Category: General News

The Council voted last night in a 5-4 decision to deny Sangillo’s application for a liquor license renewal, according to reports from the Bangor Daily News and Press Herald.

The Portland City Council on Monday night voted 5-4 to deny a liquor license for the embattled Sangillo’s Tavern, a neighborhood bar on Hampshire Street which police have labeled as dangerous in the aftermath of a late January shooting nearby.

The vote is expected to force Sangillo’s to close down after more than a half century of business in the city’s India Street neighborhood, unless bar managers can get a reprieve from the state.

Also read these articles in the Portland Daily Sun and Portland Phoenix.

The nominees have been announced and voting has begun in the Portland Phoenix 2014 Best of Portland Readership Poll.

Portland Food Map is a nominee this year in the Best Food Blog category along with The Blueberry Files, Food Coma, From Away and Mister Meatball.

Visit the Phoenix website to vote for your favorites in one or more of the categories.

Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on restaurant patrons who clear a table of items they can pocket for later use at home.

The elderly couple sitting at table 12 were either siblings or close cousins who had not connected in quite some time. They were sharing childhood stories and laughing about events that had obviously taken place well over 50 years ago. Also, they were swiping stuff off the table with no shame.

The Holy Donut, Litl’ Squirts and Bixby  Bars are in  contention to win $30,000 from Gorham Savings Bank as part of their Launchpad competition. The top five winners of the popular vote will get the chance to pitch their ideas to the judges.

Visit the Launchpad website to read their business plans and vote on your favorite.

If they win The Holy Donut plans to open a new store outside of Maine.

Three Maine chefs are contenders in this year’s Food & Wine Best New Chef Competition:

• Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley from Hugo’s/Eventide
• Cara Stadler from Tao Yuan in Brunswick

You can see the full list on candidates and vote for the hometown favorites online.

Here are a couple more Sangillo’s items:

• Bollard editor Chris Busby has written about Sangillo’s in his latest column for the Bangor Daily News
• The owners of Dean’s Sweets have written a letter to the editor in the Press Herald

The Forecaster has published an article about Little Bigs and their Sunday sales of cronuts.

Updated: The Press Herald has also published an article on this topic.

The Portland Phoenix has kicked-off their 2014 Best of Portland readership poll. The Phoenix readership poll is a 2 step process:

• Step 1 which just started, nominate candidates you think are an especially good fit in any or all of the categories
• Step 2, next month the Phoenix will publish a ballot summarizing the top nominees from each category for us all to vote on

There are a plethora of food and drink categories (Bagels, Bars, Barbecue, Beer Selection, Brewpubs, Brunch, etc) to make nominations in there’s even one for food blogs. A list of the 2013 winners is available online as a reference.

If the 2014 polls follows the same schedule as past years then the final results will be made public in April at a live event at the Port City Music Hall.

The Portland Daily Sun has a report on last night’s City Council subcommittee review of proposed changes to rules regulation food trucks.

The Public Safety, Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday supported policy initiatives that would amend the request for proposals process used for the city’s parks to allow food trucks to cluster and use the space and fix a requirement that proscribes what types of food can be served; amend the ordinance related to Compass Park that bars food service in that area; and recommend the city dedicate four spaces on Congress Street adjacent to Lincoln Park for trucks.

The changes no go before the full City Council for final approval.