August in Maine: John Naylor & Lobster Rolls

| Posted in People, Profiles

The August issue of Maine magazine includes a Joe Ricchio A List column on Lobster Rolls (hint: his favorite is at Old Port Sea Grill) and a profile of John Naylor who together with co-owner Scott Anderson founded Rosemont Market and Bakery.

If you walk into any of the Rosemont stores, they feel more like a chef’s ideal pantry than a business. Each item has been hand-selected, and while the stores are small, they somehow contain everything you need. In addition to offering some of the best vegetables and locally raised meats in the state, they also sell freshly baked bread, have a discerning selection of inexpensive and higher-priced wines, and serve a selection of gourmet foods [made] from the same local vegetables and meats they carry.

The articles aren’t online (yet) but you can usually pick up a free copy of the magazine at Bard Coffee.

Tips on Opening Your Own Restaurant

| Posted in General News

Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd has provided some guidance for people who are considering opening their own restaurant.

The debatable statistic is that nine out of ten restaurants fail within the first year, but just about everyone is enamored with the thought of flitting from table to table greeting guests and chatting about the freshest local ingredients, or hiding in the kitchen to create a favorite recipe for the masses. Many of the dreamers who have romanticized these visions don’t know the first thing about the financial Restaurant Big 3 (food, beverage, payroll costs), or if they do, are unsure how to manage them.

Ice Cream, Hip Chicks and Red Wine

| Posted in People, Profiles, Wine

Today’s Press Herald reports on a new gelato shop that’s due in September, interviews MDI Ice Cream about their new business in Portland and reports on the “Obama Bump” they’ve received since the First Family ate there.

Even President Obama couldn’t resist a coconut cone from Mount Desert Island Ice Cream in Bar Harbor during his visit to Maine last weekend. The sight of the leader of the free world enjoying his afternoon treat sent sales of coconut ice cream soaring at MDI’s Bar Harbor and Portland stores, according to owner Linda Parker. More wholesale orders came rolling in as well.

An interview with macrobiotic author and former Maine resident Jessica Porter,

A former Mainer, Porter lived in Portland when she wrote “The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics.” The fun book — which mixes humorous advice and explanations with recipes — was published in 2004 and reigns as Amazon’s top seller in the macrobiotic category.

Porter returns to Portland next week to conduct a macrobiotic cooking class a week from today, followed by a lecture the following Friday, “Is the Macrobiotic Diet Vegan?” Both will take place at the Five Seasons Cooking School on Munjoy Hill.

and Joe Appel recommends a trio of red wines that are right for Summer.

Catbird Creamery

| Posted in Profiles

The Portland Phoenix has published a profile of Catbird Creamery, a new ice cream shop that’s found a temporary home at Fit to Eat on Market Street.

And then there’s the Furious George. “My wife came up with the name and I sat down and thought ‘What would Furious George ice cream be?'” he says. The answer: Hot pepper ice cream, caramelized bananas, and big chunks of dark chocolate. The hot pepper can be surprising, since the cream makes it linger on the tongue, but the bananas and chocolate mellow it out and bring it together. Experimenting with different combinations is a big part of the fun — [owner Andrew] Warren hopes his customers will come to trust his flavors.

Catbird is the third ice cream purveyor to open shop in Portland this Summer and that doesn’t even include the new Maple’s Scoop Shop in South Portland or the seasonal reopening of the sidewalk ice cream window at Bonobo.

Fugitive Scobys, Raw Milk, and Unicorn Meat

| Posted in General News

Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun includes an impassioned plea for a less bureaucratic and litigious approach to regulating local food.

The number of laws, legislators and lawyers are symptomatic of an engorged and pervasive government. Laws both liberate and throttle the free market. They save lives as well as injure and kill people with the same thick rulebooks, red tape and bureaucratic hurdles. It’s often hard to know if something is a law is for the good of the community or for the good of a corporation. Rules regarding organic food are created in order to protect small farmers from the agri-industrial complex, but are in turn used to squash those same small farmers on technicalities and loose interpretations. Got Monsanto?

John Myers in Bon Appetit

| Posted in Distilling & Cocktails

Portland bartender and cocktail historian John Myers was interviewed for the new issue of Bon Appetit about a 19th century concoction called Slippery Punch. The recipe combines aged rum, sugar, lime juice, bitters and nutmeg and paprika into what the magazine dubs The Perfect Summer Punch. The article and detailed recipe are on page 20 of the August issue of Bon Appetit but aren’t available online.

Maine at Work: Delivering Kegs

| Posted in General News

Press Herald Maine at Work reporter Ray Routhier spends the day delivering kegs, wine and other drinks to local restaurants and bars.

It didn’t budge. Not even a little.

“Yeah, those are pretty heavy. They weigh about 160 pounds,” said Gale, 42, of Biddeford.

Gale, who weighs about 165 pounds, grabbed the same keg, slid it to the edge of the bay and lowered it to the street. Then he slid a dolly underneath it.

This Week's Events

| Posted in Events

Wednesday — a Wine Wise class at The Wine Bar.
Thursday — Cultivating Community is holding the next in their series of biweekly Twilight Dinners in Cape Elizabeth, and The Great Lost Bear is holding their annual Christmas in July night that features Maine-based holiday beers.
Friday — the 4th Friday Film Series is screening the movie The Garden.
Sunday — Sunday is Open Farm Day in Maine; 12 farms (see page 4) in Cumberland County are participating. Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Brewing, will be at Novare Res where 23 of Dogfish Head beers will be available on tap.
Farmer’s Markets — the traditional series of Farmer’s Markets are taking place Monday (Monument Square), Wednesday (Monument Square) and Saturday (Deering Oaks Park). Cultivating Community is running their new series of markets Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at various locations around the city.
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.