Month: August 2020

Maine Heirloom Apple Guide

| Posted in Farming

For the last six years Portland Food Map and The Righteous Russet (instagram) have held an annual Heirloom Apple Tasting. We were so looking forward to the opportunity to share our passion for heirloom apples with you again in 2020 in person, but, for obvious reasons, that will not be possible.

In its temporary place we’d like to offer up this Maine Heirloom Apple Guide. We hope that in a small way it can take the place of the apple tasting and give you the information you need to go out for a self-directed exploration of Maine orchards and the many heirloom apples they offer.

The Guide includes detailed information on where and when to purchase dozens of heirloom apple varieties grown at fourteen outstanding Maine orchards. Use it throughout the fall to go exploring so you can take advantage of the entire season.

Brewery News: Marshall Wharf, Brewery Extrava

| Posted in Openings, Beer

A pair of updates from Maine’s brewing industry:

  • Marshall Wharf Brewing in Belfast has re-opened under new ownership. According to an article in the Bangor Daily News, Dann Waldron and Kathleen Dunckel purchased the brewery in January and re-opened it on Friday.
  • Brewery Extrava in Portland is for sale. The brewery launched last July and is located in a 5,000 sq ft building in East Bayside. The asking price is $750,00 but the listing says ” will consider all reasonable offers”. The business is for sale because “Partner interests [are] diverging”.

 

Clam Bar

| Posted in Under Construction

Garrett Fitzgerald has leased the former Benny’s Fried Clams building on West Commercial Street where he plans to open a seasonal seafood restaurant. This will be a second location of the Bar Harbor Lobster Company that he operates on Mount Desert Island.

Garrett Fitzgerald has previously launched two restaurants in Portland: the Portland & Rochester, and Royale Lunch Bar.

Update: The name of this new business will be Clam Bar (instagram). Their plan is to launch with a food truck in LAte August or earlier September and then open the brick and mortar space next.

Restaurant Worker Quandary

| Posted in People

An article in this week’s Portland Phoenix explores the difficult choice restaurant workers have to make—balancing personal/family health and financial needs—when considering when to return to work.

“Everyone obviously wants things to be normal and wants things to go back to normal,” said one Portland bartender, Hanna, who left her job in July after feeling uncomfortable with on-premise dining. “If we can make things feel normal for a couple hours then that seems worth it to a lot of people, but I know that my coworkers were pretty uncomfortable with everything.”

Despite new COVID-19 regulations, sanitation precautions, and mandated masks, industry workers said they feel unsafe returning to work, yet feel pressure to continue working at the risk of losing financial security.