Saigon Restaurant has its signage up, the interior looks finished and, while it’s not easily visible in this photo, there are “Coming Soon” signs in the window so an opening day doesn’t seem all that far off. An early draft menu showed a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes on the menu.
This Week's Events
Monday—The weekly Piatto per Tutti cooking class and the Foodie Trivia Contest are taking place this evening. As is the Full Moon Cask Beer Night at Sebago Brewing.
Tuesday—Bar Lola is holding a beer dinner featuring brews from Belgium and France, and there’s a Japanese cooking class taking place at SMCC.
Wednesday—The Monument Square Farmers’ Market takes places in the morning. I the evening, The Salt Exchange is running their weekly wine and canapes event, and Black Tie Bistro is holding a cooking class.
Friday—First Friday Art Walk is taking place. Restaurants tend to be very busy during FFAW so make your reservation early.
Saturday—The Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market takes places in the morning. The Maine Brewer’s Festival has sessions planned for both the afternoon and evening at the Portland Expo.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
This Week’s Events
Monday—The weekly Piatto per Tutti cooking class and the Foodie Trivia Contest are taking place this evening. As is the Full Moon Cask Beer Night at Sebago Brewing.
Tuesday—Bar Lola is holding a beer dinner featuring brews from Belgium and France, and there’s a Japanese cooking class taking place at SMCC.
Wednesday—The Monument Square Farmers’ Market takes places in the morning. I the evening, The Salt Exchange is running their weekly wine and canapes event, and Black Tie Bistro is holding a cooking class.
Friday—First Friday Art Walk is taking place. Restaurants tend to be very busy during FFAW so make your reservation early.
Saturday—The Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market takes places in the morning. The Maine Brewer’s Festival has sessions planned for both the afternoon and evening at the Portland Expo.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
James Ledue
An obituary for James Ledue, a pioneering Portland restauranteur, appeared in today’s paper (via Meredith Goad).
Mr. Ledue, who helped start Portland’s restaurant renaissance with businesses such as The Good Egg, Alberta’s Cafe and Bella Bella, died Oct. 23 after a lengthy illness. He was 57 years old.
Mr. Ledue had a limitless range of interests, from surfing to acting to wine and poetry.
“He crowded in an awful lot,” said his father, Herbert Ledue of Portland. “If he wasn’t at the restaurant, he’d be out surfing or kayaking.
Maine Cranbberries
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram has an article about the state’s small but growing cranberry crop.
While those efforts have fallen short – in part because of high startup costs of cranberry farming – Maine’s acreage has steadily increased from 40 acres in 1997 to nearly 299 acres today, according to the 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture census. Maine’s harvest pales next to Wisconsin’s. Wisconsin is the nation’s top cranberry producer with 17,700 acres followed by Massachusetts at 13,000 acres.
October 2009 Stats
The 10 eateries looked up most often during the month of October were:
- Grace (5)
- Paciarino (1)
- Shima (-)
- Bresca (2)
- Caiola’s (7)
- Rachels L’Osteria (52)
- Food Factory Miyake (6)
- The Farmer’s Table (9)
- Veranda Noodle Bar (-)
- The Corner Room (3)
The numbers in parentheses indicates their rank last month.
Green Business Person: Jonah Fertig
Jonah Fertig, co-founder of the Local Sprouts Cooperative, won a Step Up to the Plate award from the League of Young Voters in the Green Business Person Category. Fertig is now working on launching the Local Sprouts Cafe.
Under Construction Update
According to the agenda for the upcoming Portland City Council meeting:
- JP’s Bistro (sample menu) is moving in to take over the space formerly occupied by Rachels at 496 Woodford Street.
- Nosh Bar (sample menu) is the name of the “upscale delicatessen and lounge” moving into old The White Heart location at 551 Congress Street. The re-opening of this location help mitigate the contraction in the number of Portland bars as pointed out by PortlandTaps.com.
The Picnic Basket
Portland Food Heads has uncovered a new sandwich shop on Stevens Ave call The Picnic Basket.
Rabelais on Bon Appetite
Don and Samantha Lindgren from Rabelais have authored a guest post on the Fall’s Best Chef Cookbooks for the BA Foodist blog.