Category: General News

The Business section in today’s Press Herald reports on O’Maine Studios and owner Rory Strunk’s current initiative to launch the O’Maine Media Kitchen.

Rory Strunk has built a successful outdoor sports-themed broadcast network, produced an Emmy award-winning television show and created content for such iconic brands as Absolut vodka. Now he wants to build a world-class kitchen studio in Portland that Maine’s food and beverage industry, restaurants and homegrown celebrity chefs could use to meet the growing demand for culinary-themed online video content.

For more information visit the O’Maine Media Kitchen Kickstarter page. Strunk has launched a crowdfunding campaing on Kickstarter to raise $65,000 for the project.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes:

• A report on how Eliana Trenam integrates her ballet training into how she approaches work as a server at Hugo’s
• A column Joe Appel encouraging restaurants to take a seasonal approach to their wine lists
• Avery Yale Kamilla answers some vegan/vegetarian questions from readers

Earlier this week the Press Herald published an article about restaurant staff tattoos.

Walk into any restaurant in Portland, and it’s likely that the cook preparing your entree or the server pouring your glass of wine will have some kind of body art – a chef’s knife tattooed on an arm, or some mythical Japanese creature peeking out from a sleeve or pant leg. The older they are, the more likely they are to be covered in tatts to the point where it’s difficult to tell where one ends and the next begins.

Long rumored to be in the works, the name of Crema Cafe on Commercial Street has been changed to Arabica Coffee, bringing the coffee shop into alignment with owners original other spot on Free Street.

Check out this report from the Urban Eye blog for more details.

For the new issue of Booze, Fish and Coffee co-hosts Bo Bigelow and Brian Ericson have lunch at Lolita and discuss Fuji, Oxbow, Lolita, Timber, Taj, Boda, Arcadia, Hugo’s, Central Provisions and Veranda Asian Market.

Awards season is here:

• Indie Biz Awards – Portland Buy Local has kicked off the voting for the 2014 Indie Biz Awards. Food businesses are contenders in nearly every category. Visit the Buy Local website to cast your vote.
• F & W Best New Bar – today is the last day to cast your vote in the F & W People’s Best New Bar competition in support of the hometown favorite, the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club.
• SEDCO – the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation has recognized El Rayo as their 2014 Outstanding Project of the Year and Broadturn Farm as their 2014 Outstanding Hidden Gem.

Blue Current Brewing (website, facebook, twitter) is Maine-based sake brewer under development in Kittery. Owner Dan Ford has made good progress (watch video for details) and is turning to Kickstarter for the additional funds needed to fully launch the business. So far the campaign has raised one third of the $33,000 goal.

For more information and to contribute to the campaign visit the Blue Current Kickstarter page.

Building off the foundation of their Stir monthly newsletter, the gBritt public relations firm is launching a daily email service called Eat Drink Lucky which will send “three tips a day about fun food things in Maine” each morning. gBritt is launching Eat Drink Lucky 10 cities nationwide including Austin, Seattle, NYC and San Francisco.

The Bangor Daily News reports that the Pepperclub/Good Egg will be going out of business this month,

After a slow, dwindling summer, Portland’s once-favored dining institution the Pepperclub and its breakfast outpost The Good Egg Cafe will serve its last meals this month.

The 25-year-old business was looking to relocate in the city, but owner Melissa Sawyer, reached by phone Tuesday, has called off the search.

In a separate article, the BDN reports that the state Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages will be holding a hearing in October to hear Sangillo’s liquor license appeal.

The hearing will be conducted by staff from the state Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations. Laurence Sanborn, who manages the agency’s Liquor Licensing and Enforcement Division, said in June that public comment will be accepted at the hearing, which will consider anew the evidence heard by city councilors on March 17.

Update: the Press Herald has now also published an article about the Pepperclub.