The Bollard has published a survey of neighborhood bars.

Let’s start out at Mama’s Crowbar (189 Congress St.), a little hole in the wall about a block above Washington Ave. It’s a mother-and-daughter-run joint that specializes in American craft beers. Common tap selections include stouts and ales from the likes of Allagash, Dogfish Head, and Oxbow, the brewery in Newcastle established last year. You won’t find liquor at Mama’s, but you will find nearly three dozen bottled and canned beer options priced between $3 and $7. PBR is not among them, because Mama doesn’t approve of their high fructose corn syrup.

In the latest entry on Immigrant Kitchens Lindsay Sterling learns how to make Russian ravioli from Yulia Converse (read the recipe and see the photos).

My friend’s family only eats meat that he hunts: duck, venison, and moose. Because prime cuts on these animals are so few, ground meat is usually what the family has to work with. I guess I was feeling sorry for them. What’s for dinner? Chili. What’s for dinner? Sausage. What’s for dinner? Chili. What’s for dinner? Sausage. After my latest cooking lesson in an immigrant’s kitchen, I wanted to bust down that family’s door and rescue them, crying, “How about some Russian ravioli?”

The Maine Restaurant Association has named David Turin their Chef of the Year.

The Press Herald polled “local chefs, restaurateurs, food writers, food bloggers [including yours truly] and all sorts of people obsessed with food and dining” on their favorite food related apps and have published the results in today’s paper. As the author Meredith Goad points out, the responses “ranged from popular apps such as Urbanspoon and OpenTable to some that you’ve probably never heard of before.”

Instant Portland has published a review of Bakery on the Hill.

I was going through shops in the East End, and at ever single one, I had the same conversation. “Have you checked out Bakery on the Hill yet? It’s amazing.”

When your neighbors consistently talk you up so highly, what can a poor blogger do but follow their advice.

From Away has published a review of Roma Pizza.

Owner Luca Pizzuti delivers perfectly on the fundamentals of the plain cheese slice, and then, because he can, expands the orbit of his pizza-making prowess to include more exotic toppings and ingredients that each dazzle and delight, all in a thickly-accented singsong that is enough to keep his customers smiling. It’s an honest-to-goodness slice bar, with plenty of piping hot, creative, carefully-made pizzas, ready at almost any time of day. Stop by without agenda, take a seat, and let Luca feed you with whatever is just out of the oven, and whatever he thinks is best. It’s an afternoon well-spent, and is Old Port pizza not to be missed.

A group calling itself the Portland Pie Council is planning an event on January 23rd to celebrate National Pie Day. The gala promises a fun line-up of activities:

• Synchronized Interpretive Pie Dance
• Pie Eating Contest (email portlandpiecouncil@gmail.com if you want to participate)
• Charity Pie Art Auction
• Pietry
• Historic Pie Moments
• Pie Theatre
• A ranked-choice voted competition for both sweet and savory pies

The 3rd Annual Pie and Art Gala is scheduled to take place January 23, 5:30 until “everyone is too sated to continue” at the Mayo Street Art Center. Tickets are $3 per person and attendees are encouraged to bring pies of their own to enter into the competition.

Also as part of the Portland celebration of National Pie Day, Ned Swain at the prompting of the Portland Pie Council is offering to dress all day in a pie costume if the public is willing to make $500 in pledges for the Preble Street Resource Center.

Chocolatier Sweet Marguerites is in the process of setting up shop in South Portland. In addition to be a production kitchen and retail shop the new store will also offer coffee, hot chocolate and a selection of desserts.

Tuesday — Zapoteca is holding a 5-course tequila dinner.

Wednesday — there will be a wine tasting at RSVP and Grace is holding a 4-course Allagash beer dinner.

Thursday — there will be a wine tasting at the Public Market House, and it’s the first day of the Novare Res 12 Stouts After Christmas.

Friday — Dobra Tea is hosting a Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers Market is taking place.

Sunday — Chocolat is on the schedule for movie night at Petite Jacqueline.

Beekeeping Classes
The Honey Exchange is offering a series of Beginner Beekeeping Classes this Spring. The first set of classes starts this week. Call (207) 773-9333 to sign up.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

Sabor Latino celebrated their Grand Opening on Saturday. The restaurant is located at 249 Saint John Street, formerly the home of Viet Bangkok Cuisine. They plan on serving Mexican, Salvadoran and Cuban food and the draft menu submitted to the city indicated they’d also be open for breakfast so perhaps Portland has one more destination for Sunday Brunch to try out.

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.

Bathras Market in Williard Square has announced that they will be going out of business. January 20 will be their last day in operation.

We have had a wonderful year filled with support and encouragement from all of you, but it seems that the competition from larger supermarkets combined with the seasonal nature of our location, as well as our own family circumstances, are preventing us from doing the business we need to do in order to survive as a year-round grocery market and deli.

We have tried our best to have a unique mix of quality products with fair pricing, but it has become clear that we do not have the buying power to compete with prices at larger stores, which greatly impacts our ability to generate sales during these difficult economic times.

Indications have been piling up all week but this afternoon the Press Herald received confirmation that Havana South has gone out of business.

Michael Boland, who opened the restaurant with his wife, Deirdre Swords, in 2010, confirmed the closure today in an email to the Portland Press Herald that was also signed by chef Cassady Pappas. The restaurant’s last day of business was New Year’s Eve.

“We worked long and hard, but in the end it just wasn’t possible to continue financially,” the email read.

This week’s issue of the Portland Phoenix includes an interview with the creative team behind Food Coma TV.

Based on gustatory adventurer Joe Ricchio’s cult foodie blog Portland Food Coma, Food Coma TV (foodcomatv.tumblr.com) has had a revelatory first season. Centered around Ricchio’s widely entertaining personality and anchored by comic foil Joel Beauchamp, producer Alex Steed, and director of photography Kurt Graser, Food Coma TVhas become a viral sensation in just three months.

Edible Obsessions has published a review of Y-Lime’s Gourmet.

I chose the Chocolate Pomegranate right off the bat. The use of fresh pomegranate seeds, nestled atop a dollop of ganache, then vanilla buttercream, intrigued me greatly. When you bit into the cake, the fresh sheets popped and released a lovely tart and tangy juice that balanced the rich dark chocolate cake very nicely.