Today’s Incredible Breakfast Cook-off resulted in a tie between The Good Table, which as won outright the past three years, and The Farmer’s Table. The event raised $4,200 for the United Way.
See Maine a la Carte for photos of all the dishes in the competition.
Map & Menu has posted a field report from last night’s Hush Hush event, the monthly cocktail and tasting party organized the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club. This month’s cocktails featured the Fernet Branca line of products and were accompanied by some very delicious eats from chef Chris Gould.
Tonight, Meredith and I enjoyed a private peek into part of Portland’s food and cocktail future with a sampling of two future area establishments, and I’m happy to report that the town seems to be in good hands.
My personal favorites from the night were the Saffron Sour (Fernet Branca, Royal Rose Saffron, egg white, and lime juice) and the Yellow Fin Vetresca (slow cooked yellow fin with preserved orange, Anaheim pepper and celery leaves).
Both Portland Hunt and Alpine and Chris Gould’s new restaurant are slated to open later this year.
Photo Credit: Map & Menu
The Forecaster has published an interview Bob and Laura Butler about their new restaurant, Enio’s. According to the article, the Butlers hope to open Enio’s sometime next week.
Located in the former Buttered Biscuit, Enio’s is named after Laura Butler’s father. The restaurant, with a Tuscan flair, will be a return to the greater Portland dining scene for the Butlers.
“I’m sure it will be like riding a bike for us,” Laura Butler said. “We were familiar with the building and neighborhood, and I think Portland is saturated.”
The couple operated Rachel’s, first in the Old Port and then on Woodford Street for 15 years.
Dispatch has published an interview with Alison Hartford who tends bar at The Grill Room.
What’s your favorite drink to make? “It’s made with Hendricks gin, St. Germain, muddled lime and rosemary, and blood orange puree, topped with soda water. I like making mojitos, too. I tend to not get a lot of specialty cocktail orders, so I’m all about providing good service.”
The 10 eateries looked up most often in February on Portland Food Map were:
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
The Golden Dish has published details from his recent meal at Figa and owner Lee Farrington’s announcement that she’s closing up the restaurant for another few months until April or May to “regroup”.
Before we left I went up to Lee to say how much we enjoyed dinner and glad that she was back.
But then she dropped her bombshell. Figa would be closed again, this time for about two months. She still needed to rethink her concept, tidy up her home life and figure it all out.
I didn’t understand. If it ain’t broke why fix it?
The Portland Phoenix has published a report on last weekend’s food law colloquium.
Do front-yard gardens and backyard chicken coops, as leading symbols of our thriving food movement, deserve First Amendment protection, much as black armbands did during the Vietnam War? Does a focus on “food miles” distract from the urgent need to reduce the greenhouse gases agriculture emits as we strive to feed a world population of 9 billion by 2050? Should the government mandate vegetable consumption — just as New York City and others have enacted bans on Big Gulps and trans fats?
Today’s Press Herald includes a bar review of Blue Spoon,
If you have the chance and get there at the right time, I would highly suggest trying this bar for brunch. The steak and eggs plate I ordered was absolutely delicious, as was Melissa’s eggs benedict.
If Blue Spoon is busy whenever you’re able to drop in, be patient. It’s worth the wait.
and the latest installment of the What Ales You column.
Chef David Turin tells me he’s working to launch a Kennebunk location of David’s and a David’s Opus Ten. He hopes to have the new restaurants open sometime in May. That will make for a total of five David’s restaurants in three cities.
According to an article in today’s Press Herald, The Porthole is under new management and is scheduled to re-open this spring.
Ken McGowan, whose family owns Custom House Wharf, said he will own and manage the Porthole Restaurant and Pub.
“It will be run to every inch of the health code,” McGowan said Tuesday. “I’m not skimping on anything.”
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a feature article on Blue Current, a sake brewery under development in Maine.
Ford and Sygowski plan to open a sake microbrewery this spring, right here in Maine.
The two friends already brew for their personal consumption in the garage at Ford’s home in Kittery Point. That’s where the commercial operation, called Blue Current Brewery, will begin once they have all their local, state and federal permits in hand. They hope to be open for business by April or May, and will eventually move the brewery out of Ford’s house.
The Press Herald sister site Maine Today has published a food word pronunciation guide in time for Maine Restaurant Week. I had the pleasure of being the official voice for the recordings.
Diners don’t generally mispronounce “chicken” or “BLT,” which means we’ve gotten along just fine at area pubs and sandwich shops. But our small city’s super-exploding food scene has some phonetic implications: We’re not quite sure how to pronounce this stuff.