Category: People

Second Act for Tom Yordprom

| Posted in People

Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes an interview with the owner of Yordprom Coffee.

The coffeeshop is Tom [Yordprom]’s second act. His first was Siam Restaurant, the highly regarded “nouveau” Thai restaurant on Fore Street which he operated for nearly nine years, until the relentless schedule wore him down. It’s been a year since he traded his chef’s knife and wok for an espresso machine and he’s finally succumbed to the insistent requests of customers and friends. His Thai food specialties are now on the menu: Asian Noodle Salad, Thai Spring Rolls, soups and curries.

John "Sonny" Severino, 80

| Posted in Uncategorized, People

John “Sonny” Severino, longtime co-owner of the Sportsman’s Grill, has passed away.

For nearly 50 years, he ran the former Sportsman’s Grill on Congress Street, a popular restaurant where people from all walks of life gathered to watch sports. It was the place to go after events at the Portland Expo Center, and before the annual Portland and Deering high school football game on Thanksgiving Day.

The Sportsman’s Grill operated 1952-1999 on Congress Street near the intersection with Gilman Street. John Severino operated the restaurant with his two brothers and for the last 13 years of its existence with his son Paul.

John “Sonny” Severino, 80

| Posted in Uncategorized, People

John “Sonny” Severino, longtime co-owner of the Sportsman’s Grill, has passed away.

For nearly 50 years, he ran the former Sportsman’s Grill on Congress Street, a popular restaurant where people from all walks of life gathered to watch sports. It was the place to go after events at the Portland Expo Center, and before the annual Portland and Deering high school football game on Thanksgiving Day.

The Sportsman’s Grill operated 1952-1999 on Congress Street near the intersection with Gilman Street. John Severino operated the restaurant with his two brothers and for the last 13 years of its existence with his son Paul.

Lunch Hop on the Chopping Block

| Posted in Profiles, People, General News

The Metro bus service is considering eliminating their free lunch time service known as the Lunch Hop, according to a report in the Portland Daily Sun.

“We need revenue, we need farebox revenue,” explained David Redlefsen, general manager of the Greater Portland Transit District METRO bus service. “We want to eliminate the Lunch Hop.”

and the newspaper has also published a brief profile of the Fishermen’s Grill and it’s owner Tom Hincks.

James Simpkins, Culinary Fellow

| Posted in People

James Simpkins is the inaugural Culinary Fellow at the Quimby Colony Artist in Residence program. Simpkins has been writing about the experience on his blog, The Quimby Gourmand. During his 6-month fellowship he’ll be, “creating meals inspired by  depictions of cookery and hospitality taken from nineteenth-century domestic literature”.

I already know I will not find all recipes that I want/need, and I will undoubtedly error in recreating them; the language is quite apart from contemporary English, I assure you.  Not only are these dinners imbued with historical influence (a perfect recreation being quite impossible), they are also to ascertain current cultural value via interviews with dinner attendees.  Direct table conversation and informal interviews to inquire into symbolic meanings these meals may still impart today.  Alongside the historical and cultural context laid out in the texts, I am hoping to find quite an overlap in the semiotic worth of the meal… [read more]

Interview with Owner of Rising Tide Brewing

| Posted in Profiles, People

Hop Press has published an interview with Nathan Sanborn, owner of Rising Tide Brewing Company.

…When I started brewing again after my son was born I started mulling the idea of opening a brewery. Not in any serious way, but I did a bit of research and was constantly getting pressure from people who tried my beer. Having someone try your beer and say that they like it is one thing; having someone try your beer and ask why you haven’t opened a brewery is a little different. Combining those factors eventually led me to more serious consideration of the possibility of opening a nano-brewery…

PPH: Apples, Evangeline and Permaculture

| Posted in People, General News

The Food  & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about this year’s apple harvest,

“We have two orchards, and at the one in Manchester, which is near Augusta, we ended up with half a crop because of the frost when we were in full bloom,” said Marilyn Meyerhans, who owns the orchards with her husband, Steve. “But the rest of the crop is good. And then our Fairfield orchard, it’s a full crop but it’s coming so early that we’re picking like crazy about a week before we should be. But they’re ready.”

a report on the Apple, Swine and Wine menu taking place all this month at Evangeline,

“Since the apples are in microseasons all through September and October, and the pig has so many parts, it will give me the opportunity to do a new preparation every day,” Desjarlais said.

Look for shaved Liberty apple with peameal bacon and fennel.

and an interview with Lisa Fernandez and David Whitten on their permaculture backyard farm in Cape Elizabeth.

Tucked into a typical suburban neighborhood in Cape Elizabeth where lawns and flower beds dominate the landscape, Fernandes and her husband, David Whitten, have done away with their lawn and packed their third of an acre lot, just two houses from the South Portland line, with a growing backyard farm.

Maine Ahead: Chef Lee Skawinski and Simply Divine Brownies

| Posted in People, Profiles

The new issue of Maine Ahead includes an article about Simply Divine Brownies and an interview with Lee Skawinski, chef/owner of Cinque Terre and Vignola.

Cinque Terre was born from Skawinski’s friendship with a physician and gentleman farmer named Dan Kary. “Our business relationship started with conversations on what Kary can grow and what I would make with it,” Skawinski says. The synergy of agricultural and culinary abilities became the seeds of Cinque Terre.