Henry Steinberg has withdrawn his liquor license application for Lamplighters Tavern. According to the Press Herald, several residents of the Pleasant Street neighborhood objected at the City Council meeting last night and in response Steinberg has cancelled his plans.
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an interview with Tony Bourdain about his upcoming appearance with Eric Ripert at Merrill and lingering ill will generated by the Maine episode of his TV show No Reservations,
If comments on social media are any indication, Mainers sure know how to hold a grudge. While some loved Bourdain’s view of Maine through the eyes of his cameraman Zach Zamboni (who grew up in Milo), many others are still wondering more than a year after the show aired: Why wasn’t Portland more prominent in the show, given its growing reputation as a food town? Why didn’t Bourdain go to (fill in the blank) restaurant in Portland? And why was he so mean to restaurateur Dana Street when they were having dinner at his Portland restaurant, Street and Co.?
And for an article in today’s paper food reporter Meredith Goad lands interviews with owners of Gorgeous Gelato and Gelato Fiasco. Gelato Fiasco is in the process of opening a shop at 425 Fore Street almost directly across the street from their local competition.
“It’s not a very clever move in business strategy,” [Gorgeous Gelato co-owner Donato Giovine] said. “If I were them, I’d go to Boston. The only thing I think is, they want to kill us as a business.”
[Gelato Fiasco co-owner Josh] Davis denies that. He says he and [business partner] Tropeano have looked at 80 different locations in the Portland area during the past two years, “and have just not found the place we thought would make it work.”
When the Fore Street spot became available, Davis said, they both thought it was perfect for their business. It has “great foot traffic,” he said, as well as outdoor seating.
For additional commentary on the Gorgeous Fiasco issue see the Portland Examiner.
Bull Jagger Brewing Company has been added to the food map. Portland’s newest brewery plans on specializing in lagers. Their first product, Portland Lager, is billed as “a crisp golden, premium lager modeled after the traditional Helles beers of Bavaria.”
They will be debuting at the Harvest on the Harbor and Portland Lager will go on sale Friday at RSVP on Forest Ave and Downeast Beverage on Commercial Street.
For more information visit their website or “like” them on Facebook.
Rabelais has announced plans to move their bookstore to Biddeford early next year. Biddeford’s gain will be a real loss to the Portland food scene.
Here are details from the Rabelais email newsletter:
Change is afoot. If you’ve been in the store any time in the last year or two you have noticed all the boxes cluttering the store. Rabelais’ collection of Antiquarian Books has increased at a pace that has outgrown our current space. So in the New Year Rabelais will be moving to a larger space. We are so excited about our new location. It has been all we can do to keep it a secret this long. Rabelais’ new home will be a loft in the North Dam Mills in Biddeford. Our new digs will accompany a slight change in the ways of Rabelais. The focus of the business will shift predominantly to rare books, imports, and really special American releases. We’ll finally have enough shelf space for most of our books, and we will be building a test kitchen in which to cook from the tens of thousands of recipes in our collection. As soon as we have made some progress on the new space, pictures will go up on the blog/website. Fear not! We will be at 86 Middle Street through the holidays and a bit beyond, so we hope to be your source for holiday gifts again this year.
See Vrai-lean-uh for her perspective on the move.
For additional reporting see the Press Herald and the Portland Daily Sun.
GoBerry, a frozen yogurt shop, is under construction at 399 Fore Street. GoBerry has 2 other locations in Northampton and Amherst Massachusetts.
According to a report from the Munjoy Hill News, Crema, an Italian coffee house and bakery, will be opening later this year on Commercial Street.
Crema will also sell other Italian products such as gelato, Italian sodas, pastries, cups and saucers. Cathy and John Walsh, owners of Arabica, are partners with Banister in this welcome business to the area. There will be seating for 40 – 50 people.
Here are a few updates on restaurants under construction in Portland:
Here are a pair of new items on the Under Construction list:
Here are a few updates on restaurants under construction in Portland:
According to a report from the Press Herald, Bam Bam Bakery is in the process of opening a retail location on Commercial Street.
Portland will get its first full-fledged gluten-free bakery in August.
Bevin McNulty, owner of Bam Bam Bakery, has been making wholesale gluten-free baked goods in her home for the past two years, but now she’s ready to expand and take her products direct to consumers.