Bard Coffee is highlighted in the latest issue of Fortune magazine as one of of the most promising cult coffee brands in the nation.

City government is considering a change that would allow alcohol to be sold at the Farms Market.

Small-scale vintners, brewers and cider-makers would be allowed to sell their products at the Portland Farmer’s Market under a proposal before the city council’s Health and Recreation subcommittee today.

As drafted, the plan would amend the city’s Farmer’s Market rules to allow sale of fermented beverages such as beer, wine and hard ciders as long as the seller held a state license and met conditions to sell at the city’s farmer’s market.

Buy Local has published the list of nominees for the 2011 Indie Biz Awards. The nominees include: Local Sprouts, El Rayo, Local 188, Silly’s, Rosemont, Dobra Tea, the Portland Farmers Market, Sebago Brewing, Dean’s Sweets, Y-Lime Cupcakes, Coffee by Design, Allagash, The Honey Exchange, and Micucci’s.

Voting is now open, and the awards presentation is scheduled to take place October 18.

Columnist Natalie Ladd at the Portland Daily Sun muses on the impact our own prior expectations have on our enjoyment when eating out.

This is certainly not the case in business as we expect things to meet or exceed our standards based upon experiences tucked away in our “frame of reference” file. In a restaurant for example, we may be disappointed in a perfectly delicious, beautifully prepared, half-pound, medium-rare burger served with a mountain of hand-cut fries for $17, as this price point may seem offensive and unwarranted. Even if the food meets or exceed the standards of quality tastiness, the overall end result becomes null and void by the number of zeros on the meal ticket. I witnessed this very incident while sitting at a bar of a well known, carnivorously-oriented hot spot just last week.

Portland Daily Photo has posted some photos of the recently launched Taco Escobarr and Bam Bam Bakery, as well as Plush which is still under construction.

Food Trucks were on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting of the Creative Portland Corporation and made it on to the front page of today’s Press Herald.

The organization’s directors unanimously endorsed food trucks at their monthly meeting, and will propose an ordinance to the City Council’s Health and Recreation Committee later this year. If the committee endorses the ordinance, it will go to the City Council.

“It seems odd that we would make rules that limit people’s choices,” said Andy Graham, president of Creative Portland. “We just need to come up with policy suggestions that balance everyone’s interests.”

I was at the meeting, as were Andre Polhill and Helen Andreoli who are interested in starting a “food truck in the city with barbecue and Southern comfort food”.

Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd wrote today about the important role the host plays at a restaurant.

To the unindoctrinated, it’s hard to explain why the host position is so difficult to execute and so vitally important to the operational flow of a busy restaurant. There’s the reservation book or list that’s been building, with the names and times often incorrect due to hasty human error that can set off a domino effect of disaster.

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on the Portland Food Co-op and their new space on Hampshire Street.

Each month, the Portland Food Co-op orders $10,000 worth of goods from the Crown O’Maine Organic Cooperative, United Natural Foods, Frontier Natural Products Co-op and individual farmers and food producers.

All of the food is marked up 10 percent from its wholesale price to cover operating expenses, such as property taxes and electrical bills. Most retailers add a 20 percent to 40 percent markup on food products.

Eater.com has posted a Heatmap of 12 “newish” Portland restaurants “that have been garnering strong buzz”. The list is based on recommendations gathered from Dawn at Appetite Portland and me.

There’s plenty to get excited about on the list, from establishments helmed by respected chefs (Figa and Petite Jacqueline) to well-priced, authentic ethnic eats (Aroma and Fez), to creative Asian spots (Boda and Pai Men Miyake) to the family-owned, near-perfect Gorgeous Gelato.

Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports that the Creative Portland is “planning to discuss the feasibility of food trucks during its September meeting, potentially paving the way for a broader citywide discussion on the issue.”

“From an economic development point of view, it’s sort of an incubator for young chefs who want to get started. At the same time, it’s a way for existing restaurants to extend their brand,” [Andy] Graham [chair of the Creative Portland board] said. “Think how cool it would be if Fore Street did a food truck, or if Miyake did a food truck.”

For now, food trucks are not allowed under a smattering of overlapping city ordinances. Various city policies enacted over the years further complicate the picture, said Councilor Dave Marshall, a non-voting member who sits on the Creative Portland board.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a feature article on Miyake’s farm in Freeport,

“They get to eat sushi-grade Japanese tuna every day,” says Chad Conley, who manages the farm. “Masa will trim a whole tuna, and there’s pounds and pounds of blood and scraps that can’t be used that normally, before the farm, were just going in the trash.

“But the pigs love it. They eat fish heads. They eat lobster bodies. They eat extra fat that we can’t use. They go crazy for it.”

and an interview with interview with Chris McClay about her personal chef service called Modern Vegan.

“It’s so interesting – nobody’s been vegan yet,” McClay said of the clients for her business, which she launched in April. “I’ve always had the feeling right from the beginning that my service is not for vegans. However, my clients do lean towards vegetarianism.”

MPBN interviewed Anthony Barrasso, owner of Anthony’s Italian Kitchen, for a report on Portland’s efforts to fight obesity with a $1.8 million grant from the CDC.

The city’s handiwork is also visible elsewhere–like at Anthony’s Kitchen, an Italian eatery in downtown Portland.

“This is called Anthony’s Lighter Side and this is our low-cal menu,” says restaurant owner Anthony Barrasso (above). “Three choices of wrap, white, wheat or spinach wraps, and then the dinners that we put out are also, as you can see, pretty fair calories, especially with the wheat linguine.”

This week’s issue of the Portland Phoenix is devoted to all things mushroom. It includes:

• A Brian Duff survey of mushroom dishes currently from David’s, Blue Spoon, Local Sprouts, Aurora Provisions and Lindy’s Lunch
• A feature article on mushroom foraging and mycology in general
• Some highlights on the ecological benefits of mushrooms

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a report on the winner of the Portland Trails recipe contest,

As a mother of two, a grandmother of four and a former sixth-grade teacher, Vesta Rand knows how to get kids excited about food. As an avid walker, she also knows what it takes to create portable eats.

So it’s hardly a surprise that her entry for Portland Trails’ first Trail Gourmet contest took top honors.

and an article about the gardening program at the Center for African Heritage in Falmouth,

Boulis Kodi treads lightly through a thriving garden patch, showing off a summer’s worth of hard work by Nuba Mountain refugees from Sudan.

“This is the sweet corn, and this is the tomatoes over here,” said Kodi, who is the farm manager for the Center for African Heritage garden project at Tidewater Farm, just down the road from the University of Maine Regional Learning Center.

Forecaster columnist Edgar Allen Beem writes this week about his personal path to a locavorian point of view.

Small local farms, family gardens, locally owned, independent businesses. If the 21st century turns out to look more like the 19th than the 20th, it may well be a good thing. I have seen the future and it resides in the past.

Eat well, my friends. Eat local.