Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes a profile of MB’s Sweets, a South Portland gluten-free bakery.

Mary Beth Goldman of MB’s Sweets is quietly, persistently and actively infiltrating area restaurants, retail outlets and coffee shops with products that are deceivingly healthier than their white flour and hydrogenated-frosted counterparts. All the rage, or not, Goldman says, “Gluten-free sweets don’t have to be dry, gross and recall a childhood memory of choking on a graham cracker. Most people associate gluten-free with crumbly, gritty and crunchy — but that just isn’t the case.”

In Portland, MB’s Sweets products are available at Morning in Paris Cafe on Exchange Street.

Earlier this week the Portland Daily Sun published a profile of Marcy’s Diner including details on the eatery’s change in ownership.

Back in March, the previous owners and motorcycle fanatics Murray and Joely Sparks put the word out that they were looking for someone to take over the diner. They had a 2-year-old son at home, and work days that could sometimes turn in to 24-hour-long marathons proved to be incompatible with the challenge of raising a little boy. They wanted to make sure the location, a diner since the early 1940s, would remain an eatery, and decided to find a new owner rather than close and risk the space being leased to other entities.

The Food & Dining section in today’s includes a feature article about Maine-based Gryffon Ridge Spice Merchants.

The Suydams run their spice business out of their rural home, where they also raise heritage pigs, chickens and ducks. They prepare and package the spices in a commercial kitchen they’ve built in their basement, which has a six-burner gas stove, a huge mixer, large stainless sinks and other equipment. Colorful spices are everywhere, and when Rick is working on a curry blend, the fragrance wafts upstairs and fills the house.

In Portland you can buy Gryffon Ridge products at LeRoux Kitchen on Commercial Street.

The Maine Culinary Podcast has published an interview with staff from the Portland Food Co-op on  Hampshire Street.

Welcome to Episode 11.  In this episode we had an opportunity to learn about the Portland Food Co-op.  Michelle Smith, sat down with us and explained a bit about how the group came to be and how the Co-op works.  Michelle also told us all about the suppliers and vendors that make their product available to the group. Tim, working as Vendor Coordinator, also joined us to go a bit more in depth about the building the Co-op resides in and also how he got started working with the group.

Food, etc. has published a profile of The Honey Exchange.

Buying a jar of honey is like buying a bottle of wine, says Meghan Gaven, who owns the business with her husband, Phil. “Each has a different character. Lighter colored honeys tend to be more floral and minty,” she says. “The darker the honey, the stronger the flavor.”

The Portland Daily Sun has published a profile of the Bakery on the Hill and its owner Wolf Gonier.

When asked about the inevitable concerns that come with opening a new dining establishment, Gonier smiled and said, “We’re still feeling out our identity, but I am passionately proud of my cakes and pastries. I only use the very best chocolate, butter, cream and supplies. It may sound egotistical, but all I have to do is get the food in their mouths. I just need one chance. We love Portland and want to make everyone feel welcome.”

The Low Down: Head into Bakery on the Hill for freshly brewed coffee and a sample smattering of up to a dozen individually sized desserts, six to eight whole cakes, a dozen bars and/or cupcakes and seasonal offerings, all available daily.

Bresca has announced the start dates for their highly anticipated lunch service,

Beginning Wednesday December 7th, at 11 am, Bresca will be offering a take away and sit-down cafe style lunch. Look forward to pastry, sandwiches, salads and soup. The opening hours will be limited to 11 am to 2 pm, Wednesday and Thursday.

LiveWork Portland has put together a select list of coffee shops in Portland.

Perhaps the current epicenter of Portland’s Coffee Universe is Bard, at the corner of Middle and Exchange streets. Here’s where budding entrepreneurs set up shop early in the morning, laptops open and buzzing, conducting business all day long. There are some obligatory sofas at Bard, but the crackle of commerce (or, at least, intense discussions) is in the air. If Bard were a movie actor, it’d be George Clooney.

Roma Pizza opened for business on Friday. They’re located at 10 Exchange Street.

They join a crowded field of pizza shops in the Old Port: Flatbread, Joe’s, Portland Pie, Pat’s, Anthony’s, Bill’s and Pie in the Sky.

Roma will be closed Tuesday through Thursday this week in observance of Thanksgiving and will hold their Grand Opening on Friday.

This week’s Food & Dining section in the Press Herald features an interview with Phil and Meghan Gaven, owners of The Honey Exchange on Stevens Ave.

“This is a spring honey from a hive in Ferry Village, and this is the fall honey from that same hive,” Meghan Gaven said. “So the same bees in the same place, just different times of year, made these two different colors and flavors of honey.”

A recent selection at the tasting bar included a honey made by a police officer/beekeeper in Wells and a basswood honey from Pennsylvania that is “everything I like about honey but with the volume turned way up,” Phil Gaven said. “It’s real crystalline and brilliant.”

The latest issue of Portland magazine includes a guide to 10 new(ish) spots in Portland: 15 Exchange Grille, Cobblestones, Cranberry Island Kitchen, East End Cupcakes, East Ender, Exchange Street Cafe, Figa, The Thirsty Pig, White Cap Grille, Zapoteca.

Today’s Press Herald featured a front page story on the Miss Portland Diner.

In the three years since Tom Manning rescued and reopened the Miss Portland Diner, he has come to appreciate the many challenges of running a restaurant.

A change in the weather, good or bad, can draw a crowd to the old Worcester Lunch Car on Marginal Way or leave his staff with plenty of time to fill salt and pepper shakers. A spike in gas prices can drive up supply costs and make it tough to keep meatloaf and hash browns affordable.

The Maine Travel Maven has published a profile of Jordan Farm and The Well.

His goal was to be on a farm. “The whole idea was to be the town cook,” he says. He says he overbuilt the kitchen (complete with wood-burning oven), but it allows him to make everything from scratch. He can walk outside and handpick fresh vegetables, so diners are truly getting farm to table fare.

Mainebiz has published a profile of Ned Wight and his new company New England Distilling.

Ned Wight comes from a long line of distillers. His forebears made whiskey for about 100 years in Maryland until the 1950s, when the Wight family distillery was finally sold. Now, more than half a century later, he’s returning to the family trade and opening a small craft distillery in Portland, hoping to profit from a reawakened thirst for artisanal spirits, or what is sometimes referred to as boutique booze.

For Episode 4 the Maine Culinary Podcast visited the Urban Farm Fermentory for a very interesting tour of the facility with permaculturist Dave Homa.