Austin Miller, chef and co-owner of Mami, will be appearing on an upcoming episode of Chopped, according to a report from Eating Portland Alive.
Episode 8, A Frog Leg Up, is set to air April 17 at 10pm.
Allagash x Oxbow = Wild Rivulet
Allagash and Oxbow are releasing a collaboration beer this weekend named Wild Rivulet, “Wild Rivulet carries hints of citrus, wine-like aromas and a silky, dry flavor that’s augmented by tartness from its time in the foudre.”
Wild Rivulet will be available at Allagash and at the Oxbow Saison Day event.
Two Fat Cats SoPo Opening
The new Two Fat Cats branch location in South Portland will be holding their grand opening on Saturday.
The SoPo Two Fat Cats is located at 740 Broadway across the street from Easy Day.
This Week’s Events: Bar Boulud Pop-up, Titantic Dinner, Classes
Wednesday – there will be a wine tasting at Old Port Wine Merchants, Black Tie is teaching a cooking class and Andrew Volk from the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club is kicking off a 2-day pop-up at Bar Boulud in Boston.
Saturday – The Cumberland Club is hosting a “Last Dinner on the Titanic” dinner, there will be a wine tasting at LeRoux Kitchen, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
Saturday – Foley’s/Scattoloni is teaching a baking class.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.
Maine Foodie Tours Wins Award
Maine Foodie Tours owner, Pamela Laskey won the 2018 Award for Innovation & Creativity at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.
”With Maine Foodie Tours, Pamela Laskey has created an exceptional visitor experience that promotes Maine’s culinary scene to a niche travel audience, and helps to strengthen an industry sector that is one of Maine primary tourism pillars,” said Steve Lyons, director of the Maine Office of Tourism.
Reviews: Black Cow, 555, Green Elephant, Otto
The Golden Dish has reviewed Black Cow,
All said and done, the Black Cow and its menu are brilliantly located in the heartbeat of the Old Port vibe where you can have burgers, fries, soda, sandwiches and casual salads all washed down by a great menu of craft cocktails and bar drinks of all stripe.
the Press Herald has reviewed Otto Pizza,
Happy hour at Otto isn’t what it used to be, but the on-the-house slice means it’s still worth a look.
The Bollard has reviewed Green Elephant, and
We also had the local mushroom rice bowl ($15). Mushrooms are a fantastic way to bring a meaty flavor and texture to vegetarian dishes. This bowl had shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, and some oddly chewy, fried enoki mushrooms. Like the curry, it also had plenty of vegetables and a bed of brown jasmine rice. It was satisfying in a comfort-food sort of way, but hardly exciting. It tasted like an easy weeknight dinner at home, when you realize you have a bunch of mushrooms in the fridge that are on their way out, so you whip up an impromptu stir-fry.
Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed Easter brunch at Five Fifty-Five.
We finished our food and paid the $44 tab. The meal was fine, but either the wait lowered my enthusiasm or I’m just too used to their dinner which I really love, because it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. However, the prices were relatively standard for the city, so to be fair, I did get what I paid for. The biggest issue was definitely the delay in receiving our food. That needs some work, especially considering the modest crowd when I was there. Maybe I’ll stick to dinner when I go back.
CSA Popularity in Decline
The Lewiston Sun Journal has published an article on the headwinds faced by CSAs.
Experts and farmers say there are a lot of reasons for the downturn. Increasing competition is a big one. So, too, is the customer’s need for convenience over a relationship with their friendly neighborhood farmer.
Uncle Billy’s Leasing Abilene
Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) has leased the former Abilene space at 539 Deering Ave in Woodford’s Corner where they plan to operate a pop-up restaurant while their permanent location on Cumberland Ave is under construction.
The Uncle Billy’s pop-up will open as soon as some light renovations and inspections are complete and run through the end of the summer. It will serve a scaled back version of the menu that will eventually served on Cumberland Ave.
Maine Food for Thought
Portland’s new food tour company, Maine Food for Thought (website, instagram, facebook) will start selling tickets on their website on April 27th. Their first season of tours will run June through November.
Founders Sarah and Bryce Hach are working with a real strong line-up restaurants: East Ender, Evo, Piccolo, Scales, Solo Italiano and Union. They’ll also be partnering with a number of other nonprofit, education and research organizations providing the information that will inform the back stories shared on the tours.
Maine Food for Thought tour goers will get to experience a ” series of locally sourced and harvested dishes” and “will learn how Maine’s people, ecology, and economy interact to shape a celebrated food destination”.
Food Coma TV Returns for Season 3
The creators of the Food Coma TV are getting back together to produce a 6 episode season. Filming will begin soon and the first episode will be released in June.
The first Food Coma series produced 2 seasons of the show before disbanding in 2012.