Category: People

The Press Herald has published a Maine Voices letter from Brittany Cronin about her appreciation for Maiz, a Colombian restaurant in Woodfords Corner.

I know I’m not the only one who’s found a cultural home in Maiz. Every Portland Colombian I know, I’ve met at Maiz. I’ve even met Colombians who drive in from more than an hour outside of Portland just to go to a Friday night dance party at Maiz. We like to stay awhile, to talk with the owners and staff, to talk with each other. We’ll also drop in just to say hi, or leave a box of chocolates with Martha for her birthday. It’s our space: familiar, comfortable and Colombian.

As we reported back in February, owners Arlin Smith, Andrew Taylor, Mike Wiley are working  with Sam Hiersteineron on an Eventide cookbook.

The project is now well underway and is slated to publish under the full title, Eventide: Recipes for Clambakes, Oysters, Lobster Rolls, and More from a Modern Maine Seafood Shack by Ten Speed Press on June 2, 2020.

The book will contain 120 recipes including Eventide’s brown butter lobster roll, lobster stew, tempura smelts with spicy tzatziki, tuna crudo and cocktails as well as “recipes for easy entertaining, like the clambake and bo saam”.

David McMillan from Joe Beef has written an introduction for the book with Zack Bowen as the photographer and Catrine Kelty as the food stylist.

The latest episode of Spencer Albee’s podcast Spencer Explores the Universe is an interview with Krista Kern Desjarlais, chef/owner of The Purple House,

And the the latest episode of the Food Coma podcast is an interview with Andy Gerry, co-owner of Highroller Lobster.

The Bangor Daily News reports that some Maine restaurant workers are making the transition to working in the new cannabis industry lured by better pay and hours.

As it turns out, he’s not. As restaurant owners in Portland and beyond struggle with a back-of-house labor shortage that they say threatens their business model, Bishop and a wave of other cooks responsible for elevating the Maine food scene over the last decade are finding better wages, less stressful work environments and greater opportunities for advancement in cannabis. Equipped with years of training, cooks are becoming caregivers, bartenders are now “budtenders” and pastry chefs make better livings as specialized cannabis chocolatiers and candymakers.

David Moran, founder of Sorella’s Bakehouse, has passed away at the age of 63.

Mr. Moran owned a string of businesses and restaurants dating back to the 1980’s. Some of those include PA’s Luncheonette and PA’s Restaurant in Portland, and M. J. Richio’s and the Raymond General Store in Raymond. He purchased the former Nappi’s Bakery and opened Sorella’s Bakehouse 17 years ago.

The Food Coma podcast has posted an interview with Bon Appetit editor at large Andrew Knowlton.

This is the 4th episode of the Food Coma podcast:

• Episode 1 was with Arlin Smith, co-owner of Hugo’s/Eventide/The Honey Paw
• Episode 2 was with rapper Spose
• Episode 3 was with producer/mixer/sound engineer Jonathan Wyman

Maine Women Magazine has published an article on the home kitchen life of chefs Ilma Lopez and Damian Sansonetti.

The room is painted a warm brown called Nutmeg. “I loved the color,” Lopez said, “but the name did it.” Throughout the kitchen are figurines of lizards and dinosaurs, courtesy of their daughter, as well as pigs, courtesy of the chefs in the family, who have a fondness for all things pig-related (their cast iron Griswold bacon press is often on display and in use for much more than just pressing bacon). There is a selection of Venezuelan rums on a side table—“My family brings a different bottle of Venezuelan rum every time they visit,” she says—as well as a spice collection in a wooden box, given to them by a regular customer on Piccolo’s fifth anniversary (the “wood” anniversary).

The Forecaster has published a report on the change of ownership of City Deli.

After 38 years in business, the family-owned City Deli on the first floor of One City Center has a new owner.

The new owner, Dalia Esposito, said she has known the former owners, the DeSalle family, for many years and has worked on and off at the business since childhood, making the transition a natural one.

The Press Herald published a profile earlier this week on Scott Tyree, the Freeport resident who recently became the 256th Master Sommelier in the world.

At 8:30 a.m. on April 29, Scott Tyree, wearing a dark navy suit with a lucky stone from a friend tucked into a pocket, entered a suite at the Four Seasons in St. Louis, the city’s acclaimed arch visible in a window behind him. Waiting for Tyree was a panel of four proctors, all master sommeliers, and six glasses of classic wines – three white, three red. He was there to take, for the 10th time in 16 years, the famously rigorous master sommelier exam.