Asmara, the Eritrean restaurant on Oak Street, has received 3½ stars from the Taste & Tell column in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
Asmara, an established culinary outpost of Eritrea in Portland, serves dinners with the scents and tastes of eastern Africa. Spicy cayenne, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, thyme and cloves imbue meats, greens, dried peas and lentils with an exotic allure. Red cayenne in a paste called berbere livens up lamb, chicken and beef with a trickle of fire.
Old Port Wine Merchants is building a new retail space at 221 Commercial street and will be moving out of their space on Fore street relatively soon.
According to a report from Justin Henry’s Green Galoshes, Viet Bangkok Cuisine is up for sale and plans to close if no buyer is found within the next month.
Good News Portland has a news brief about the re-opening of the renovated Porthole.
A new liquor license for Binga’s Wingas is on the agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting. Binga’s location at the corner of Deering and Congress was the site of a fire back in November of last year. Binga’s plans on opening their new Portland restaurant at 50 Wharf street in the space formerly occupied by Cake.
Grace will also be at the City Council meeting Monday for their liquor license application. A sample menu for the restaurant (located on page 163 of the agenda) provides a first look at what Chef Eric Simeon has planned.
There are a few late additions to this weekend’s calendar worth drawing attention to. This morning Cultivating Community is holding their 8th Annual Potato Planting and Farm Clean Up Day out at Turkey Hill Farm in Cape Elizabeth. Go for the pancake breakfast and stay for the potato planting. This afternoon Rosemont Market is holding a tasting of some excellent wines from Burgundy. Tomorrow there will be a group of Belgian brewers and associated professionals at Novare Res where they will be “pouring hard to find draughts and rare bottles.” For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
Mitten Machen has published a review of Bangkok Thai.
There is an ample vegetarian section, and many dishes can be made vegan by omitting egg or fish sauce. On the chickpea scale of vegan-friendliness, I give Bangkok Thai a very respectable three chickpeas. It’s a safe bet if you’re looking for a quick, economical vegan meal.
Martha and Charlie Bryon, the owners of The Salt Exchange, sent along this photo of their work site on Commercial street. The Bryons write that the kitchen will lead by Jacob Jascinski, who’s resume includes the White Barn Inn. They hope to open their “small plates endeavor” in late May with “regional ‘New American’ cuisine designed for sampling and sharing”.
As you might be able to discern from the blueprint (Commercial street is shown on the right) the plan calls for a bar, seating for 50+ and tables on the sidewalk.
Eve’s at the Garden has hired an Executive Chef , Earl Anthony Morse, to fill the gap left by Jeff Landry’s departure. According to the press release, Morse’s job history includes time spent at Le Cirque in Las Vegas, Van Dender in Belgium, Four Seasons in Boston, and Agaria and PS7’s in Washington, DC. Morse’s last position was as the Chef de Cuisine at the White Barn Inn.
Benny’s is a seasonal clamshack located on West Commercial near the Veterans Memorial Bridge. As the sign says, they plan on re-opening “on or about [April] 29th weather permitting”.
The Portland Phoenix has reviewed Barava, the new Somali restaurant that opened on Congress street early last month.
The entrées, while perfectly fine, could not live up to the opening. The kabaab, “broiled with complementing addition in the tandoor” as the menu said, was a bit drier as an entrée then it seemed in the basket. But is came with a creamy, spicy, lemony hummus, and a spectacular thick African flatbread called muufo baravani.
According to today’s Press Herald, Greg Williams and Brett Richardson have won the 2009 USM Student Business Plan Competition for their Organic Alchemy Composting proposal. Their business plan proposes turning food waste collected from local restaurants into organic compost.
Also, the Food and Health section has a report on the Food+Farm program taking place in early May.
More information has made it online about Sunday’s Deathmatch. Zack Bowen has published 300+ photos of the event, the Rabelais Books blog reports that the “marathon of mastication was a good one”, and Accidental Vegetables has a brief report but promises that she’ll have “a full report in Deathmatch Last Meal” soon. JohnnyD has continued to add to his thread about the event on the eGullet forum.