This Week’s Events: Growing Local, Ice Bar, Emotional Honey, Honey Dinner, Bean Suppah

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — Local Sprouts is hosting the Local Foods Networking Breakfast.

Wednesday — Space Gallery is screening Growing Local followed by a discussion with the director, Baxter Brewing owner Luke Livingston will be speaking at Peleton Labs,  The Corner Room is holding a  wine dinner and Black Tie is teaching a cooking class.

Thursday — it’s the first night of the 2015 Ice Bar, the Thirsty Pig is hosting a rlease party for episode 4 of Local Brew TV, and GMRI is hosting a talk on How Climate Change is Affecting Fish and People by scientist Andy Pershing and Kathy Mills.

Friday — it’s the second night of the Ice Bar.

Saturday — Allagash is having a bottle release for Emotional Honey,  it’s the last night of the Ice Bar, the Portland On Tap beer festival is taking place as is the Winter Farmers’ Market.

Sunday — The Good Table is holding a 5-course dinner made with 5 local honeys paired with mead, wine, beer, and Rosemont Market cooking a Grange Bean Suppah.

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.

Tortilleria Pachanga Interview

| Posted in People

Today’s Telegram includes an interview with Tortilleria Pachanga owner Lynne Rowe.

WHAT’S IN A NAME: We figured out that a tortilleria is the place where tortillas are made, but what does “pachanga” mean? Rowe picked it up from her days in Mexico. “It can be like a drunken bash,” Rowe said. “But it doesn’t have to be like that. It can also be a rhythm or a dance. In Mexico it is sort of a fun word for a gathering.” When she worked at the Waynflete School she introduced pachanga to the school lexicon, using it to describe family gatherings.

Vinland at the James Beard House

| Posted in People, Profiles

For the final installment in her four-part series Vinland, Mary Pols has written a report on the James Beard House dinner Vinland chef David Levi served this past week in NYC.

Levi said the foundation offered him dates in January through March, but worried whether he could pull it off when nearly everything in Maine, even the bays, tend to freeze. He relished the challenge. “If we’re going to showcase what Maine cuisine is all about, it is much more compelling to do it in the winter than the summer,” he said. “In the summer, we have many of the same things that you’d find in any part of the country.” In the winter, Maine’s famed resiliency materializes in its foods, and he was eager to put any concerns to rest.

Read the Full Series
Part 1: Bold Idea for Portland
Part 2: What’s for Dinner
Part 3: Bountiful Summer

Review of Bao Bao

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Bao Bao.

Bao Bao bills itself as a dumpling house (you can order plates of six dumplings either boiled or pan fried, and the lamb dumplings are particularly good) but other items on the menu truly shine: Asian Slaw is a crisp, refreshing salad with a delicious soy and rice wine vinaigrette; “smashed cucumbers” are served icy cold but enrobed in a fiery sriracha chili sauce; and Taiwanese beef noodle soup blends chunks of super-tender brisket with ropes of noodles and chopped greens in a salty, satisfying beef broth. Don’t miss the red bean paste buns offered upon request for dessert. They’re a fried twist on a steamed Asian classic, and sweet enough to satisfy even your strongest cravings.

Oxbow Expanding

| Posted in Under Construction

Oxbow Brewing has also applied for a liquor license so they can serve wine, spirits, food (draft menu, page 39) and beers from other brewers along with their own products at their tasting room on Washington Ave.

Although we have been enjoying a steady early draw of customers to our new Portland tasting room, it has quickly become apparent that the ability to provide a more complete [experience] would generate substantially more traffic to our location, and subsequently to the many small businesses that surround us. To be able to maximize the potential of our space, we would like to have the option of preparing snacks as well as serving guest beers, wines and spirits from other local artisan producers.

Under Construction: Portland Patisserie

| Posted in Under Construction

Steve and Michelle Corry have applied for a liquor license for Portland Patisserie, the new bakery/cafe they have under development at 46 Market Street.

The cafe will serve “classic French pastries along with crepes, sandwiches, salads and coffee” as well as pies, cakes and other French baked goods. The full draft menu can be found on pages 58-62 of the City Council agenda. Here’s a small  excerpt:

patisserie_menu

Portland Patisserie is scheduled to be open 7 days a week, 6am to 8pm. In addition to the baked goods the cafe will stock a selection of wine, beer and champagne for retails sale and will sell specialty foods such as French cheeses, charcouterie, spices and fresh-baked breads.

The Corry’s recently were issued a building permit for the space and so construction should be starting up soon. They hope to have Portland Patisserie open in the March/April time frame. The floor plan has a what looks like a central retail display area and seating for 33 at tables around the perimeter of the room.

portlandpatisserie

In’finiti→Liquid Riot Bottling Co.

| Posted in Under Construction

liquidriot

Owners Eric and Julie Michaud have announced plans to rename and reconcept In’finiti as the Liquid Riot Bottling Company (facebook, instagram, twitter).

Part of the new identity of Liquid Riot is the “tasting room.” The raised dining area of In’finiti has been removed in order to open up the space and bring the room together on one level. Instead of a “restaurant” which typically has a focus on food, we now have a “tasting room” where one can focus on the taste of our cocktails made from our house-made spirits and the taste of our beer brewed on premise. To accompany these offerings we will have tasty, fresh food prepared in our kitchen. You can still get a full meal or just apps and snacks, just as you can still get an array of intoxicatingly delicious liquids. Our products are not changing, just the name, a little bit of the layout, and the idea of what that space provides.

The Michauds are just completing a renovation of the space at 250 Commercial Street and plan to re-open the business today at 3pm.

Bar Review of Taco Trio

| Posted in Reviews

The Press Herald has reviewed Taco Trio.

Taco Trio is an authentic Mexican taqueria in South Portland that caters to families, teenagers, twenty-somethings and beyond. You’ll likely get a mixed crowd on any given night – be prepared for a line and a wait on weekend nights. There’s a solid beer selection, a few drafts, and two house cocktails (margarita and mojito). While not a bar scene in the traditional sense, it’s a good place to go to drink and eat cheaply.