Maine Malt House

| Posted in Beer

The Bangor Daily News has published an article on the Maine Malt House, which supplies malted Maine grown grains to brewers in the state.

Aroostook County is not home to the bustling craft breweries that have sprouted up across Maine, New England and other parts of the country. A brewery and pub that opened in Presque Isle in 2004, Slopes Northern Maine Restaurant and Brewing Company, closed for lack of business not long afterward. But, 10 years later, the Buck brothers are not trying to sell beer locally; they want to produce and sell malts across the state through an integrated farm and malthouse business.

Chefs After Dark

| Posted in People

Today’s Press Herald features an article about the Chefs After Dark monthly gatherings among chefs in Southern Maine and New Hampshire for social networking and good natured competition.

The format of the monthly get-togethers mimics The Food Network’s “Chopped,” where chefs, two in this case versus the reality show’s four, who are well-matched in experience and cooking styles, are pitted against each other and several mystery ingredients. Local suppliers donate the often exotic ingredients, such as chicken feet, curry leaves and bitter cucumber (December 2014 when Franke and Vargas squared off); or cod roe sack, sunflower buds and lamb sweetbreads (August 2015); or blue Hubbard squash, local apples and tripe (late last month).

Beard House Dinners: Piccolo and Hunt & Alpine

| Posted in Events

The menus are now up and ticket are on sale for two dinners at the Jame Beard House in New York being headlined by Portland talent:

 

Leigh Kellis from Holy Donut

| Posted in People, Profiles

MaineBiz has published an article about Leigh Kellis and her company The Holy Donut.

But creating a decadent but wholesome treat “was like a mission from God,” she says. “I love doughnuts and the idea of bringing it to Portland was exciting.”

Once she hit on a winning potato-based recipe, she brought six doughnuts to Coffee By Design’s Washington Avenue store to see if they’d sell. They did and she brought back a dozen the next day. Soon she got orders from Whole Foods Market and Lois’ Natural Marketplace and rented commercial kitchen space. Forty dozen doughnuts a week became 100 dozen. After eight months, she was yearning for a doughnut shop of her own.

Review of Ramen Suzukiya

| Posted in Reviews

The Bollard has reviewed Ramen Suzukiya.

Shoyu broth is “Oriental” flavor’s elegant cousin — a complex, meaty broth with an earthy taste of mushrooms. The miso broth is more refined, with a satisfying saltiness. The Hakata-style ramen has an incomparably rich tonkotsu broth. Traditionally made by boiling pork and chicken until the bones and marrow begin to break down, this broth is milky and murky with sediment, yet has a gelatinous sheen. This is the ultimate comfort food, and surely the style I’ll choose when winter’s chill arrives.

Ocean Approved Kelp Farming

| Posted in Farming

Today’s Boston Globe includes a report on Ocean Approved’s seaweed aquaculture operation.

At the vanguard of New England’s nascent seaweed farming industry is Paul Dobbins, president and cofounder of Ocean Approved, a kelp farming operation based in Portland, Maine.

“The majority of seaweed gets imported from Asia,” Dobbins said. “We see an opportunity to provide a local alternative to that, and the response has been tremendous.”