Erik and Krista Desjarlais, owners of Evangeline and Bresca, have posted information on their blogs (here and here) about their new venture, 12 Seats.

12 Seats is a collaboration between Krista and I. 12 Seats is just what the title says. 12 seats, 12 courses, 12 times in one year. The last Sunday of each month, Krista and I will transform bresca in to an amalgamation of our culinary and hospitality passions. 12 Seats will take over the bresca dining room and kitchen, and she and I will transform ourselves into one chef with the mind of two cooks.

Columnist Margo Mallar has written about B&M Beans history and her tour of the facility here in Portland in her weekly food column in this weekend’s Portland Daily Sun.

From the sluice where navy pea beans are first winnowed to the conveyor belt where labeled cans are wrapped for warehousing, we walked the canning process from start to finish. Salt pork before and after soaking, molasses tanks, spice totes, train cars that bring in 200,000 pounds of beans at a time from Canada and the Dakotas: Don explained each step of the eight-hour process, referring to workers by name, many of whom had been there for decades.

Also in the weekend edition is an article from Editor Curtis Robinson on how he’s “Staying hip to the city’s ongoing water debate” between Take Back the Tap and FLOW.

Type A has a report on 12 Seats, a new monthly cooking collaboration between Krista and Erik Desjarlais. It will be a highly customized event for 12 people and will be held at Bresca’s Middle Street location.

The goal is to create a highly personalized experience. For example there will be dialogue with every guest about dietary restrictions. The dinner will be $120pp, excluding wine.

Erik and Krista plan to secure a phone number over the weekend and will start taking reservations shortly. The first meal will be served on Sunday, October 25th. I’ll update this post when the phone number is available.