Catbird Creamey

| Posted in Profiles

Today’s Press Herald includes an article about the Catbird Creamery in Westbrook.

“Vanilla in the summertime pretty much walks out the door,” said Corey DiGirolamo, who runs the shop with her husband, Andrew Warren.

That’s fine, DiGirolamo said, but the couple put a lot of effort into stretching the idea of ice cream flavors in a lot of different directions, like Furious George, which features caramelized bananas and dark chocolate chips. And, oh, hot pepper.

Catbird is in the midst of a $60,000 Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money so they can move the business to new quarters.

Neighborhood Markets

| Posted in Reviews

The Golden Dish has put together a survey of Portland-area neighborhood markets: Fresh Approach, Smaha’s Legion Square Market, Pat’s Meat Market and Rosemont.

Neighborhood food shops are virtually a thing of the past, yet Portland has held onto a few. These neighborhood stores are not relics, rather they’re critical to their communities and where residents get the basics like meat, produce, groceries and even baked goods and avoid the hassle of congested supermarket lots or glacial waits at check-out lines.

Letter from Ilma Lopez

| Posted in People

For the past two and half months Damian Sansonetti, chef and co-owner of Piccolo and Blue Rooster, has been battling a significant illness. He’s now returned home from a long hospital stay. His wife and partner Ilma Lopez has asked me to post this letter to make the situation public and express the gratitude of the family for all the help they’ve received during this time.

Ten weeks ago, Isabella and I took Damian to the hospital. Finally this week, he returned home to Portland from Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. What has been a long, difficult and uncertain period for our family is finally coming full circle. Damian is home and beginning again to do what he loves to do more than anything in the world: eating food.

Due to the medical ambiguity and uncertain outcome of Damian’s condition, we have strived to keep the situation private. Thankfully, today we are able to publically acknowledge that, while much mending is to be done, Damian is well and will be returning to the kitchen soon. We would like to thank those that have worked in his stead and kept the restaurants running like clockwork. Luke Aberle, Kelly Nelson, Dan McCarthy, Randy Cruse, Jason Williams, Kim Rodgers – we owe you the world. Thank you–and for all the support we received from the community we are eternally grateful.

We hope to see you soon at Piccolo or Blue Rooster soon.

Ilma Lopez

Reviews: Tandem Bakery & The Jewel Box

| Posted in Reviews

The Dig Portland site is now live with content from the first 4 issues including reviews of The Bearded Lady and Tandem Bakery.

But great drinks, made with homemade bitters and drams, are what made Nathaniel legendary before the Jewel Box ever opened…At the bar a short cocktail menu changes weekly. They are indeed well-crafted and beautiful in their glass. On a recent visit the best was the bourbon-based, turbid, and frothy-textured Lion’s Tail. An allspice dram adds some rum sweetness and warm spice, and lime gives it a sour bite. The Japanese cocktail had a candied lemon flavor, with a darker licorice underneath. A Boulevardier had a syrupy depth with orange and spice. And the Martinez, reddish and thin, in a lovely glass with curving ribs, sweetens and spices the martini with a dash of maraschino liqueur and various bitters.

This Week’s Events

| Posted in Events

Tuesday — Lolita is holding their inaugural Winter Solstice Cocktail Fest and the monthly Local Foods Networking Breakfast is taking place at Local Sprouts.

Wednesday — Black Tie is teaching a cooking class.

Thursday — there will be a sparkling wine and cheese tasting at the Public Market House as well as a pair of wine tasting at the Rosemont Markets on Brighton and Commercial Streets.

Saturday — the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place at the Urban Farm Fermentory and Rosemont is holding a wine tasting at their Commercial Street store.

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.

Review of Street & Co.

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telwgram has reviewed Street & Co.

The cooking can be uneven at this noisy and popular seafood restaurant in the Old Port, so stick with standards: Mussels Provencal simmered in garlic, white wine and butter; Sole Francaise; and Scallops with Pernod and Cream are signature dishes that showcase the kitchen’s strengths. If you’re craving bivalves, go early and sit at the bar: It opens at 5 p.m. daily for drinks and oysters.

Sprudge Interview with Tandem Bakery

| Posted in People

Coffee industry insider Sprudge has published an interview with Will Pratt and Briana Holt from Tandem Bakery.

Are you able to do anything different with coffee service at the second space?
Pratt: We’re doing Fetcos over there, which has been pretty good. It’s actually been harder to dial in than we thought—we thought it was just press play and forget about it, but it presents a lot of fun challenges. And we’ve actually been using the Mahlkönig K30, we’ve been doing espresso shots—longer shots—and the espressos up there are amazing. We’re adding AeroPress and other made-to-order stuff in the next couple weeks as well. It’s been crazy how the reaction to the space makes people forget that we’re a coffee company, so we’re trying to put that back in there as well. Every picture we see is of the food!

Under Construction: Lincolns

| Posted in Under Construction

Mark Ohlson, Nathan Drinkwater and Stephen Briggs are launching Lincolns, a “cash only lounge for locals to escape the madness of the old port and see quality entertainment” at 36 Market Street. Lincolns will be in the basement level space that had been the home to Market Street Eats and many years back was the location a cocktail lounge called Maza. According to their letter of intent,

Lincolns will be a bar that functions on the premise of simplicity. We sell a short list of common, premium beers and alcohols all at $5. We will also offer chili and potato & pasta salad also at the $5 price point.

Ohlson is the owner of MJ’s Wine Bar, Drinkwater is a bartender at Gritty’s and Briggs works at Bull Feeney’s. They hope to open Lincolns in January.

Here’s a copy of the draft menu (page 95 of the City Council packet) as well as a floor plan.

lincolnsmenu

lincolnsfloor

Under Construction: East Ender

| Posted in Under Construction

As reported back in November, Small Axe co-owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy are in the process of buying the East Ender. The deal is expected to close in January and after completing some renovations they plan to re-open in February or March next year.

Deuben and Leavy have now applied for a liquor license giving us all our first look at the lunch and dinner menus (page 120 of the City Council packet). Here are excerpts from the menus:

ee_lunch

ee_dinner