Family Feast at The Well

Family Feast on The Farm

Family Feast will be serving an Indonesian prix fixe dinner at The Well on Monday June 30.

They’re still planning the details but so far this what the menu looks like:

  • Crab and head cheese bao with hackelback caviar
  • Chilled cucumber nasturtium soup with coconut and smoked mussels, black lime vinaigrette
  • Large format beef tongue salad  “Garggouillou” with farm veg, pickled, raw, fermented, shoots and flowers with a cumin lime honey vin, rhubarb mustard, peanuts, beef tongue, black sesame miso puree, sesame bagel croutons, yogurt, farm greens
  • Whole duck egg ravioli over a ragu of duck hearts and gizzards, liver, peas, chocolate mint, tofu
  • Baba guling, balinese pork presenation
    -smoked shoulder in a yellow curry with squid and clams, eggpant, zuchini
    -charred blood and pork sausage wheel with chili glaze over seared bitter greens
    -rolled stuffed roasted belly with aromatic rice and wok fried broccoli raab in oyster sauce and garlic
    -fried bits, ears, skin, intestine with herbs and shallots in nuoc chom
  • Dessert will be stone fruit buckle with whipped farm cream, and then small corn cookie and ice cream sandwiches with jackfruit and tamarind

Tickets are $100 per person. Sign-up online at Eventbrite.

 

Under Construction: Ten Ten Pié

tentenpieLate last summer DiPietro’s closed their neighborhood market on Cumberland Ave after 69 years in operation. Now the new owner, Markos Miller and wife Heather Nichols, are planning to launch a new bakery cafe and market called Ten Ten Pié.

The name is a Spanish expression which refers to a quick snack or bite to eat.

Miller tells me that Ten Ten Pié will serve freshly prepared pastry (with a multi-cultural twist) in the morning, and a take out lunch menu featuring international comfort food. They also expect to have a small retail market that meets some of the light grocery needs for the neighborhood and healthy grab and go foods.

More details should be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

For the details on all upcoming restaurants, bars, bakeries and food trucks check out our Under Construction List.

MECA Offering Culinary Classes

meca-logoThe Maine College of Art is offering a set of Culinary Arts classes this Summer as part of their continuing education program. Here’s the list of the Summer options:

  • The Art and Craft of Food Writing taught by Susan Axelrod from the Press Herald
  • Pastry Perfection taught by Tara Smith from Standard Baking
  • Farm to Fork Workshop taught by chef David Levi, owner of Vinland
  • All About Cheese taught by Sarah Wiederkehr from Winter Hill Farm
  • Microbrewing taught by Chresten Sorensen from Bunker Brewing

According to the release:

To help orchestrate this new realm of programming, MECA has engaged the expertise of Culinary Consultant and former Executive Vice President of The International Culinary Center (formerly The French Culinary Institute), Christopher Papagni, Ph.D. According to Papagni, “Some of the best of Portland’s culinary scene has been selected for this first round of MECA classes. Keeping up with new food trends and the rapid growth of artisan talent in Maine, will insure dynamic programming for a long time to come.”

Papagni is now working to recruit instructors for the Fall semester at MECA.

Reviews of Mainely Wraps and Boda

The Press Herald has published a bar review of Boda,

Most of the house cocktails are $8 and all but the Winter Manhattan are under $10. In keeping with an authentic Thai “street food” theme, the drink menu seems to use a variety of traditional Thai spices and ingredients and you get the sense that the drink menu was created with humor and ease.

and a review of the new Mainely Wraps on Fore Street.

There are a lot of places to grab lunch in the Old Port. Some are ho-hum, others are great but maybe serve a little bit more than what you want for just a quick lunch.

Mainely Wraps lies in the happy middle, offering delicious, creative sandwiches fast and at reasonable prices.

Interview with Stephen Lanzalotta

Eater Maine has published the first part of an extensive interview with Stephen Lanzalotta.

The concept of Sicilian street food is a unique one in these parts. What should we expect to see?…We want to bring a fresh meeting place — not that that hasn’t been done, there are other places where people meet — but the idea is to take this ancient culture and make it viable in the 21st century. It’s like, Hey, this is a hip aspect of Sicilian culture — sharing a bite with someone else and lingering, or not. That’s the beauty of it. You can grab a bite here and go out, or linger and get several things and make a meal.

Update: Part 2 of the interview is now available on Eater.

Review of Ernie’s & Gritty’s 25th

The Press Herald has reviewed Ernie’s Pool and Darts,

The bartenders are friends or family members of owner Ernie Rouleau, and if you’re a new face, they’ll welcome you with a warm smile and quick run-down of the menu. There’s no happy hour, but none of the drinks are more than $4 (Natural Light and Busch Light are always $1 on tap) and the bar food – like the steak ’n cheese and meatball sub – are all made to order (unless you grab a bag of chips or a candy bar for a $1). The kitchen space is small, but there might be some steak sizzling on the grill, a handmade personal pizza cooking in the oven and a soft pretzel plumping in the microwave.

and this week’s What Ales You Column reports on a collaboration between Gritty’s and Deschutes Brewing Company from Portland Oregon.

Getting back to the Bachelor Bitter. This is a clear but unfiltered bitter, a West Coast style but with English roots evident. It is hoppier than other Gritty beers, but not overpowering, and balanced, with a good amount of malt in the finish.

It is only 4.8 percent alcohol by volume, so it is a session beer, although a highly flavorful one.

Both Gritty’s and Deschutes were founded in 1988 and are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Maine #4 in Beer Revenue

IMPACT_CAPITA_lrThe Brewers Association has released data that shows Maine’s beer industry have the 4th highest economic impact per capita in the nation at $324.36 per person. The economic impact is “derived from the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves through the three-tier system (breweries, wholesalers and retailers), as well as all non-beer products that brewpub restaurants sell.”