Category: General News

Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun includes a report on the unprecedented outcome of the recent Cajun Cookin’ Challenge: a tie between Silly’s and Bayou Kitchen. The owners of the two establishments are pondering a second cook-off to determine the winner.

Silander said he wants to offer a challenge to Silly’s for a friendly cookoff to settle the matter.

“It’s a really busy month for me next month, but I’ll think about doing a callout and see if Silly’s wants to do something as far as a challenge goes. What I would try to do would be sell tickets, have say 25 or 30 people, five judges, maybe somebody from Louisiana … and all the proceeds would go to the Katrina Fund,” he said.

Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun reports on the Wayside Soup Kitchen’s plans to “transition away from the traditional soup kitchen model and into a neighborhood-based meals programming“.

Today’s Press Herald promotes the positive health benefits of vegan chocolates. The article includes a list of local establishments where you can find dairy-free food of the gods.

Researchers say chocolate gives us a heart-healthy antioxidant boost, but only if we enjoy it without a side order of dairy. With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, the heart-shaped boxes will be flying off the shelves, but for those of us who want to cater to our loved ones’ tickers (and not just their sweet tooth), we’ll be seeking out chocolates made without milk.

Today’s paper also reports on the results of a study on worker pay in Maine’s restaurant industry.

Using a sampling base of 525 surveyed workers – 1.1 percent of the Maine restaurant work force – the study found that in 2008, 16.3 percent earned a living wage, defined as $17 or more an hour. The largest group – 59.7 percent – fell into the “low wages” category, defined as $8.46 to $16.99 an hour.

The study found that 20.9 percent of restaurant workers earned between $7.25 and $8.45 an hour – a rate that puts them below the poverty line – and 3 percent made less than the then-minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Today’s Press Herald promotes the positive health benefits of vegan chocolates. The article includes a list of local establishments where you can find dairy-free food of the gods.

Researchers say chocolate gives us a heart-healthy antioxidant boost, but only if we enjoy it without a side order of dairy. With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, the heart-shaped boxes will be flying off the shelves, but for those of us who want to cater to our loved ones’ tickers (and not just their sweet tooth), we’ll be seeking out chocolates made without milk.

Today’s paper also reports on the results of a study on worker pay in Maine’s restaurant industry.

Using a sampling base of 525 surveyed workers – 1.1 percent of the Maine restaurant work force – the study found that in 2008, 16.3 percent earned a living wage, defined as $17 or more an hour. The largest group – 59.7 percent – fell into the “low wages” category, defined as $8.46 to $16.99 an hour.

The study found that 20.9 percent of restaurant workers earned between $7.25 and $8.45 an hour – a rate that puts them below the poverty line – and 3 percent made less than the then-minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Also in this week’s Maine Sunday Telegram is an article about a Maine-based producer of organic elderberry syrup.

Eight years after she and her husband, Phil, moved from Portland to the farm, Johnston has not only nabbed several state and federal grants to develop elderberry production, but she also is producing an organic elderberry syrup that is flying off the shelves of local health and natural food stores.

Here are some more Portland meal deals:

• Evangeline – choose a first, main and dessert or cheese from Evangeline’s regular menu and pay just $30; Tuesday – Thursday, now through the start of Restaurant Week on March 1.
• Three Dollar Deweys – $2 pints and other items all month in celebration of the 30th anniversary.
• Fishermen’s Grill – seafood platter for 2 “with haddock, clams, shrimp and scallops”, $18.95.

The Portland Phoenix has moved on to Step 2 their 2010 Best of Portland readership poll:

• Step 1, readers wrote in to nominate candidates that are a good fit in any or all of the dozens of categories
• Step 2, based on the nominations, the Phoenix has now published a list of the top nominees from each category for us all to vote on.

Portland Food Map is a nominee this year for Best Food Blog along with Appetite Portland, Portland Food Coma, Portland Psst! and The Blueberry Files.
There are also more than 100 other categories and about a third of them fall in the food and drink section (Bagels, Bars, Barbecue, Beer Selection, Brewpubs, Brunch, etc). If that sounds a little overwhelming, don’t worry you don’t have to make a choice in each one to cast a ballot.
A list of the 2009 winners is available online as a reference.

Appetite Portland shares her struggles in filling out the Portland Phoenix readership poll in a city awash with good food,

I’m telling you, it was epic. Brow furrowed, I hunched over my laptop, punching things in and erasing — sweating over “most romantic restaurant” and “best pizza” as if my opinions meant life and death.

but doesn’t hesitate to endorse Scratch’s as peanut butter cookie as Best Cookie.

Food for Thought weighs in on the challenges organizers face in launching a Winter farmers’ market in Portland.

The market organizers thought Portland was a natural area of growth for a winter market –set to open next week–a larger venue for farmers to pull in much needed income off season that helps to keep their farming efforts viable year-round…What the city of Portland has done is to impose outrageous fees that the farmers  can’t afford.