Monday Nights

The Press Herald has published a list of restaurants open on Monday nights.

To help simplify your search for a Monday meal, we’ve rounded up a few dozen restaurants in and around Portland that stay open. And because the labor shortage has forced many eateries to further reduce their days of operation, we’ve included whether they’re open Tuesday too.

DutchPot Business Survey

A start-up company called DutchPot is working on a platform “to simplify the process of getting food permits and food licenses” in Maine.

They are gathering input from local food business owners to learn about the “struggles they face with the food permit and licensing process”.

You can help out by answering this short survey.

Food Trucks on the Prom (or Not)

The Press Herald has published a report on the re-evaluation of the Eastern Prom food truck pilot program. You’ll recall it required food trucks on the road and into a lot halfway down the hill. Food trucks have reported a significant drop in sales at the new location.

Portland will gather feedback on its food truck pilot program on the Eastern Promenade this fall as some food truck operators say it hasn’t been working and they’re looking for changes ahead of next season.

Interim City Manager Danielle West said Monday the city is aiming to launch a survey Oct. 3 to gather feedback from the public. The program, which launched this spring, moved food trucks from the promenade road to a parking lot on Cutter Street to better manage concerns about trash, pedestrian safety and traffic around the trucks.

Review of Jing Yan, Ice Cream Trucks, Foodtopia

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Jing Yan,

You won’t find menu categories for countries or cuisines; instead you’ll find inventive twists on techniques and ingredients. Start with a plate of numbing Sichuan chicken wings with prickly, tingly spice: some of the best wings anywhere in town. Then go for a bowl of brothless Korean “spaghetti” (really a gochujang-seasoned mazemen ramen) and a clay pot of Eslami’s lush, confit Persian-Peking duck fesenjoon. Thanks to Eslami’s breadth of experience, Jing Yan isn’t a haphazard pan-Asian joint. It’s a tightly conceived restaurant that unites comforting flavors and rock-solid technique.

as well as article about the Deering Ice Cream truck and an article about the book Foodtopia.

Allagash Tasting Room Moving to Scarborough

The Press Herald reports that Allagash Brewing plans to move their tasting room to Scarborough.

Allagash Brewing Co. plans to build a tasting room in Scarborough that will replace the one at its Portland brewery, which it says it’s outgrown.

The brewery’s current tasting area on Industrial Way, which has been outdoor-only since the start of the pandemic, will remain open until the new one is built at The Downs, a mixed-use commercial and residential development on the site of the former Scarborough Downs race track. Allagash announced Thursday that it plans to open the new tasting room, which will have both indoor and outdoor spaces, in 2024.

Native Food Ways

An article in Atlas Obscura by Ann Pollard Ranco examines The Indigenous Origins of the Maine Lobster Bake, and

The clam and lobster bakes of New England are inspired by an ancient indigenous custom, one that long tied the Wabanaki people to our land and celebrated coastal living. To better understand the indigenous origins of this living tradition and partake in the ongoing movement to reclaim heritage foodways, I organized a bake with fellow members of the Penobscot Nation on our ancestral land. Before bringing this ancestral custom burning, steaming, and hissing to life, however, we needed to look to its origins.

a recent article in the Bangor Daily News reports on work by the chef at Bissell Brothers is doing to bring Native American dishes to the menu at the brewery’s Milo location.

Robbins, 32, started cooking professionally about 10 years ago, at the now-closed Wrong Turn Pub in Kenduskeag, He later managed a food truck in Bangor, and was a longtime cook at Brewster’s Fine Food and Drink in Brewer. Now he’s developed a menu for Bissell Brothers that combines high-end comfort food with the Native food he loves.

DutchPot Part of Roux Residency

The new cohort of business leaders taking part in the Roux Institute’s 2022 Founder Residency program includes DutchPot  (website, instagram) co-founder Tamika Francis.

DutchPot is described as a digital platform for culinary collaboration that “curate[s] a trusted but dynamic map of collaborative business opportunities. The platform enables culinary creatives to connect, expand their teams, and work together on projects.”

Rebel Blend Fund

Coffee by Design is now accepting applications for their Rebel Blend Fund which helps support Maine artists and small arts organizations. They are especially interested in “projects which somehow fall below the funding radar screen; projects that we believe are thought-provoking and engage people in the State of Maine in conversation.”

The Rebel Blend Fund is supported through the sale of CBD’s Rebel Blend coffee which is a blend of coffees from Asia, Americas and Africa. Coffee by Design donates $1 from each pound sold or brewed to the fund.

To apply for a Rebel Blend grant send in your application by the August 31st deadline.

Urban Farm Fermentory Purchased

Eli Cayer has sold Urban Farm Fermentory to Maine Standard Biofuels. According to the announcement the two companies will be moving to a 12-acre green industrial park that Maine Standard Biofuels is building in Windham. The site will include agricultural fields where herbs for UFF beverages will be grown and will the site will also house “incubator sites for like-minded start-ups”.

Both men started their companies with a passion for serving local customers with products that reflect their deep respect for the natural world. Kaltsas built a business that refines potential pollutants into clean-burning biofuels and cleaners. Cayer crafted fermented beverages that captured the authentic taste of wild Maine-grown ingredients. Years of shared ideas on practices that mimic nature’s efficiency eventually led to the pair’s decision for a sale that would plant the seed for a collaborative business model that sets new standards for triple-bottom-line sustainability.

Cayer founded Urban Farm Fermentory in 2010. The company produces a line of fermennted products that include ciders, kombuchas, beers, gruit, jun, mead and vinegars. They are currently located on Anderson Street in East Bayside.