Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

June 27, 2012

Food & Dining Dispatches, June 27, 2012

By Meredith Goad mgoad@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND

Five farm stands set to debut with produce grown in Maine

Five new farm stands featuring Maine-grown produce will launch in Portland on July 2.

Farm stands will run from July 2 through October 25 in the following locations:

East Bayside: Whole Foods Market Farm Stand, 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays

West End: Brackett Street at Pine Street, 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays

Bayside: Kennedy Park, Boyd Street Urban Farm, noon to 3 p.m. Wednesdays

Parkside: Opportunity Alliance, 510 Cumberland Ave., 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays

Riverton: Riverton School and Community Center, 2 to 5 p.m. Thursdays

Each stand will be equipped to accept SNAP and WIC benefits, as well as cash and credit and debit cards. Farmers at these sites will also be able to double up to $10 of all SNAP and WIC purchases, thanks to a grant from Wholesome Wave Foundation.

The five Portland farm stands are part of Cultivating Community's the "Growing Access, Growing Communities" program.

For more information on Cultivating Community, visit: www.cultivatingcommunity.org.

 

Bakery to introduce new line of pastries, give free coffee

Start the coffee. Two Fat Cats, the popular Portland bakery at 47 India St., will be opening an hour earlier beginning July 1.

But owner Stacy Begin is going to make the earlier hour worth crawling out of bed for: The bakery is introducing a new line of breakfast pastries, including orange cinnamon biscuits, maple scones, lemon poppy seed scones, blueberry muffins, blueberry-raspberry bundt cake with a lemon glaze and doughnut muffins.

From July 1 to 3, customers who buy a breakfast item will get a free cup of coffee, tea or homemade hot chocolate.

The new hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The bakery will be closed on the Fourth of July.

 

Great Lost Bear sampling features beers of Vermont

Sample the beers of Vermont at a tasting Thursday at the Great Lost Bear.

Breweries that will be pouring include Magic Hat #9, Long Trail Ale, Long Trail Blackbeary Wheat, Switchback Pale Ale, Wolaver's Wildflower Wheat, Rock Art IPA, and McNeil's Brewery in Brattleboro.

Beers will be available for $2.99 a pint from 5 to 9 p.m.

 

New executive chef begins work for Eve's at the Garden

The restaurant at the Portland Harbor Hotel, Eve's at the Garden, has a new executive chef.

Timothy Pierre Labonte, originally from the Augusta area, has worked in Maine before, but most recently he was executive chef at the Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West.

Labonte graduated from the culinary arts school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., in 1999 and began his career as a sous chef at the Key West Hilton Resort & Marina. The following year, he became executive chef at Bagatelle in Key West.

In 2003, Labonte moved to Maine, where he worked for three different restaurants, including the Bradley Inn in New Harbor. The chef bounced back to Key West for another four years before coming back to Maine to work at Eve's.

Labonte has drafted new summer lunch, dinner and bar menus for the restaurant. His new menu items include two different tempeh dishes, an all-natural beef tri-tip steak, New England scallops, mini lobster rolls, a lamb kebab and garbanzo fries.

The previous executive chef, Bill Clifford, left Portland about six months ago to take a job at Legal Seafood in Boston.

 

Popular Greek Food Festival will get under way Thursday

Grab some lamb souvlaki, moussaka, dolmades and spanakopita at the annual Greek Food Festival from Thursday through Saturday at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

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