Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Mathew’s.

What happens at Mathew’s stays at Mathew’s. And if you want to slum it for a night or longer – perhaps 30 years – you go on ahead.

Diet for a Small City has published a review of El Rayo from a vegetarian’s perspective.

The menu included a good number of vegetarian choices.  I was disappointed to see, however, that most vegetarian options lacked protein; by this, I mean that few to none of the vegetarian entrees featured beans and/or rice.  For example, the one vegetarian burrito is described as: “Grilled portabello mushrooms, caramelized onions & poblano peppers with salsa.”  This sounds delicious, but these ingredients force health-conscious vegetarians to order side dishes.

The now defunct Portland Public Market and its successful spin off the Public Market House make an appearance in this article from GOOD about a national rebirth in public markets.

Across the United States, the public market concept may be undergoing something of a renaissance—coinciding with an increase in farmers’ markets, direct-to-consumer food sales, and smart growth initiatives in downtowns.

Grace plans on opening tomorrow. According to the restaurant’s blog they were aiming for a soft opening but word spread fast.  The blog goes on to say that they’ll be opening with a limited menu “while we work some kinks out and get product in”.  Portland in a Snap has published a profile of the restaurant and wrote, “The menus will emphasize small plates and appetizers, but with plenty of entree-sized meals. The goal is to keep prices below $30, with the apps falling in the $8-$12 range.”

A call to The Corner Room confirms they also plan on opening tomorrow.

Both restaurants probably already have a full reservation book for Thursday evening. For reservations you can reach Grace at (207) 828-4422 and The Corner Room at (207) 879-4747.

According to today’s Press Herald, Old Ocean House Farms will be selling Saskatoon berries at the the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Deering Oaks. Today’s paper also includes a note about a new rare book catalog from Rabelais, and an article about the traditional Independence Day meal of salmon and peas.

Salmon and peas on Independence Day is an old Maine tradition that hearkens back to the days when wild salmon were plentiful in the state’s rivers, and peas were a tasty summer holdover of the traditional English diet. Old-time Mainers didn’t plan to celebrate the Fourth this way; wild-caught salmon and home-grown peas were simply the foods that were available at this time of year after a long, hard winter and cool spring.

The 10 eateries looked up most often during the month of June were:

1. El Rayo (3)
2. The Salt Exchange (-)
3. Paciarino (2)
4. The Farmer’s Table (1)
5. Local 188 (13)
6. Miyake (10)
7. Bresca (4)
8. Veranda Thai (18)
9. Papou’s Kitchen (>50)
10. Hugo’s (12)

The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.