Category: General News

An article in this month’s issue of Dispatch examines the challenges new owners face when taking over an existing restaurant–putting in place their vision while trying to retain an established customer base. Specifically the article looks at the purchase of Steve & Renees Diner and the conversion of Quatrucci’s to Other Side Deli.

Two people would come in and sit at a table for six, drink a pot of coffee over the course of an hour, and leave without ordering food. This is their preferred method of protest.”

Such is how Josh Bankhead, who owns and operates Hella Good Tacos in Portland with his wife Melissa, describes the war waged on them by estranged patrons, mostly senior citizens, upon their purchase of the venerable Portland institution, Steve & Renee’s Diner.

Hugo’s, Eventide and The Honey Paw are partnering with the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital program You Dine, We Donate to raise $10,000 during the month of December.

5% of each check at the three restaurants will be donated to the hospital. Arlin Smith, Mike Smith, and Andrew Taylor, owners of Big Tree Hospitality Group, “will contribute a minimum of $10,000”.

Restaurant co-owners Andrew Taylor, Arlin Smith and Mike Wiley feel strongly about partnering about You Dine. We Donate. because they know how important the BBCH is to their local community. Taylor says, “My oldest son was a patient at The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital as an infant and the warmth and incredible care meant so much to my wife and I during a difficult time. This is such a great opportunity for us to give back.”

Co-owner Smith says the partnership was a no-brainer. “We have children. Our employees have children. We feel good about supporting such an important institution in our community.” As a non-profit hospital, the BBCH relies on community support to provide world-class healthcare to all children, regardless of their families’ ability to pay.

The Times Union has published an article about the state’s Hunters for the Hungry program, which provides a way for hunters to donate to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and food pantries.

It’s a cool fall morning outside a red brick warehouse in Maine’s largest city, and Don Morrison is facing a tall order. It’s time to turn 40 pounds of moose and deer meat into enough shepherd’s pie to feed 200 people by sundown.

Morrison, manager of the Portland anti-hunger group Wayside Food Programs, is happy to do it, in part, because of the source of the meat. Tonight’s dinner was acquired through Hunters for the Hungry, a state-run program that allows hunters to donate their game. It has grown exponentially in recent years.

For more information, visit this page on the state’s website.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram explores why it isn’t legal to sell wild game.

…All these local foods are fair game for the innovative local chef who relishes the concept of terroir – the French term for the distinct flavors of the environment foods grows in…But not local wild game, which can’t be sold commercially in the United States. It was regulated out of the retail market so long ago that even some food professionals don’t know why they’re not allowed to serve it.

Retiring Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin named a dinner at The Lost Kitchen this summer as one of her Favorite Meals of 2015.

The new issue of Bon Appétit calls out Maine & Loire as an exemplar of what a good wine shop should be, “a small, focused shop with a staff who has probably tasted most of what they’re selling and who genuinely want you to find something great—in your budget.”

The Press Herald reports that turkeys remain plentiful this year.

Despite concerns about a shortage and soaring prices, Maine’s larger grocery stores say that avian influenza did not affect their turkey supplies or retail prices.

Urban Sugar Donuts has launched a $25,000 Kickstarter campaign. Owner Kevin Sandes plans to use the funds to complete to “properly outfit” the new Urban Sugar store at Sugar Loaf, and to pay for new equipment and repairs to the USC food truck “Miss Rosie” so it can be back on the streets of Portland.

The November issue of Down East contains a feature on Maine’s burgeoning cider industry,

Buchanan, who just launched his hard cider operation this year, is one of more than a half-dozen Maine orchardists who’ve recently commited themselves to reviving the craft of brewing hard cider. The American colonists’ beverage of choice and a popular drink well into the mid-19th Century, is enjoying a renaissance in Maine on the heels of the state’s boom in craft beers…

and an intimate look at the challenges restaurant owner Annemarie Ahearn experienced as she launched the Salt Water Farm in Rockport.

Last year 170 new restaurants opened in Maine. Statistically, more than a quarter of them won’t make it through their first year. This is the story of one that did – restaurateur Annemarie Ahearn’s ambitious Salt Water Farm – and what it took to get there: bruised egos, broken friendships, and tough lessons about what Mainers want.

The articles aren’t yet available online but you can find copies of the magazine on your local newsstand.

The Press Herald has published a report on the recently released Harvard study of the Maine food industry.

The grant-funded report, by the university’s Maine Food Cluster Project, is based on months of research that included a survey of more than 300 businesses. Its authors set out to answer the question: How can Maine grow its food industry to create jobs and generate economic growth in the state?

Download the report: Growing Maine’s Food Industry, Growing Maine

The Press Herald reports that candidates for mayor and city council will be asked to share their views on food policy at a pair of upcoming  forums.

To state the obvious, Portland is a food city. That doesn’t just mean it’s a fantastic place to go out to dinner, it means anyone who wants to be elected to the City Council or become mayor of Maine’s largest city better pay attention to the politics of food. Next week, candidates will be gathering for two food policy forums for the first time in the city’s history, and they should be prepared to discuss everything from food insecurity to raising goats within urban limits to whether chefs should be able to put moose on their menus.