The James Beard Foundation announced the semi-finalists for this year’s JBF awards. Maine scored 8 semi-final nominations:
The final list of nominees is due out on March 19 and the awards ceremony takes place May 7.
For reference take a look at the semi-finalist lists in 2011 and 2010.
Lady Bar Fly is authored by “a woman of a certain age who likes few things better after a long and complex day than walking in to a restaurant or pub and seeing a vacant welcoming seat at the bar.”
So far the Lady has published observations on a quiet Monday night at The Salt Exchange and movie night at Petite Jacqueline.
Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on the formation of a Food Truck Task Force in Portland.
Food trucks could be rolling into Portland as soon as this summer, if a rulemaking process goes as envisioned, officials say.
A city council subcommittee on Thursday unanimously approved the formation of a task force charged with discussing the pros and cons of allowing food trucks to operate in the city. The task force will lay the groundwork for a food truck discussion before the council, a discussion that officials want to have sometime this spring.
Natalie Ladd offers up some post-holiday observations on Valentine’s Day in today’s Portland Daily Sun.
By the time this column is rubbing newsprint onto your finger tips, the complete pomp, circumstance and exhaustion that is Valentine’s Day in the restaurant business will be over for another year.
Today’s Press Herald includes a survey of local vendors who sell pot pies,
The convenience of picking up a pot pie on the way home from work and popping it into the oven has become so irresistible that many places are selling them year round. For parents, chicken and vegetables in a light gravy beats bringing home Big Macs any day.
and an article about the relaunch of The New Maine Cooking by Jean Ann Pollard.
Almost an exact copy of the original, the re-released “The New Maine Cooking” lacks the flashiness of today’s cookbooks but is filled with wholesome recipes made from real ingredients that are as relevant today as they were in 1987.
The nominations process is complete and it’s now time to cast your ballot in the Portland Phoenix Best of Portland Readership Poll. There are a plethora of Food and Drink categories (Bagels, Bars, Barbecue, Beer Selection, Brewpubs, Brunch, etc) to vote on as well as sections for City Life, Arts and Entertainment, and Shopping.
Edible Obsessions, From Away, Mister Meatball, Portland Food Map and the Spiced Plate are all contenders in the Food Blog category.
If the 2012 polls follows the same schedule as past years then the final results will be made public in April at the Port City Music Hall.
Maine Mead Works appeared in a New York Times article on the mead industry.
While traditional meads can have more than 10 percent residual sugar, Mr. Alexander’s come in under 2 percent. Combined with a rock-bottom acidity, the result in nose and palate can be remarkably like drinking dry white wine, with a delicate overlay of fruit and floral aromas, depending on the mead.
Today’s Portland Daily Sun reports on a restaurant coupon deal at Samuel’s went awry.
“They were only supposed to sell one certificate per person per month, and not for three bucks. I hardly do any advertising, and this seemed like a good idea to get new people to try the place, but it was a mess. They sold them for like a dollar each or something on Christmas Eve, and I had one week where the same guy came in every night with a $25 certificate. My Restaurant.com sales rep guy, Jerry, is from Portsmouth, and he told me they weren’t monitoring who was buying them or how many they were selling. It was supposed to be, ‘We’re selling this amount of certificates for this certain price,’ but they went nuts and I can’t afford to do it.”
Today’s Press Herald includes an update on the Shipyard sewer bill snafu,
Contrary to what a city official said last week, Portland sewer and water officials did have experience dealing with brewery operations in 1996, when a metering mistake was made that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue from Shipyard Brewing Co.
and a report on last night’s City Council decision to allow raw milk and alcoholic beverage sales at the Farmers Market.
After a long discussion, the City Council voted Monday night not to amend the city’s Farmers Market Ordinance to require vendors to display a placard and provide handouts to consumers detailing the risks of unpasteurized milk.
Councilors also authorized farmers market sales of malt liquor, hard cider and wine produced by Maine farms.
In a pair of articles the Press Herald has reported on the situation that lead to Shipyard being under-billed for its sewer charges. Here’s an excerpt from Friday’s article,
Maine’s largest brewery, the Shipyard Brewing Co., has been billed for only a fraction of its sewer usage since 1996, an apparent oversight that has cost the city of Portland hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in lost revenue.
and the follow-up piece that appeared on Saturday.
Shipyard, the largest brewery in Maine, has been paying the full sewer fees since March. The additional fees amount to roughly $300,000 a year, based on current production levels.
A retired Portland Water District employee said last month that Peterson told him in 1996 that all of the water was going into bottles and that no sewer account was needed.