Category: General News

Spartan Grill owner Mike Rolyos has a proposal in to the Historic Preservation Board to update the store front of his Monument Square cafe. The new store front would consist of a glass-paneled overhead door that in warm weather would open up the entire space on to the square.

Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie LAdd has assembled her list of the Top Ten Restaurant On-The-Job No-No’s for restaurant workers.

1) I am velcroed to my cell phone. It’s common sense that cell phones should be prohibited during service but mine is typically tucked away in my back pocket, apron or in hand when I’m running into the bathroom.

The Bangor Daily News has published a report on the specialty coffee industry in Maine.

Matt’s Wood Roasted Organic Coffee opened in Pownal in 2007, as did Brunswick’s Wicked Joe. Swift River Coffee Roasters opened in Raymond in 2009. Green Tree Coffee and Tea in Lincolnville, 44 North in Deer Isle, and Savage and Sons Gourmet Coffee in Bangor all opened in 2010. Crooked Porch Coffee in Bar Harbor and Tandem Coffee Roasters in Portland both opened last year. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Joe Ricchio has posted the second episode of the Food Coma Show. The episode was filmed at Nosh and features Joel Beauchamp, comedian Ray Harrington, restaurateur/chef Barbara Lynch, and musician Sonya Tomlinson.

Voting in the Down East Readership Poll has now begun. There are categories for Maine’s Best Burger, Candy Shop, Chef, Cocktail, Coffee Shop, Ice Cream, Lobster Roll, Local Beer, Maine Cheese, Maine Chocolate, Pizza, Romantic Restaurant, Seafood Market, Wine Shop, Winery.

The Bangor Daily News reports that despite competition Allen’s Coffee Brandy remains the top seller in Maine.

The makers of Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy need not worry about the liquor losing its perennial status as the most popular in the state anytime soon, however. It still outsold its nearest competitor by more than a 3-to-1 margin in terms of bottles sold and, with overall revenues of more than $11 million, its sales were more than $8 million higher than the second-highest earning brand.

The list of nominees for this year’s James Beard Awards were released today. Melissa Kelly at Primo was nominated in the Best Chef Northeast category.

For additional details on Kelly and her nomination see this report in the Press Herald.

This year’s awards ceremony takes place May 3 & 6 in New York City.

For reference, here are links to announcements on the nominations from 2012, 2011 and 2010.

A Bill to allow bars to open at 6 am on Saint Patrick’s day has been signed into law by the Governor.

The action lifts the state’s ban on sales of alcohol between 6 and 9 a.m. on Sundays when St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday, as it does this year.

The St. Patrick’s Day bill, L.D. 216, won unanimous approval in committee and preliminary votes in the House and Senate before it became ensnared in a political standoff over LePages’s plan to repay Maine’s hospitals $484 million in overdue Medicaid reimbursements.

Both the Bangor Daily News and Press Herald are reporting that Shipyard will be paying $300,000 in back sewer and water fees.

“I’m glad it’s behind us,” Shipyard President Fred Forsley told the Bangor Daily News on Friday. “We’re happy with the result and we’ll move forward. It’s a large amount of money, but we’ll be able to push forward. Our hope is it won’t have that substantial of an impact given our growth and we’re hoping we won’t have to raise prices more.” [Bangor Daily News]

The deadline came and went without any vendors applying to fill the ice cream vending spot in Fort Williams Park.

The town hopes to find another ice cream vendor to replace Gorgeous Gelato, whose owners decided not to return after last year, leaving a vacancy in the Ship Cove area of the park.

“We were hoping to get at least one, but we didn’t get anything,” Public Works Director Bob Malley said. “Not sure what the story is. It’s a decent location where it was moved to.”