Category: People

Shift Drinks has published a Q & A with Kelly Nelson from Piccolo.

Can you talk a bit about the relationship between a guest and someone who works in the front of the house?
…I have always seen it as a performance as I used to dance and act and my personality is distinct and strong. I found that over the years, I have come to be able to read what the customer wants. You gauge what is pleasurable for the diner and you can then provide whatever service you think would be best for them. Sometimes that means leaving them alone entirely. You give them their food, make sure everything is perfect, and you are a ghost. To the other extreme, you become part of the experience by performing and engaging them in discussion of food and drink. It becomes a full circle of experience between the human interaction and the pleasures of well-paired food and alcohol.

The Press Herald has published an interview with Bernie Larsen, co-founder of Moran’s Market in 1956.

Q: Why are you continuing to work at 85?
A: There’s still that touch, that personal touch. People just love to come in and that’s why I’m still working – I enjoy people. I work six days a week, but I go in at 6 (a.m.) and get out at 1 (p.m.), so I don’t want to sound like a hero. It keeps me young, even though my body says no.

Knack Factory has published an interview with Kathleen Pratt, co-owner of Tandem.

What I find fascinating about Tandem is that—outside of the coffee, which is great—you have sort have built a micro-culture around this place. I heard about Tandem before I even knew about your coffee. It was a place to go, to be. Was it a conscious decision to develop that?
We definitely had an environment that we wanted to create. In opening a cafe, I remember sitting down and asking, “What is it that we want to make here?” We want people to feel like they are stepping into our home, to create an intimate setting where people can meet each other. The whole reason I was drawn to coffee in the first place was my first cafe job. There, I had found a sense of community. But this place took on its own thing completely.

Eater Maine has published a 3-part interview with chef Fred Eliot (part 1, part 2, part 3) from Petite Jacqueline.

Fred Eliot didn’t intend to cook for a living. Growing up in France, he learned plenty of useful kitchen skills from his grandmother and mother, but his English Literature studies led him away from food. A move to Iowa and then Ohio with his first wife took him even further from food culture, surrounding him with fast food chains. The shock this caused was enough to get him “cooking more” at home again, which ultimately convinced Eliot he needed to stand in front of stove rather than sit in front of a computer.

The Press Herald has published an interview with John Naylor, co-owner of Rosemont.

Q: You’ve gone from one store to four and a catering operation. What are the plans for growth?
A: If we’re going to expand, our kitchen needs to get bigger and our warehouse needs to get bigger, so were going to start looking for space. We’re at about 4,000 square feet at the warehouse and we’re looking to expand to 10,000 to 12,000 square feet. We’d like to be able to take big animals in bigger pieces (for the butcher shop) and to get into preservation with the produce and offer Maine products year-round. That’s our mission now, to find that space. If we could have a warehouse big enough to help farmers store their crop, it could open up business with institutions. For instance, I’m on a committee that’s looking at how we get more local food into Portland’s public schools.

The Press Herald has published a extended interview with James Beard award-winning author Rowan Jacobsen about his new book on heirloom apples.

Did you just go in search of different varieties – a random search – or did you put out feelers to try to find out who was growing what?
It was kind of a mix. I talked to growers about some of their favorites, some of the apple collector guys, and I’ve done research. There are some great books written about apples in the 1800s. Some of those are very opinionated about certain apples. So I developed a wish list of apples that I knew I wanted to check out.

Were there times you’d just stop by the side of the road and try something?
In Vermont, I do that all the time. This time of year the roadsides are just laden with wild apple trees, volunteer trees that nobody planted. But those aren’t any particular variety. You don’t know what you’re going to get with them. My wife and son don’t like to drive with me this time of year.

I had the chance to read an advance copy of the book and can give it a hearty 2 thumbs up. Jacobsen catalogs 100+ apples, providing tasting notes, detailed histories and does it all with an approachable and witty style that made it a pleasure to read.

Jacobsen will be in Portland on Monday September 22nd at SPACE Gallery for a reading and an apple tasting in collaboration with David Buchanan.

Fortune and Food & Wine magazines have included Maine Congresswoman and farmer Chellie Pingree in their list of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink.

Rudolph Ferrante passed away last week at the age of 91.

In the 1950s, he co-owned restaurants including the Forest Gardens and Espans Quick Lunch in Portland. In the mid 1960s, he opened Rudy’s Lunch on Middle Street in Portland. He also owned Harbor Lunch on Commercial Street. Most recently, he owned and operated the iconic Rudy’s Diner on Main Street in South Portland. He retired in 1992, after running the diner for 17 years.

As part of a new series that looks at how business leaders innovate their way around challenges, the Press Herald has interviewed Steve Corry, chef and co-owner of Five Fifty Five and Petite Jacqueline.

In a stroke of good timing, in April 2007, Corry was named Best New Chef by Food and Wine magazine. But he didn’t get to savor that success for long. In September 2008, Wall Street banking giant Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy, and the economy went into a tailspin.