The Press Herald has a report in the ongoing sample harvests of Maine shrimp.
The record price stems from scarcity. Just like last year, the commercial shrimp season remains closed because of low stocks. The shrimp that sold at auction Thursday were caught by one of the three Maine fishermen involved in a sampling project to help state biologists track the timing of egg hatch, size, gender and developmental stages of the shrimp.
As part of its ongoing Deep Dish series, the Portland Phoenix interviewed Larry Matthews, chef/owner of Back Bay Grill about where he likes to eat out.
With kids and a busy schedule (he’s often cooking the food at the Grill himself, as he is now) Matthews doesn’t get out much. When he does, he goes to Five Fifty-Five for mussels. Or for steak. Or for anything, really, that his friends, Five Fifty-Five co-owners Steve and Michelle Corry, and their team whip up.
A new restaurant called Evo(twitter, website, facebook) is under construction at 443 Fore Street which small space at the corner of Fore and Union that’s part of the Hyatt.
Evo will be a “Greek and Mediterranean and Tapas Bars” and hopes to be open this Spring. It is part of the Prentice Hospitality Group that runs Chebeague Island Inn and other businesses.
Today’s Press Herald reports on the negative impact the large number of snow storms are having on Portland restaurants.
Most of all, downtown restaurant owners dread parking bans. The owners are particularly upset that the city declared a 36-hour parking ban last weekend for a storm that dropped 2.3 inches of snow. The ban began at 10 a.m. Saturday – Valentine’s Day – prompting some restaurant managers to ask city officials to keep the tow trucks away until closing time. The city honored the requests.
The city in practice doesn’t begin towing cars downtown until 1 a.m., but many people don’t know that, so business suffers.
Update: The Forecaster and WMTW have also posted reports on the snow’s impact on restaurant sales.
Phaidon Press collected restaurant recommendations from “more than 600 of the world’s leading chef” for the new edition of Where Chefs Eat. Portland restaurants included are Boda, Fore Street, Gorgeous Gelato, Hot Suppa, Otto Pizza, Pai Men Miyake and Piccolo. Primo in Rockland also made the cut.
The list of semi-final nominees for the 2015 James Beard Foundation awards were released today. The 10 Maine-based semi-finalists are:
The names released today are on the so-called ‘long list’. The final list of nominees (the ‘short list’) will be out in March 24th and the awards ceremony will take place May 4th. In a change of pace, the awards ceremony will take place in Chicago this year instead of NYC—a way for the Foundation to emphasize the national nature of the awards and of its mission.
The March issue of Food & Wine includes an article about chef Erin French and her restaurant The Lost Kitchen(facebook, instagram) in Freedom, Maine. It also includes recipes for several of chef Erin French’s dishes.
The restaurant has only been open since last July, but news of it has spread, and customers now come from many miles away. Chef Erin French, who is entirely self-taught, creates unfussy, astonishingly delicious food using as few ingredients as possible in combinations that are both exciting and viscerally satisfying…
The article isn’t online yet but you can pick-up a copy of the March issue at your local newsstand.
Tuesday — the local foods networking breakfast is taking place at Local Sprouts.
Wednesday — the semifinalist nominees for this year’s James Beard Foundation awards will be released.
Friday — Browne Trading will be at Rising Tide for a beer and salmon tasting, and North Star Sheep Farm will be at The Farm Stand for a lamb and wine tasting.
Saturday — Ned Swain is leading a Wine Wise natural wine walk, it’s the grand opening of Maine Craft Distilling’s Freeport tasting room, Viva Lebowski is taking place at Easy Day, and the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.
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.
Portland Magazine has published an interview with Natalie DiBenedetto about Figgy’s(facebook, website), the takeout restaurant she has under construction on Walker Street, and that journey that brought her to Portland.
By May she plans to be cooking at Figgy’s, her forthcoming take-out restaurant, now under construction in back of Yordprom’s building, which she owns. Figgy’s will offer skillet-fried chicken and classic sides like mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, plus seasonal healthy vegetable choices and a daily dinner salad. Her other signature item will be Korean fried chicken wings.
This month’s issue of the magazine also includes a review of The Merry Table.