This Week’s Events

Monday — Stephen Lanzalotta is teaching a Piatto per Tutti cooking class.

Tuesday — the new food and drink trivia competition series kick’s off at Grace.

Wednesday — Frog & Turtle is holding their 2nd Annual 5 Chefs dinner and Black Tie Provisions is teaching a cooking class.

Thursday Browne Trading and Leavitt & Sons are holding a wine tasting and The Great Lost Bear is showcasing the beer of Peak Organic.

Friday —Scarborough Wine Outlet is holding a wine tasting.

Saturday — the last indoor Winter Farmers’ Market of the season is taking place.

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.

Baxter Brewing Co.

Blog About Beer author Luke Livingston has announced that’s he’ll be opening a brewery in Lewiston to be called Baxter Brewing Company.

What I am about to write has been a non-stop, full-time eleven months in the making (and many years in a dream): I am opening my own brewery.

Baxter Brewing Co. will be the first brewery north of Connecticut to can its entire line of beer. Located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, Maine, Baxter beers will be distributed throughout the state of Maine beginning in September 2010 and across northern New England in 2011.

Bangs Island Mussels For Sale

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram reports that the Bangs Island Mussel aquaculture business is up for sale.

Olson, of South Portland, is selling his 10-year-old Bangs Island Mussels farm off Clapboard Island, believed to be the first commercial rope-grown mussel operation on the East Coast. Olson is focusing full time instead on his seaweed venture, Ocean Approved, which is one of the first, if not the only, cultivated kelp businesses in the country.

Olson is hoping his mussel farm will catch the eye of an enterprising Mainer who can see the advantages of working on the open water rather than in a cubicle.

Best of Portland 2010 Results

The Portland Phoenix Best of Portland Readership Poll results are now available online. There are more than 100 categories ranging from from Best Asian Restaurant (Green Elephant) to Best Wine/Liquor Store (RSVP).
There were a few double category winner and Silly’s was a triple champion with wins in Best Dessert Place, Best Sandwich/Wrap, and Best Waitstaff/Service.
Congratulations to Joe Ricchio for taking home the win in the Best Food Blog category for his site Portland Food Coma.

Review of Veranda Noodle Bar

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Veranda Noodle Bar.

It’s a good sign if your kitchen is so busy it keeps blowing a fuse, and while we waited for a table among the folks picking up take-out we saw the lights go dim three times. Thanks to the crowd the service was a bit slow, but very pleasant. The owner worked the room with the collar turned up on a polo shirt the same pink color of the sugarcane appetizer we tried — a big ball of ground shrimp wrapped around a sugar stalk like a drumstick — a bit spongy in texture with a smoky grilled flavor.

The Phoenix’s Best of Portland readership poll results are being announced tonight. The final results will be making their way on to the newspaper’s site sometime Thursday morning. Distribution of the paper newspaper itself was delayed a day to keep the winner’s list secret.

Planning Board Approvals

According to a report from The Forecaster, last night the Portland Planning Board approved the project which will see the Jordan’s Meat plant replaced with a hotel and the new home of Sebago Brewing which is presently at the intersection of Middle and Market.
Also in the article is mention that the Espo’s on Allen Ave is slated to be demolished in order to build a Bangor Saving Bank branch on the lot.

Interview with Tricia Henley from Mama's Crow Bar

The Portland Daily Sun has published an interview with Tricia Henley, the owner of Mama’s Crow Bar on Munjoy Hill.

“What kind of neighborhood needs a bar, became a question of what kind of bar does this neighborhood need,” said Henley, envisioning a place where people could meet, have a good beer, and talk about everything from knitting and parenting to politics and city planning.