Reviews: Maps Cafe and The Thirsty Pig

| Posted in Reviews

Drink Up and Get Happy has reviewed Maps Cafe,

The vibe is almost like 70’s basement home bar mixed with your neighborhood pub.  It’s comfortable and friendly.  The owners are always in house, serving up drinks or grilling sandwiches. They have a great selection of albums and are often playing them on the turntable.  Our favorite feature is the jukebox tucked in the corner.  It’s free to play any song on it and the owners rotate the selection so there is often a new song to rediscover.

and the Press Herald has reviewed The Thirsty Pig.

The Thirsty Pig in Portland’s Old Port neighborhood is serious about local craft beer, but not in an off-putting, pretentious way. The staff is friendly and talkative, and the atmosphere encourages a laid-back crowd. Owner Allison Stevens has made it her mission to offer great tasting craft beer and handmade sausages at an affordable price.

Thanksgiving Resource Guide

| Posted in Events

Portland area restaurants, bakeries, and kitchens are starting to announce their Thanksgiving dinners and related services. Here’s what I have so far. I’ll update the list as more info comes in.

Restaurants:

For those of you hosting your own gathering:

Community Dinners & Donations:

This Week’s Events: Dutch’s, Alton Brown, Bitters Workshop, Rosemont/Piccolo Class

| Posted in Events

altonbrownTuesday — it’s the opening day of Dutch’s located at 28 Preble Street.

Wednesday — Alton Brown will be at Merrill Auditorium, orchardist Waite Maclin will be giving a talk entitled The Seven Secrets to Fruitful Fruit Trees, there will be a wine tasting at Rosemont on Brighton, and the Monument Square Farmers Market is taking place.

Thursday — Engineers Without Borders’ is holding Uncorked, their 3rd annual beer & wine tasting and silent auction.

Friday — there will be wine tastings at the Rosemonts on both Brighton Ave and Congress Street.

Saturday — Veena’s Fizz House is holding a bitters workshop, Dobra is offering a course on the 6 types of tea, Rosemont and Piccolo are collaborating on a cooking class, and the Deering Oaks 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.

Pocket Feast Game Dinner

| Posted in Events

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Pocket Brunch and Family Feast collaborated to produce a Maine game dinner last night in collaboration with the Maine Brewers Guild and Down East. 6 courses, or perhaps 8 depending on how you count, utilizing more than a dozen different game meats. The game bird ragu served with spelt/rye bucatini, the hare pie, and the panacotta with autumn olive sorbet were my favorites from the menu. There was a standing ovation at the end of the dinner for the kitchen crew.

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100 Best Beers: Mo, Substance, Dubbel

| Posted in Beer

Men’s Journal has included Bissell Brothers The Substance, MBC Mo and Allagash Dubbel in their list of the 100 Best Beers in the World.

To ensure you can actually find and enjoy these heavenly brews, we eliminated one-off batches and limited the list to beer sold in America and available on shelves and taps beyond the brewery. Our team also balanced entries from the stylistic families of beer — pilsners, wild ales, stouts, to name a few of the 23 official, judged styles — to ensure this wasn’t just a list of IPAs, America’s most popular craft brew. Consider this a to-drink list for year ahead.

The Salt Exchange Closed Permanently

| Posted in Closings

Owner Charlie Bryon announced yesterday that due to the departure of some key staff he’s decided to close and sell The Salt Exchange.

With very short notice and based on the totality of our circumstances, I must close and sell The Salt Exchange Restaurant. It has been my sincere honor to serve the community of Portland and every guest that has graced our threshold. My time working with the very talented and supportive staff through every iteration of the restaurant has been a growth experience that I will always be grateful for.

He goes on to write,

The landscape of Portland is thickly populated by many good restaurants and I am very fortunate to have been counted among them, even if for just five years. I wish my peers the very best of luck and great fortune in their futures. To my guests I humbly thank you for your friendship, support, honesty, and kindness. I owe you my success and will look forward to seeing you soon. Cheers!

Oxbow Tasting Room

| Posted in Beer

Urban Eye has a report on the new Oxbow tasting room,

The red lettering on the door is the only indication that something new is brewing on Washington Ave. Go behind Coffee by Design and press on through to a world of conditioned ales, barrels filled with aging beer and worldly design. “We are very excited to have this opportunity to be a part of this incredible beer city,” said Geoff Masland, Oxbow co-owner, who opened his doors Thursday.

and Eater Maine has published a Q & A with Oxbow co-owner Tim Adams about the tasting room.

What are you most looking forward to with the new space?
It’s two-fold. One, being able to make a bunch more beer and a lot of the beer that excites us the most: Our aged, bottled, and blended beers. Two, being able to have this retail presence in Portland is huge. I love Portland. I live on the East End and to be able to provide a space like this for all the people around here is pretty cool.