This Week’s Events: All Those, Grower Champagne, Portuguese Wine, Bonny Doon, Cupcake Decorating

MondayAll Those Who Wander(websitefacebookinstagram) is opening their coffee shop at the corner of inner Washington and Marion Streets.

Tuesday – Chef Paolo Laboa from Solo Italiano will be teaching a cooking class.

WednesdayEaux will be serving a Battery Steele breakfast beer dinner, Old Port Wine Merchants is holding a wine tasting, and the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Thursday – there will be a Mast Landing tap takeover at Bao Bao, The Great Lost Bear is showcasing the beer from Hidden Cove, Rosemont is holding a wine event focused on Grower Champagne, Chaval is holding a Portuguese wine dinner, and Woodford F&B is collaborating with Allagash on a benefit for The Locker Project.

Friday – there will be a 5-course wine dinner at Hugo’s with Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards.

Saturday – the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – Two Fat Cats are teaching a kid’s Halloween Cupcake Decorating class.

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.

Reviews: Poké Pop, Izakaya Minato

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the Portland location of Poké Pop.

Named for chef/owner Anusat “Pop” Limsitong, the restaurant is a confusion of fusion, with cross-cultural elements intended to enliven bowls of cubed protein, vegetables and rice. By and large, these tweaks are unnecessary and involve sickly sweet sauces that make Poké Pop’s signature dish a huge letdown. If you must order poké, stick to the tofu bowl and customize your order with a squirt of the soy-based shoyu umami sauce, the least sweet of the restaurant’s offerings. But if it’s sweetness you’re after, Poké Pop has you covered. Its bing soo shaved ice, which is really a Filipino halo halo parfait made with fruit ice cream, shaved milk ice and about a thousand other ingredients, is terrific, even though it takes 15 minutes to prepare each one.

Down East magazine has reviewed Izakaya Minato.

Every dish brings a fresh set of tastes and textures: smoky bacon-wrapped rice cakes, melt-off-the-bone Korean-style barbecue short ribs, spicy kimchi fried rice. The broiled black cod, marinated in sake lees, is nearly the consistency of butter. Fried tofu squares, with jalapeño, soy sauce, and bonito, addictively marry spicy and salty — I suspect I could snack on these all day.

Marie Claire

Marie Claire has published a travel guide to Portland.

A trip to Portland, Maine, is much more than flannels and Subarus—although you’ll come across plenty of those, too. Maine’s largest city, surrounded by water, is as picturesque as they come, with quaint cobblestone passageways and Victorian dream homes. Breathe in the fresh New England air while exploring the Old Port, sift through treasures at the vintage shops, and eat your way through the city’s award-winning restaurant scene. More oysters? Don’t mind if I do.

Lunch Ladies

The Forecaster has published a report on the Lunch Ladies event taking place this weekend,

Brandi Haaf and Lonnie Stinson, owners of Crepe Elizabeth, are launching Lunch Ladies of Portland on Sunday, Oct. 21, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The event will take place from noon-5 p.m. at 219 Anderson St., and feature several woman-owned food trucks from around the area. Ten percent of all sales and 100 percent of the money from specialty items sold will go to the Maine Breast Cancer Coalition.