Phoenix Review of Binga’s Stadium

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Binga’s Stadium.

While they are meaty enough, it is the skin and the sauce/seasoning that makes or breaks a wing — and Binga’s offers you about 20 options. The best wings tend to be seasoned with a dry rub, but Binga’s mostly coats theirs in syrupy sauces.

This works best when there is some heat to cut though the sugars. The Thai chili sauce was too mild, and seemed unreasonably sweet. The thin, orange-tinged classic Buffalo sauce was much better . . .

SMCC Cooking School, Pizza Bowl, MOOMilk

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald reports on a visit to the Culinary Arts program at SMCC and the discount meals that the students serve up 3 times a week.

Today’s menu is called “A Taste of France,” and includes a choice of four entrees: Medallions of Beef, Buerre Maitre D’; Chicken Chasseur; Salmon Bearnaise; and Roast Loin of Pork “Moutarde.” All entrees come with a baked stuffed potato and green beans.

The entire meal costs just $12, which is why you’ll find a lot of retirees and other folks on a budget in the dining room.

There’s also a report on the 2nd Annual Pizza Bowl taking place this weekend,

With 11 local pizza places on the roster this year, attendees will have the option of testing a cheese pizza and a specialty pizza from each place. Committee chairman Loretta Rowe said as people purchase their tickets, they will be given a tally sheet to keep track of the slices they taste. In the end, she said, they’ll be asked to vote for their favorite pizza.

And an article about MOOMilk, the new brand of Maine organic milk

The organic milk, in green-red-and-blue cardboard cartons, is being produced by 10 farms in Aroostook, Kennebec, Penobscot and Washington counties, and processed and packaged at Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook.

Wine Tastings Hearing in Augusta

Both MPBN and the Press Herald have reported on yesterday’s hearings about Maine’s wine tasting legislation at the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee in Augusta.

“At our Bangor location, we have had customers after the fact apologizing for missing a tasting because they saw the windows covered in paper and thought we were either closed to remodel or out of business,” [retailer Scott Worcester] testified. “During a tasting in Southwest Harbor, I had to explain to a gentleman that he could not come into my store while carrying his infant, even to buy cheese and crackers, because I was conducting a tasting.”

For a wider perspective on how legislation is impacting the state’s wine making and retailing industry be sure to read the article published earlier this month in Down East.

Review of Silly's

The USM Free Press has published a review of Silly’s.

As a college student in Portland, it can be hard to find a restaurant that fits your budget. With books to buy and student loans to pay off, who has the money? If you’re looking for affordability, good service and great food, Silly’s Restaurant, at 40 Washington Ave. has it all.

Maine at Work: Cooking at Becky's

Reporter Ray Routhier tried his hand at being a breakfast cook at Becky’s for this week’s Maine at Work column in the Press Herald.

But when I glanced up at the order slips – clipped by clothespins to a string hanging across the window between the kitchen and the dining room – I felt like someone had suddenly shoved an intercepted code from World War II in my face.

“BEOM/#13” read one slip. “B/Scb/It, BagTst” read another. “#3/HF/Whtt” read a third.

I had no idea what any of it meant, never mind how to start cooking any of it.

Maine at Work: Cooking at Becky’s

Reporter Ray Routhier tried his hand at being a breakfast cook at Becky’s for this week’s Maine at Work column in the Press Herald.

But when I glanced up at the order slips – clipped by clothespins to a string hanging across the window between the kitchen and the dining room – I felt like someone had suddenly shoved an intercepted code from World War II in my face.

“BEOM/#13” read one slip. “B/Scb/It, BagTst” read another. “#3/HF/Whtt” read a third.

I had no idea what any of it meant, never mind how to start cooking any of it.

This Week's Events

Monday — The Foreside Tavern in Falmouth is celebrating their 5 year anniversary.
Tuesday Bar Lola is collaborating with Allagash on a beer dinner.
Wednesday — there’s a wine tasting at Old Port Wine Merchants, Grace is holding a Flights & Bites wine social event and Maine Kombucha Works is teaching a combined kombucha and sourdough bread class.
Thursday — The Great Lost Bear is hosting the annual Brew Pub Cup challenge, Leavitt and Sons and Browne Trading are holding a wine tasting and it’s the first night of the Ice Bar at Eve’s at the Garden.
Friday — the Ice Bar continue at Eve’s and there will be a performance of the psychogeographic dinner theater Dual Site at the Whitney Art Works.
Saturday — it’s the final night of both the Ice Bar the Dual Site dinner theater. Author Kenneth Helphand will be reading from his book Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens In Wartime and signing books at Whitney Art Works.
Sunday — Masa Miyake and Rob Evans are cooking an 8-course snout-to-tail pork tasting dinner at Hugo’s.
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.