Month: April 2016

Best of Portland Readership Poll

| Posted in General News

The Portland Phoenix has selected the nominees and voting has begun for the 2016 Best of Portland readership poll.

There are 50+ Food and Drink categories ranging from bagels and barbecue to wine tastings and wings for you to  vote in plus categories for City Life, Arts & Entertainment, Shopping and Services.

Portland Food Map is a nominee for Best Food Blog/Column (along with 207 Foodie and Eat & Run) and for Best Blog (along with Active Beer Geek, Black Girl in Maine, Eating Portland Alive and Hot Trash Portland).

Interview with Ralph Hersom

| Posted in People

Portland Magazine has published an interview with Ralph Hersom, the former sommelier at Le Cirque and now Portland resident working for Hannaford managing the wines, beer and spirits products at their supermarkets.

Hannaford shoppers have benefited from the updated and more sophisticated food selections available there in recent years. Is your job to do the same for beverages?
Exactly. I’ve been hired by Hannaford to help improve upon the selection of wine, beer, and spirits they currently carry. I’m fortunate that past [decisions] have established a great foundation for me to build upon. I’ll use my fine-wine, craft beer, and specialty spirits background to bring some excitement to the center-store aisles, helping to elevate it to the next level.

I had the chance to meet Hersom last month at the Piccolo truffle dinner and am looking forward to seeing his selection make an impact on the Hannaford wine shelves.

Under Construction: Izakaya Minato

| Posted in Under Construction

The Golden Dish has posted a report on the Izakaya Minato pop-up dinner that took place earlier this week at Bao Bao.

The cured sardines were beautifully presented: the body of the sardine was fried and towered over the slices of cured fish in a fan of neat slices.  The deeply fried bones were like eating candy.  This was a great dish that I would hope to see often at the forthcoming restaurant.