Two Maine businesses win Good Food Awards

Two Maine food entrepreneurs have won 2015 Good Food Awards, presented last Thursday in San Francisco.

The awards honor socially conscious food businesses that take sustainability and social good into account in their sourcing and production. The winners are chosen through blind taste testing.

Black Dinah Chocolatiers, makers of chocolates, truffles and sipping chocolate, won an award in the confections category for its Cassis de Resistance chocolate truffle. It is made with Venezuelan bittersweet chocolate and blackcurrant berries grown on Isle au Haut.

The other Maine winner was in the spirits category: Three Chiles Syrup, an organic cocktail syrup made by Royal Rose.

BATH

El Camino, Flipside owners plan a new restaurant

Eloise Humphrey and Daphne and Paul Comaskey, owners of El Camino and The Flipside in Brunswick, are planning to open a new restaurant in Bath, to be called Salt Pine Social, according to The Coastal Journal.

The restaurant, which will be located at 244 Front St., will serve seafood and include an oyster bar.

CARRABASSETT VALLEY

Sugarloaf Restaurant Week offers discounts, contests

The Sugarloaf ski resort will host the area’s first ever Sugarloaf Restaurant Week Jan. 19-22, featuring discounts for both diners and workers in the hospitality industry.

Diners can order a dinner for two, including an appetizer and two entrees, for $40 at participating locations. Hospitality workers will have access to $42 lift tickets, discounted ski and stay packages, and daily food and drink specials.

Competitions will include a locals’ ski race, a server’s race and snow golf tournament. Daily après ski activities will be held around the resort.

Participating restaurants include 45 North, Gepetto’s, the Widowmaker Lounge, Shipyard Brew Haus, The Rack, The Bag and Kettle, Hugs Italian Restaurant, Tufulios and The Doors Bistro. For more information, go to sugarloaf.com/restaurantweek.

PORTLAND

Corner Room will host six-course wine dinner

The Corner Room Italian Kitchen and Bar at 110 Exchange St. will host a Marchesi di Barolo wine dinner at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21.

The 200-year-old Marchesi di Barolo Vineyard will be represented at the dinner by Valentina Abbona, part of the sixth generation producing the wine.

The dinner will feature six courses paired with wines and a jazz trio. It costs $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 879-4747.

Former chef at Grace to open a delicatessen

Pete Sueltenfuss, former executive chef at Grace, announced on Facebook this week that he is finally realizing a longtime dream of opening his own deli.

The Otherside Delicatessen is expected to open in a couple of weeks at 164 Veranda St.

Rosemont butchers prepare food for football watchers

If you like to hibernate at home on winter weekends and watch football, Rosemont butchers have got you covered: Every weekend through Super Bowl Sunday, they’re preparing football-watching foods such as kielbasa, pulled pork, hot dogs and smoked chicken wings. All the meats are local and prepared in house.

Weather looks just right for hotel’s annual ice bar

With temperatures regularly hitting the teens, or even dipping below zero, it should be a good year for the annual ice bar at The Portland Harbor Hotel on Fore Street.

This popular event includes ice sculptures, martinis flowing through ice luges, outdoor beer bars and a fire pit to warm you while you’re drinking cocktails and listening to a DJ spin tunes.

The ice bar will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. daily beginning Jan. 22 and will run through Jan. 24. Friday and Saturday nights are already sold out. Tickets for Thursday night were still available at press time, and cost $25 for an entry ticket, or $33 for an entry ticket and a drink ticket. They are available at icebar15.brownpapertickets.com.

If you have your heart set on going Friday or Saturday night, consider splurging on an overnight stay. The hotel is offering specially priced packages that include overnight accommodations for two adults, two tickets to the ice bar and two cocktail tickets; to reserve, call the hotel at (888) 798-9090.

This year’s ice bar will benefit three community groups: STRIVE, the Portland Community Health Center and the Family Crisis Center.

Bean suppah goes upscale at Rosemont

Here’s something to warm your belly this winter: an over-the-top take on the traditional New England bean supper, prepared by Rosemont Market chef Brad Messier and guest chef Jason Loring of Nosh and Slab.

The supper will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Deering Grange Hall, 1443 Washington Ave. The menu includes baked beans, brown bread, corned beef, salads, slaws and pies. Local beer will be served, and there will be live music.

Tickets are $30, or $10 for children at brownpapertickets.com.

Local brewers to compete in Great Lost Bear challenge

It’s time once again for local brewers to fight for the Great Lost Bear’s Industrial Park Challenge Cup.

In the annual contest, the brewery that sells the most pints between 5 and 9 p.m. Thursday wins. The Bissell Brothers won the coveted trophy last year.

Brewers invited from the Riverside Industrial Park area include Allagash Brewing Co., D.L. Geary, Austin Street and Foundation. Representing the YEast Bayside part of town will be Bunker Brewing, Rising Tide and Oxbow.

BELFAST

Alden House Inn chefs to give cooking classes

The Alden House Inn, 63 Church St., will hold winter cooking classes on topics such as All About Eggs and Fish Soups and Chowders beginning Jan. 22.

The classes are $40 each and will be taught by Larry Marshall and Rose Cyr, proprietors and chefs at the inn.

The classes are intended for cooks at all levels and will cover less common preparations and techniques, such as lessons on how to cure and smoke your own bacon.

Three classes focus on Chinese cooking, including stir frying and other traditional Chinese techniques, such as steaming and clay pot cooking. Sign up for all three, and get a $15 discount.

For more information, go to thealdenhouse.com

CAPE ELIZABETH

Maine honey will star in Good Table supper

The Good Table, 527 Ocean House Road, will host an early Sunday supper built around Maine honey at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 25. The dinner costs $65 per person, all inclusive.

Each course will be paired with beer, mead and wine. Non-drinking guests pay a lower price.

Lisa Kostopoulos, owner of the restaurant, tells us one of the recipes she’s testing is honey-glazed smoked carrots with seared Maine scallops and honey-bacon marmalade.

The snow date for the dinner will be the next day, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26.

– Meredith Goad, staff writer