Interview with Kate McCarty

| Posted in People

The Huffington Post has published an interview with Kate McCarty, author of Portland Food.

In your opinion, what is it about the Portland food community that inspires so much creativity?
The low cost of entry and accessibility (e.g. rents, prime space) is attractive to many chefs, as well as our abundant local ingredients like produce, cheese, meat, and seafood. Everyone in Maine is into making things, whether it’s cured meats or beer or blueberry jam. All of the chefs I talked to while researching Portland Food mentioned how supportive and collaborative the food and restaurant industry is. We don’t have the same competitiveness in the restaurant industry that they have even just down the road in Boston. All these factors created this incredible restaurant scene for a city of our size.

 

First Review of Timber

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has reviewed Timber.

The double-thick (huge) pork chop had a wonderful glaze of Maine blueberry sauce, more pungent than sweet.  It’s local pork, too, though not pastured but corn fed.  It had great flavor and was exceedingly tender for such a thick cut.  It’s flash-grilled at very high heat, the secret to making cuts like this buttery soft.

This Week’s Events: Lobster Roll Rumble, CN Shawarma, Flea Bites, Old Port Festival

| Posted in Events

Wednesday — the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — several Maine restaurants will be in NYC competing in the Lobster Roll Rumble, and the Great Lost Bear is showcasing beer from Smuttynose.

Friday — CN Shawarma (facebook, twitter, instagram) is launching their new food truck, the movie Craft is being screened at Allagash, and the first Flea Bites food truck street festival in is taking place at the Portland Flea for All.

Saturday — the 10th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival is taking place as is the Deering Oaks Farmers Market, it’s the 3rd Annual Maine Open Winery Day and Leroux will be having a wine tasting.

Sunday — the 41st Annual Parking Old Port Festival is taking place.

Negroni Week — the Hunt & Alpine club is participating in Imbibe magazine’s Negroni Week charity event. As part of the program Hunt & Alpine will be donating $2 to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Southern Maine for every Classic Negroni, Barrel-Aged Negroni, and Sbagliato (bubbly negroni) sold June 2-8.

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.

Uni is the New Bacon & WF’s Local Forager

| Posted in People, Fisheries

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes an interview with Kristen Bartlett, the Whole Foods staffer who tracks down locally made foods for the store’s shelves,

Is this a problem for her at parties? Is she swarmed by local farmers, waving organic broccoli and apple butters? Not yet, she says, though she wonders what will happen after her photo is published in Source.

and an article about Uni being declared the “new bacon” by Food & Wine magazine.

High-end restaurants in major cities have been experimenting with uni for a while, Branchina said. What’s more interesting to him is the big jump Browne Trading has seen in retail sales online: a 54 percent increase between 2012 and 2013, and so far in 2014, up 93 percent from the previous January to May.

Review of Blue Rooster Stadler Dog

| Posted in Reviews

Chubby Werewolf has published a review of the Cara Stadler hot dog on the menu this week at Blue Rooster. This is the first of a summer long guest chef hot dog series at the Rooster.

The generous helping of fresh cilantro and the cool mayo atop the dog worked to balance out any heat coming from the ssam sauce (which was on the bun itself). Meanwhile, the kimchi was pleasant and much more mild than I anticipated. I really didn’t sense that the scallions had much of a presence on this hot dog, but I didn’t miss it in the company of the other ingredients. The best part was my second bite, when I got the first taste of bacon in tandem with that kimchi.

USA Today: Portland Lobster Co.

| Posted in Profiles

USA Today has published an article about the Portland Lobster Company.

The restaurant sits at the foot of a pier in the heart of the harbor that in turn is the heart of Portland and the center of its downtown – in short, it could not have a better location for visitors. Facing the street it looks like a fairly simple shack-like building, which it is, but behind the main structure it continues down the pier with ample seating at traditional red wooden picnic tables, both covered and open-air, and an outdoor bar featuring an array of local Maine microbrews. Inside you order at the counter and wait for your name to be called, picking your food up at a window on plastic trays.

Alton Brown Coming to Portland

| Posted in Events

altonbrownFood TV star Alton Brown will be coming to Portland this November for an engagement at Merrill Auditorium.

Alton Brown reinvented the food show with his award winning Good Eats. With his upcoming tour, Brown brings his brand of quirky humor and culinary-science antics to the stage. The two-hour show is a unique blend of stand up comedy, food experimentation, talk show antics, multimedia lecture, and, for the first time…live music.

Tickets are now on sale at PortTix.