The well-deserved Bon Appetit award for Portland’s restaurant scene is notable not just for our tourist industry and those residents who are lucky enough to find a baby sitter and can afford a $32 half-chicken with rainbow chard and parsnip (most of the restaurants listed in the Bon Appetit article are financially inaccessible to a huge portion of our state’s population), but also because it can help address one of our state’s biggest challenges.

As the Press Herald reported the day before the Bon Appetit Restaurant City of the Year award was announced, the state Department of Labor predicted near-stagnant job growth in Maine over the next 10 years. Having a vibrant, nationally known restaurant scene, even an expensive one, is a valuable tool we can use to attract companies to set up or expand operations here, and to attract working-age adults to move here.

The jobs problem is, of course, complicated, as are the housing issues that stem in part from Portland’s growth as a high-end tourist destination. But it’s likely that job recruiters have already started mentioning the Bon Appetit award in their conversations with candidates for jobs in Portland, and soon local officials will be including it in their pitch books to companies thinking about where to set up their next office. So while we all may not be able to frequent many of the top restaurants in Portland, we should celebrate them, and hope that those from away take notice.

Christopher Dana

Portland

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