Upcoming Restaurants: Bob’s Forage, Lio, Paciarino, Sagamore

| Posted in Under Construction

We’re already seeing hints of Spring and along with the crocuses a number of new restaurants are breaking through the surface due to open mid-year. Here’s highlights of some of the more high profile ventures in development. For a full list of projects you can always check the Under Construction List. Of course, new restaurant projects are getting started all the time so stay tuned.

Bob’s Clam Hut – 109 Cumberland Ave
Michael Landgarten has purchased the former Three Buoys building at the corner of Washington and Cumberland where he’s planning to open a second location of Bob’s Clam Hut. The building is undergoing significant renovation and Landgarten hopes to have it ready for an opening in time for the summer tourist season. Bob’s has been in business since 1956. They’re promising to serve up “fresh, classic fried seafood with straightforward, award-winning simplicity”. More Info

Forage Market – 123 Washington Ave
Forage has has leased space at 123 Washington Ave where they plan to open a Portland branch of their popular Lewiston bakery and cafe. Owner Allen Smith is excited to open on Washington Ave because as he explains, “it feels like a place we can be part of a neighborhood and get to know our customers by name. And we love the camaraderie of the amazing group of food entrepreneurs already on the street.” Forage is perhaps best know for their bagels which Saveur tipped for the best in the country. In addition, Smith and his team lead by Portland store manager Laura Posiak also plans to serve breakfast sandwiches and hand-made pastries in the morning and European-style market sandwiches along with soups and salads for lunch. Smith has ordered a wood-fired masonry oven from Spain which recently arrived in the US and is on its way to Portland. Smith plans to open Forage “as soon as the mortar is dry”.

Lio – 3-5 Spring St
Chef Cara Stadler chef/owner of Bao Bao and Tao Yuan leased space at 6 City Center last year to open a wine-driven restaurant called Lio (instagram, facebook) “where the focus falls on wine first, with cuisine created to match”. The first floor of the space will house a companion retail store where diners can buy wines served at the restaurant. The name Lio is the word for 6 in Mandarin. Early PR for the restaurant indicated Lio will serve “a meticulously curated wine list, drawing inspiration from wine regions around the globe, and a menu that will be seasonally inspired and designed to complement the wines.” Stadler recently shared a look at the floor plans on instagram. The restaurant was initially slated to open last year but the schedule was impacted by construction delays.

Paciarino– 505 Fore St
Owners Enrico Barbiero and Fabiana de Savino have leased the former Zapoteca space where they plan to open a new restaurant which will serve Paciarino pasta as well as “brick-oven pizza, risotto, arancini, gnocchi and other items”. The couple plan to retain their current space on Fore Street where they’ll operate an expanded retail store for their products. They hope to open the new restaurant in May.

Sagamore Hill – 150 Park St
Owner Ryan Deskins is transforming the lobby of the former Lafayette Hotel building into a new cocktail bar called Sagamore Hill (website, instagram). As you might have guessed from the name of the bar, the Deskins is a fan of Teddy Roosevelt, and the nation’s 26th president is a touchstone for the design and cocktail menu. Sagamore will seat 96 overall, including sidewalk seating for 38 during the warmer months. Kaplan Thompson are the architects and Burnham & Lobozzo the contractors. Might & Main has been hired to handle branding and design.

 

Alice Greele’s Tavern, 1775

| Posted in History

Portland Maine History 1768 to the Present has posted some history on Alice Greele’s Tavern, a popular food establishments in 18th Century Portland.

The fashionable tavern of the town was kept by Dame Alice Greele, and here, during the whole Revolutionary period, the committee of public safety met, the judges held their courts, and political conventions had their sessions. It was here that the citizens in town meeting heroically voted to stand the bombardment rather than give up the guns demanded by Mowatt.

This Week’s Events: Good Wine, 2 Beard House Dinners, Eating You Alive, Pizza Series, Gasharoo

| Posted in Events

Monday – Good Wine for a Good Cause is taking place at Grace.

Tuesday – Ilam Lopez and Damian Sansonetti from Piccolo/Chaval, Chris and Paige Gould from Central Provisions/Tipo, and Danielle and Justin Walker from Walkers Maine will be collaborating on a dinner at the Beard House in NYC.

Wednesday – the Tipo guest chef pizza series gets off to start with a pizza designed by chef Courtney Loreg from Woodford F & B.

Thursday – Andrew Chadwick from the Sea Glass at Inn is the guest chef at a dinner at the Beard House in NYC, there will be a single screening of Eating You Alive at Cinemagic in Westbrook, and The Great Lost Bear will be showcasing beer from Hidden Cove Brewing.

Friday – there will be a wine tasting at the West End Rosemont, and First Friday Art Walk is taking place.

Saturday – Novare Res will have 30+ Allagash beers on tap for their annual Gasharoo, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Saturday – LB Kitchen is hosting a Northern Thai dinner with chef Matt Towle and Paige McGuinness.

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.

10 Years Ago in April

| Posted in History

Here’s a look at the top stories from April 2008:

  • Erik Desjarlais opened his new restaurant Evangeline in Longfellow Square.
  • Bresca was included on the Conde Nast Traveler‘s 2008 Hot List.
  • Andrew Zimmern was working on new episode of his show set in Maine.
  • An article by Sam Hayward on island raised sheep in Maine was published in The Art of Eating.
  • Chef et al opened on Forest Ave and Granny’s re-opened on Congress Street.
  • Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham gave a lecture entitled “The Natural Cook: What Diet Does to Make us Human” at the University of New England.

Maine’s Food Heritage

| Posted in History

Food historian Sandy Oliver, author Nancy Harmon Jenkins, culinary antiquarian bookseller Don Lindgren, and Tilly Laskey, curator of the “Maine Eats” exhibit at the Maine Historical Society were interviewed earlier this week on Maine Calling about Maine’s food heritage.

In conjunction with a new exhibit at the Maine Historical Society, we examine Maine’s food heritage, including what ingredients and dishes have come from the different cultures that have shaped our state.

Reviews: Bite Into Maine, Evo, Highroller Lobster

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed Bite into Maine and Highroller Lobster, and

Call Sutton’s approach cautious if you must, but it results in a roll that has been widely celebrated as one of the best in the nation. Bite’s classic Maine-style roll ($17.95) is almost architectural in its attention to balance among its few ingredients. First sweet lobster meat – claw and knuckle only, as long as supply from local lobstermen allows – which has to be mixed with cooling mayonnaise in precisely the right quantity and piled generously into the yielding center of a butter-toasted bun. With a million ways to get it wrong, Sarah Sutton and her husband, co-owner Karl Sutton, get it exactly right, every time.

the Portland Phoenix has reviewed Evo,

Evo’s menu separates proteins as “Fish” and “Meat” respectively, and this is where the bulk of the fun is to be had. A shallow monkfish stew with mussels, chickpeas and green garlic is as rich and satisfying in taste as it is beautiful to look at. Seared tuna with ginger, cilantro and avocado toum (an eggless Lebanese garlic emulsion) remains wholly faithful to the rest of the menu while clearly taking inspiration from Asian cooking. A dish of buttery cod, lobster and cauliflower—framed by tahini and celery root—steals the show in its barrage of opulent textures and flavors.

Under Construction: Gorham Bier Cellar

| Posted in Under Construction

The Bier Cellar is opening a second location at 593 Main Street in Gorham.

We will spend the next couple of months building out the new location right on Route 25, located near Lone Pine’s new space as well as the beautiful new Sebago Brewing complex and right down the road from Mast Landing in Westbrook. We want to be a part of making Gorham a craft beer mecca just like we have watched the City Of Portland became one of the best craft beer destinations in the United States since we opened in 2012.

 

Alison Pray, 2018 Beard Nominee

| Posted in People

Boston.com has published an interview with Alison Pray from Standard Baking about her Beard Awards nomination for Outstanding Baker.

Pray described herself as “stunned” that her bakery, which specializes in old world-style breads, rolls, and pastries, is still on the Foundation’s radar. Bakeries, Pray said, are places that do “behind-the-scenes work — it’s not as glamorous as the restaurant world.” At Standard Baking Co., she strives to serve the repeat customer, the person who comes in every morning to buy their “daily bread.”

Fire & Fowl Dinner with Rob Evans

| Posted in Events

Chef Rob Evans will be preparing a Fire & Fowl dinner on May 6th at the new Duckfat Beer Garden collaboration with Oxbow Brewing. The dinner is a benefit for Full Plates Full Potential.

Join us for an evening of culinary and brewed delights celebrating a feast of seasonal flavors. Chef Rob Evans with his expert team at Duckfat, alongside the master craft brewers of Oxbow Blending & Bottling, and local fisherpeople, farmers and foragers come together to create a menu featuring the earthy bounty of spring in Maine. Craft cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, fire-driven full-course dinner and dessert with beverage pairings, live music, and two to-be-announced, money-can’t-buy auction packages featuring the talents who will bring this meal to life.

Tickets are available online.