Otherside Delicatessen Opening Thursday

| Posted in Openings

othersidePete Sueltenfuss is planning to open his new market in East Deering, the Otherside Delicatessen(facebook), this Thursday. The Otherside will sell house butchered and cured meats, sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, prepared meals to go as well as market staples.

Hours at the Otherside will be: Monday – Friday 8 -7, Saturday 9 – 6 and closed on Sunday.

Since moving to to Maine from Massachusetts, Sueltenfuss has worked for Fore Street, Miyake, Rosemont and helped launch District. For two years until early 2014 he was the executive chef at Grace.

This Week’s Events: Central Guest Chefs, Search for General Tso, Wine and Chocolate, 21st Chowder & Chilli, Owl & Whale, Valentine’s List

| Posted in Events

searchforgeneraltsoWednesday — Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy will be the guest chefs at Central Provisions for CP’s 1-year anniversary.

Thursday — Rising Tide and Ebb & Flow are collaborating on a 5-course beer dinner, the Brighton Ave Rosemont is holding a cider tasting (with ciders from Vermont, New Hampshire, Spain, France, Chile) and Bao Bao is hosting a Hitachino tap takeover.

Friday — there will be a wine tasting at the West End Deli.

Saturday — Space Gallery is screening the movie The Search for General Tso followed by a talk with the director, Maine & Loire is holding a sparkling wine tasting, Dobra is teaching a class on the six classes of tea, Rosemont and Piccolo are working together on a cooking class, Wine Wise is leading a wine and chocolate walk, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday — the 21st Annual Chowder and Chilli Challenge is taking place, and Owl & Whale (facebook, website) will be at Maine Craft Distilling’s Freeport tasting room for a product demo.

Valentine’s Day — restaurants have started announcing their plans for Valentine’s Day. I’ll be adding to this list and reposting it on a weekly basis now through then.

  • Allagash, Beer Hearts Chocolate beer and chocolate tasting, $15 per person.
  • Congress Squared, special menu served on both the 13th and 14th.
  • David’s Opus Ten, 9-course dinner with wine pairings for $150 per person.
  • Five Fifty-Five, 4-course dinner for $75 per person; with optional pairings and supplements.
  • Gelato Fiasco, serving a case of special Valentine’s flavored gelato and sorbetto, February 13-15.
  • Novare Res is teaming up with La Crème Chocolat to serve beer and chocolate pairings on the 13th and 14th.
  • Petite Jacqueline, 3-course menu for $65 per person; optional wine pairings available.
  • Piccolo, 5-course dinner and a glass of rose prosecco, $75 per person; optional wine pairings available.
  • Rising Tide, on the 13th Rising Tide Brewing will be releasing Nuit D’Hiver, a “limited rum barrel aged version of D’Hiver, our dark rye saison with winter spices and sweet orange peel” along with D’Hiver, 2013 Cellared D’Hiver, Nuit D’Hiver on tap and chocolates truffles from La Crème Chocolat.
  • Sur Lie, serving their regular menu and a special chef’s tasting menu for $65 per person.
  • Vinland has a number of options including a 10-course dinner for 4 for $300.

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.

Source: North Spore & Wicked Sharp

| Posted in Profiles, Farming

This week’s edition of Source includes profiles of Wicked Sharp,

A sharp knife helps you work quickly, with precision, says David Oberton, cabinetmaker turned knife sharpener, who runs his business, Wicked Sharp, out of the South Portland home he shares with his wife, Sara (www.wickedsharpknives.com). He learned to sharpen knives while working in restaurants in Germany in the 1970s, continued the practice for friends and family, honed his skills under the tutelage of a master sharpener, and eventually hung his own shingle.

and the mushroom CSA North Spore.

Meet Eliah Thanhauser, a Maine native who, along with his friends and fellow College of the Atlantic graduates Jon Carver and Matt McInnis, started Maine’s first winter CSA (community supported agriculture) for mushrooms. Their Portland-based North Spore mushroom company also sells on the wholesale market and offers teas and tinctures made from foraged wild, medicinal mushrooms. We called Thanhauser up to talk about the company’s origins, its unique relationship with Amato’s and how often he eats mushrooms.

Review of Walter’s

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Walter’s.

Walter’s may be tucked into the first floor of a nondescript office building, but chef Jeff Buerhaus’ cuisine – incorporating recipes and techniques from Asia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean – is highly creative and intensely flavorful. Don’t miss the Crispy Wild Oysters – among the finest in town – or the saffron-laced bouillabaisse that often appears as an appetizer special. Or try any of the Asian-inspired dishes that the chef likes to cook, from a steak bulgogi bowl reminiscent of Korean bibimbap to salmon with a Thai curry coconut sauce; like many of the dishes here, they are beautifully seasoned and deeply satisfying.

Under Construction: Cellardoor Winery (updated)

| Posted in Under Construction

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Cellardoor Winery’s plans to open a 5,000 square foot tasting room and retail store at Thompson’s Point.

The satellite location will be known as Cellardoor at the Point and will host wine tastings, dinners, cooking classes, food-and-wine pairings and other special events. It also will have retail space for selling the company’s “Cellardoor at Home” product line, which includes jams and jellies, oils, vinegars, desserts, syrups and other food products.

Cellardoor joins Oxbow and Sweetgrass as Mid-Coast food enterprises that have opened Portland locations to better connect with the Southern Maine locals and tourists to the area.

Update: for additional information see this report from the Urban Eye.