.