As part of its ongoing Maine at Work column, the Press Herald sent a reporter to Len Libby in Scarborough to spend the day making candy.
A few minutes later, I was dipping my fingers into a bowl of satin-smooth melted dark chocolate, then gently flicking ribbons of chocolate onto a giant pan of peppermint bark candy. I felt like Jackson Pollock, creating some wild abstract work of art as I let the chocolate fly from my fingertips.
Portland Food Heads has posted a video interview with James & Andre Tranchemontagne from The French Press Eatery and Frog & Turtle.
Samantha Hoyt Lindgren, co-owner of Rabelais Books, is the author of an interview with Rob Evans appearing in the new issue of Gastronomica.
Samantha’s interview gives us the back story on Rob, who’s risen from yeoman’s cooking on cruise ships to the top of the heap with his recent James Beard Award. Fortunately, she didn’t mention his amazing new charcuterie platter, so there will still be some for us.
Margo Mallar is the author of a new food essay on Portland Food Heads. Margo is the founder of the Maine Ambassadors of Food and Drink, and is the food writer for the Portland Daily Sun. Her essay consists of a set of brief observations about city life made over a three day period.
Portland Food Heads has published an interview with Lee Farrington. Farrington is in the process of opening a new restaurant called Figa that will focus on “globally inspired cuisine”.
…and offer small tastes, and then have a couple different sized portions along with thoses tastes. I really wanted people to try things that they would never necessarily try. So we’ll have a board of things between $2 and $4—just weirdness—and hopefully people will spend $2 try things, and if they like it they can get a larger portion.
Today’s newspaper includes a ShopTalk interview with Susan Violet, Executive Director of the Wayside Soup Kitchen.
Q: Sounds like extensive preparation for the soup kitchen.
A: Oh, well! People don’t always understand the full extent of Wayside’s work and the impact on all of Cumberland County. There’s a lot more going on here than managing a soup kitchen.
We’re also Wayside Food Rescue, which sources and distributes food, which might have gone to waste, throughout Cumberland County to food pantries, soup kitchens and a few social service agencies. We help with Milestone, for example, on India Street, and the Friendship House here in Portland.
The Portland Phoenix has published an interview with Anthony Allen, owner of Otto Pizza.
People queued up along Congress Street during the First Friday Art Walk last week may have been in town for the art, but they were in line for the pizza. As one of the few late-night eateries downtown, Otto Pizza has caused a buzz in Portland during its four short months in business.
An obituary for James Ledue, a pioneering Portland restauranteur, appeared in today’s paper (via Meredith Goad).
Mr. Ledue, who helped start Portland’s restaurant renaissance with businesses such as The Good Egg, Alberta’s Cafe and Bella Bella, died Oct. 23 after a lengthy illness. He was 57 years old.
Mr. Ledue had a limitless range of interests, from surfing to acting to wine and poetry.
“He crowded in an awful lot,” said his father, Herbert Ledue of Portland. “If he wasn’t at the restaurant, he’d be out surfing or kayaking.
Portland Food Heads has published a video interview with Mary Allen Lindemann, co-founder of Coffee by Design.
The State Theater had just been restored at the time…a number of independently owned businesses were in that neighborhood, and there was an amazing energy that was really starting…we had projected 25 customers the first day and had 250.
The Portland Daily Sun has published a review at Binga’s Stadium.
Some sauces I’d order again, some I wouldn’t. If you don’t want chicken, you can go for ribs. There’s a falafel sandwich and a couple of salads for the meat-averse. The fried pickles sounded interesting but were way too salty. The beer selection is a fraction of what you can get at Great Lost Bear or Novare Res. It seems that I’ve got a laundry list of reasons not to like the place but I loved it, screens and all. Go figure.
Also in the Tuesday Sun is a short profile on Perry’s Sidewalk Cafe and its owner, Perry Mogul.
For six and a half years, kosher hot dog vendor Perry Mogul wandered in the desert — the desert of Arizona — before returning this summer to Portland.