PORTLAND

Zapoteca owners planning to open Spanish restaurant

Chef Shannon Bard and her husband Tom are in the planning stages for their third restaurant, which will feature the food and wine of sunny Spain.

Tom Bard said he is working on a location and hoping to open in the early summer of 2014. Depending on the space, he said the atmosphere could either be quite casual (he mentioned Boston’s super-hot Toro as a reference), or somewhat more upscale than Zapoteca, the Bards’ successful Mexican restaurant in Portland.

The menu will naturally include tapas, as well as more substantial dishes, with cocktails as a “major component,” he said. Seafood will be prominently featured and culinary influences will be drawn from Spain’s east coast, from Barcelona south to Gibraltar. The Bards will travel to Spain for research this winter.

The Bards and managing partner Sergio Ramos opened Zapoteca in 2011 and their second restaurant, Mixteca, in Durham, N.H., last March.

Two Fat Cats takes orders to ship its pies within U.S.

Here’s a novel gift idea: Send a pie. Two Fat Cats, the bakery at 47 India St. in Portland, is now shipping its famous pies within the United States.

Orders must be placed online via twofatcatsbakery.com.

Pies currently available for shipping in either the 7-inch or 9-inch size are: blueberry, bourbon pecan, mixed berry and sour cherry.

Seasonal pies, including apple, can be shipped through February 2014. The pies may be purchased as unbaked frozen or baked frozen and all shipments are either overnight or two-day to retain freshness.

Hunt & Alpine Club plans cocktail, liqueur evenings

If you’re a cocktail geek, or simply an adventurous drinker, you’ll want to mark your calendar for these evenings at Portland Hunt & Alpine Club, 75 Market St.

• Caledonia Spirits Night: 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday. At Caledonia, in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, beekeeper and naturalist Todd Hardie makes Barr Hill honey vodka, gin and elderberry cordial. The gin is reported to be so smooth you can drink it on its own. Not this evening, however, when you’ll want to enjoy it in an expertly mixed cocktail.

•  Fernet Branca Industry Night: 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday. The intensely bitter Italian liqueur is a restaurant industry after-hours favorite – in fact, the practice of drinking a shot of Fernet followed by a soda or beer chaser is known in the business as a “bartender’s handshake.” At this event, you can spin the Fernet Wheel of Swag to win cool stuff.

BOOTHBAY HARBORMine Oyster celebrates season on Saturday

Fans of Maine’s briny bivalves will want to head for Boothbay Harbor on Saturday, where the popular waterfront restaurant, Mine Oyster, will close out its second summer season with a celebration featuring $1 Glidden Point oysters all day, draft beer specials, an oyster shucking contest, live music and more.

Find the festivities at 16 Wharf St., Pier 1.

For more information, visit mineoyster.net or call 633-6616.

FALMOUTH

Expert to teach class on preserving apples

Did you go overboard picking apples this season? Learn how to preserve your harvest with preservation expert Kate McCarty of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The class, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the UMaine Extension Office, 75 Clearwater Drive, Falmouth, will cover how to can and freeze apples.

The cost is $15 and scholarships are available. To register, call Lois Elwell 781-6099 or go online to umaine.edu/food-health/food-preservation.

CAPE ELIZABETH

Allagash beers will be featured at Sea Glass dinner

Chef Mitchell Kaldrovich of Sea Glass restaurant at Inn by the Sea, 40 Bowery Beach Road, presents a dinner featuring beers from Maine’s Allagash Brewing Co.

The four courses are: Cornmeal-Crusted Fried Green Tomato with Allagash White; Baked Winter Squash Cassoulet paired with Hugh Malone; Slow-Roasted Chicken “Mole” with Allagash Black; and Chocolate Carrot Cake paired with Curieux. The cost is $42.

For resevations, call 799-3134 or visit innbythesea.com.

– Compiled by Susan Axelrod