PORTLAND

Fourth of Smith’s ‘room’ restaurants now serving

Additional Photos

Martha Stewart, one of Maine’s best known residents, visited Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery Thursday with one of her prized pups. The employee serving her is Chris Cambridge. Courtesy photo

The long-awaited fourth “room” from chef Harding Lee Smith finally opened last week on the Portland waterfront.

Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room occupies a sprawling two-story space at 86 Commercial St. A raw bar is upstairs; downstairs, the dining room features a wood-burning fireplace. Both levels have outdoor decks. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Boone’s dinner menu features the baked stuffed lobster made famous by Alexander Boone, who opened his eponymous restaurant in the same location in 1898.

Holy Donut to open second store this fall

Portland’s little-doughnut-shop-that-could, The Holy Donut, is opening its second location, in the heart of the Old Port at 7 Exchange St. The space was previously occupied by Exchange Street Cafe.

A post on the shop’s Facebook page indicates that they expect to open in October.

Since Leigh Kellis opened her Park Street doughnut shop two years ago, her distinctively delicious Maine potato doughnuts in flavors like chocolate sea salt and mojito-glazed have been touted by the local and national press. She’s been featured on “Anderson Live” with Anderson Cooper and CNN’s food blog, Eatocracy.

Rosemont to launch ‘Producer Dinners’

Rosemont Market Productions, a new company created by the folks at Rosemont Market and Bakery, are putting on a series of “Producer Dinners” to connect diners with farmers and food artisans.

The idea behind the events, said Joe Appel (who is also the wine columnist for the Portland Press Herald), is to invite the public to share in the conversations Rosemont staffers have with their food and beverage producers about sustainable food culture, traditional foodways and other principles that are important to them.

The first two dinners featured Piemontese wines and olive oils and wines from North Lebanon. Not all of the dinners will focus heavily on wines, Appel said, “but we feel strongly that wine is an integral part of healthy eating — with the same connections to culture, geography, natural environment, history, family — and these dinners are a good way to show that. Our in-store wine tastings are not capable of making this point as clearly as a full dinner does.”

Appel said the company’s intent is to hold about one Producer Dinner a month. Also on the drawing board are a series of wine-education mini-courses and cooking classes.

The next Producer Dinner, “Cream of the Crop: The Terroir of Dairy at Winter Hill Farm,” will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at Winter Hill Farm in Freeport. The farmers will show guests the farm and its registered Randall cattle. The $65 all-inclusive dinner will feature Winter Hill’s milk and meat, and wines will be paired with each course.

For tickets to that event, go to brownpapertickets.com/event/440718.

Eventide in running for Bon Appetit honor

The accolades just keep rolling in for Eventide Oyster Co., which last Thursday was named one of Bon Appetit’s 50 nominees for Best New Restaurant in America.

The list, compiled by restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton, will be whittled to 10 today, and one restaurant will be chosen as Restaurant of the Year.

Knowlton came up with the list during a 120-day tour of 22 states. The restaurants he chose, the magazine says, “are changing the way we eat in 2013.”

“Think Macanese cuisine at Fat Rice in Chicago, throwback French dishes like frog’s legs, onion soup and cote de boeuf for two by famous Miami chef Michael Schwartz and an Italian restaurant that doesn’t serve pasta, L.A.’s Chi Spacca.”

The nomination for Eventide Oyster states that “in a state where lobster is king, Eventide’s dedication to the oyster is a bold move.” Knowlton cites the restaurant’s 20 or so different varieties of oysters and the Eventide lobster roll served in a Chinese bun with brown butter or hollandaise.

Space to screen movie about bartending craft

“Hey Bartender,” a movie about the rebirth of the bartending trade and the comeback of the cocktail, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Space Gallery, 538 Congress St.

The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for cocktail hour, with Nathaniel Meiklejohn behind the bar. Following the film, there will be a conversation and Q&A between filmmaker Douglas Tirola and veteran Portland bartender John Myers of The Grill Room.

Tickets are $8, or $6 for Space members and students with ID.

Tickets are now on sale at brownpapertickets.com.

For more information, go to facebook.com/heybartenderfilm.

ROCKPORT

Lobsterpalooza seeks entries for food contest

Organizers of Lobsterpalooza, a celebration of lobster taking place Sept. 8-14, are looking for professional and amateur chefs interested in competing in the lobster mac-and-cheese contest Sept. 14.

The contest will be held at the State of Maine Cheese Co. Judges will include cookbook authors Linda and Martha Greenlaw, Amy Traverso, food editor at Yankee Magazine, and Meredith Goad, food writer for the Portland Press Herald.

Registration forms must be received by Sept. 6. For more information, contact Marti Mayne at info@maynelymarketing.com or Cathe Morrill at State of Maine Cheese Co., 461 Commercial St.

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