Month: July 2011

Mobile Food

| Posted in Profiles

The Press Herald has published an article about Portland food carts,

While hot dogs are a food-cart staple, there are plenty of alternatives for anyone who’s looking for a quick and tasty lunch. Food carts in Portland offer everything from burgers and lobster rolls to ice cream, pizza, falafel, cookies, tacos, barbecue and shish kabobs.

and the Portland Phoenix has profiled a lobster roll vendor at Fort Williams as well as examined what’s holding back food truck culture in Portland,

While this location is ideal, next year the couple hopes to be rolling down the streets of the Old Port. They were originally inspired to start a food trailer after visiting Austin, Texas last year. “The food trailer scene there is huge,” she says. “I practically ate every meal out of a truck the week I was there.” She couldn’t figure out why Portland — in all its foodie-town glory — doesn’t have more of a mobile-food scene. And then she found out: city ordinances and tight restrictions block the trend.

See the PFM Directory for a list of the food carts in Portland.

Eating Recommendations for a Long Weekend

| Posted in Reviews

From Away has published a 3-day eating itinerary for Portland in response to request from one of their readers,

It got us thinking about what we would do if we were limited to eating every single meal out, during a long weekend visiting Portland. We’re going to assume just four things: That you have access to a car (because frankly, we’re not sure how you would get from the bridge in Kittery to Portland without one), that you’ve got plenty of time to get from one restaurant to the next, that you want to stick close to Portland (though this limits your lobster roll options somewhat), and finally, that you have a very healthy appetite.

Kneading Conference & SoPo Farmers Market

| Posted in Events

Today’s Food & Dining section in the Press Herald includes an article on the upcoming Kneading Conference which is held annually in Skowhegan,

The goal of the Kneading Conference and Artisan Bread Fair, which will be held July 28-30, is to reinvigorate the business of growing, milling and selling local grains in Maine, once the breadbasket of New England. But “now we don’t even grow enough to supply ourselves,” said Michael Jubinsky of the Stone Turtle Baking and Cooking School in Lyman.

and a report on the new South Portland Farmers Market,

Judging by the throngs of customers and the fact that vendors were already selling out of items after an hour, it appears the South Portland market, which will be open from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays through October, has tapped into an unmet demand.

Bad Management

| Posted in General News

Today’s Portland Daily Sun takes a look at the pros and cons of the staff trying to oust a bad restaurant manager.

A tight-knit group of twenty-to-life restaurant people I know are plotting the downfall of their worse than stereotypically bad manager. He makes their working hours miserable and in some cases their precious non-working hours as well via friendly texts that are thinly disguised demands for them to pick up shifts on their only full weekend off all summer. Saying no has ramifications felt only in industries where strategic scheduling is everything and your financial fate is in the hands of the person with the Excel spreadsheet.

Best Foodie Walking Tours

| Posted in General News

AOL Travel has included Maine Foodie Tours on their list of the Best 9 Foodie Walking Tours in the country.

From Maine-smoked seafood to local wild blueberry preserves spread on scones, Old Port promises plenty of opportunities to entice your taste buds and teach you about what makes these local products so uniquely delicious. Make sure to spring for a piece of original whoopee pie while aboard the tour.

SoPo Angelone and Mussel Aquaculture

| Posted in General News, Fisheries

Today’s Press Herald included articles about the Calendar Island Mussel Company,

The Calendar Island Mussel Co. — named after an old term for the Casco Bay islands — joins similar aquaculture operations near Clapboard, Bangs and Basket islands, in the western part of the bay, that are growing mussels, oysters and seaweed.

They’d like to make a dent in shocking international trade statistics that show about 85 percent of seafood sold in the United States comes from other countries, and about half of the imported seafood is farm-raised. Shrimp from Thailand. Salmon from Norway. Mussels from Chile.

and about the South Portland branch of Pizza by Angelone,

Neither Mains nor her mother, Trina Angelone Mains, plan on being around when the bulldozers show up here at the corner of Broadway and Ocean Street.

The metal-wrapped building with distinct rounded corners, built as a gas station in 1940, will be demolished to make way for a new branch of the Bath Savings Institution. The gas station was converted into a pizza shop by Jack Angelone in 1969, as he expanded his pizza franchise from his home restaurant at Monument Square.

This Week’s Events: Local Breakfast, Slow Dinner, RealFood Class, Open Farm Day

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — in the morning Local Sprouts is hosting a local food networking breakfast and in the evening Slow Food Portland is holding a potluck dinner at the Quimby Colony.

Wednesday — the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — the RealFood Project is teaching a cooking class.

Saturday — Wine Wise is leading a white wine crawl in Portland and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — Maine Open Farm Day is taking place at farms across the state. About a dozen farms in Cumberland County are participating in the event.

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.

Green Grocer

| Posted in General News

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram reports on the Brighton Ave Rosemont’s green certification by the DEP.

The program, which is free, offers grocers technical assistance to identify no-cost measures to help them reduce their environmental impact. The participants are awarded points for sustainable practices, such as using non-toxic cleaning products and reducing stormwater runoff. Independent grocers need 100 points and large chains 150 points to be certified.