Great Beer Adventure has posted a podcast interview with Sean Sullivan, executive director of the Maine Brewers’ Guild.
We invited Sean Sullivan of the Maine Brewers’ Guild on to chat Maine beer with us. We have learned a lot in a year and can’t wait to see what the next year brings for us and for the Maine beer scene.
The Press Herald has published an interview with seafood expert, South Freeport resident and author Barton Seaver about his new book, Two If By Sea.
Sometimes it seems like not a month goes by without a new cookbook by fish sustainability expert, chef and South Freeport resident Barton Seaver showing up in the mail. Most recently, it was the 304-page “Two if by Sea,” chock-full of recipes; indexes of fish species; short essays on sustainability, equipment and ingredients; more essays and step-by-step photographs on technique; and pictures of food, fish and Seaver himself fishing and cooking.
Today’s Press Herald includes a behind the scenes look at Josh Doré’s job manning the reservations line at Fore Street.
“Every job is different. Every guest is different,” Doré said. “The way that you speak to one person may not be the way you are able to interact with another person. Some people are very straight and narrow, some people like to have more fun. They’ll joke with you on the phone. You have to be able to read your guest without being able to see your guest, which is a learned talent. Is this a sir or madam conversation, or can I call you Scott?”
an interview with Gillian and Jim Britt who own gBritt, a restaurant public relations firm,
Q:Still, it’s 2016. Why can’t I tweet/Instagram/website and market my restaurant myself?
JB: Our clients tend to be chef-driven restaurants. There is no marketing person in place. They are trying to do payroll, meet the delivery truck out back, fix that ice maker that stopped working…Then in the very back of their mind, they are thinking, “We haven’t posted on Instagram in a week,” or “We haven’t updated our Facebook.” Then there is the storytelling. They might have a great story to tell, but they just don’t have the contacts with professional media or the time.
and an article about two new vegan organizations in town.
Two new groups that have set up shop in the city are aiming to make Portland more vegan-friendly. V for All is working to increase the number of vegan items on restaurant menus, and Plant IQ is spreading the word about the health benefits of plant-based food.
For their new episode Great Beer Adventure interviewed Vena’s co-owner Steve Corman on his personal journey to be becoming a bartender and about beer cocktails.
As we explore beer cocktails, we learn (yet again) that we should be willing to take more risks in our beer drinking. Steve Corman of Vena’s Fizz House joins us to teach us a thing or two about adding booze to our beer. (Really it’s all about the bitters.)
Today’s Press Herald Food & Dining section includes an article on the 2 decade relationship between Back Bay Grill chef/owner Larry Matthews and the restaurant’s dishwasher William “Franco” Tucker.
Larry Matthews Jr., chef and owner of the elegant Back Bay Grill in Portland, and William “Franco” Tucker, dishwasher at the same, have worked together for about two decades. Longer than many marriages last. Longer, by decades, than dishwashers typically stay at restaurants. Longer than either ever expected, and longer than Matthews has worked with anyone else at his reliably first-rate restaurant.
Paste has published an interview with Will Pratt, co-owner of Tandem Coffee Roasters.
Paste: What’s important to Tandem from the perspective of buying beans?
Will Pratt: The coffee has to have a story. Most of our coffee comes through importers, but we’re starting to travel a little bit with them, too. The people that we work with have been doing it for a long time; they’re vetted, and we know their principles.
Hunt & Alpine bar manager Trey Hughes has been selected to participate in a competitive apprenticeship program at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail conference. Hughes was successful in competing against 600 bartenders from over 13 countries to fill one of the 40 open positions.
Forty accomplished bartenders from around the world were selected to learn alongside some of the world’s most respected bartenders and cocktail experts as they work the seminars and large-scale events at Tales of the Cocktail® 2016. These first-time apprentices will be joined by an experienced group of managers, assistant managers and leaders who will use their apprentice experience in leading this year’s program.
Photo Credit: Meredith Perdue
The Bagor Daily News has published an article about Scales and the waterfront seafood restaurant’s chef Mike Smith.
The 32-year-old Old Orchard Beach native is no stranger to seafood, restaurant life or hard work. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, worked in Boston and Napa Valley, yet his path to the helm of this kitchen began earlier, and closer to home.
The Press Herald has published the first installment of a 3-part series authored by Black Dinah owner Kate Shaffer on the experience of moving her business to Westbrook.
I know that it will be over in the next couple of weeks and ultimately that the construction will bring us more business. And in a funny way, the earth-shaking demolition and re-building is an apt metaphor for my own life: I feel blasted from my own foundations, blown away by how much things have changed in the last 10 months.
The Press Herald spoke with 3 vegan chefs who work in non-vegan kitchens about how they balance their job responsibilities and personal diet.
I tracked down and spoke with three vegan chefs who are working in Portland to ask them how they manage it. (A fourth who was on extended holiday in London eluded me.) Among the challenges they face: Needing to taste animal products before they send dishes out of their kitchens, career limitations and the contradictions between strongly held personal beliefs and professional ambitions.