Aiming to serve a broad mix of local customers, a sweets shop featuring vegan and dairy-free sorbets relaunched in the center of Old Orchard Beach this season.

New owner Vivienne Riven opened Gelato Supreme in May at 26 Old Orchard St. A previous operator had run Gelato Supreme last season in the same space, but Riven said that while she’s kept the name, her inventory and approach differ.

Riven’s shop rotates about 24 flavors of homemade gelato, Gifford’s ice cream, and – by popular demand – vegan and dairy-free sorbets, in flavors like blueberry-pomegranate and strawberry lemonade.

“I was getting a lot of calls from people looking for vegan and dairy-free ice cream,” she said. “I sell them now so people can actually enjoy their ice cream instead of just watching others on the beach enjoying theirs.”

Riven said she also makes milkshakes, one of her store’s top sellers, in any flavor of gelato, ice cream or sorbet.

Riven is a medical school student in Miami, and said the store is helping her pay for tuition. Her mother, Mirela Riven, and stepfather, Moshe Agam, own the adjacent store, Beach Fantasy Boutique, which they’ve run for 37 years.

The 500-square-foot Gelato Supreme is also packed to the rafters with assorted candies like jelly beans and gummies, chocolates, fudge, salt water taffy and cotton candy. “I wanted to cover every square inch in here, and make it fun,” Riven said.

The store also sells an assortment of stuffed animals, which line the upper walls behind the cash register. Riven said she will donate all profits from the plush toys to a children’s hospital at the end of the season.

Gelato Supreme serves Green Mountain coffee and iced coffee, popular with morning strollers in town. “I’m getting a lot of return customers,” Riven said.

Because of the staffing shortage in the region, Riven has had to man her shop unassisted so far this season, a tall order for a store open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Her secret for stamina? Riven pointed to the Green Mountain Coffee dispenser. “Coffee,” she said. “Lots of coffee.”

FILIPINO FOOD MARKET OPENS IN SOPO

A new market featuring a variety of fresh, frozen and canned Filipino foods and dry goods opened last weekend in South Portland.

Buena Vista Filipino Food Market, occupying close to 1,000 square feet at 528 Main St., will cater to the local Filipino community as well as anyone looking to try new, tasty foods, said owner Mae Tallarico of Old Orchard Beach.

The market’s produce section includes popular Asian items like long green beans and fruits such as rambutan, guyabano and guava. The store also stocks about 10 Filipino-style ice creams from the Magnolia brand, including ube (purple yam), mango, jackfruit and avocado.

Tallarico said the market sells fresh-prepared Filipino food to go on the weekends, including lumpia spring rolls, and the traditional Filipino noodle dish, pancit. Buena Vista is open six days, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Tuesdays.

CRISPY GAI’S PRO-ROE PUNCH

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month, Portland’s Crispy Gai has stepped up their fundraising for women’s reproductive rights.

Crispy Gai is selling a “Pro-Roe Punch,” for which bar manager Arvid Brown rotates the recipe roughly every two weeks. When the restaurant first announced the initiative in the middle of June, they had planned on donating $1 for each punch sold to Portland Health Center’s Planned Parenthood.

Now, Crispy Gai plans on donating all proceeds from its punch sales to the local Planned Parenthood, indefinitely, “until abortion rights are protected again,” co-owner and chef Cyle Reynolds said. They recently made a $2,556 gift to Planned Parenthood based on punch sales so far.

“As a business, we’d like to do as much as we can to make a difference,” said partner and General Manager Sasha Brouillard. She added that Crispy Gai customers can use a QR code to donate to the effort on any other Crispy Gai drinks, too.

Crispy Gai’s current Pro-Roe Punch recipe is a blend of rum, aperol and mango, available for $6.

EIGHT MAINE RESTAURANTS WIN WINE SPECTATOR AWARDS

Old Port Sea Grill & Raw Bar on Portland’s Commercial Street has joined seven other Maine winners this month in the Wine Spectator magazine’s annual restaurant awards.

Old Port Sea Grill won the magazine’s Award of Excellence for the first time this year. Other Maine award winners include The Balance Rock Inn Veranda Bar and Havana Restaurant, both in Bar Harbor; The White Barn Inn restaurant in Kennebunk; Coastal Prime in Boothbay Harbor; La Bella Vita in Rockport; Natalie’s Restaurant in Camden; and Sea Glass in Cape Elizabeth, which have all been on the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence list before. Natalie’s has been on the list longest, since 2009.

Wine Spectator’s Awards of Excellence, which launched in 1981, spotlight restaurants with impressive wine lists and outstanding service, according to editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken. The magazine named a total of 1,782 winners nationwide in the category this year, along with 1,290 Best of Award of Excellence winners and 97 Grand Award winners.

YARMOUTH CLAM FESTIVAL IS BACK

For the first time since the pandemic began, the Yarmouth Clam Festival returns this month.

The festival is set for July 15-17 on Main Street. The event, held annually since 1965 except for the last two pandemic years, is a fundraiser organized by the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce to benefit nonprofit groups that help the community.

Organizers expect the free event to draw more than 100,000 people. “This year has been so challenging, overcoming the obstacles that COVID laid down,” said interim festival director Chelsie DiConzo. “But we’re very excited about the festival, and we know so many people from all over are, too.”

DiConzo said this year’s festival will feature an expanded family area, with activities like face-painting and art classes, as well as an expanded family care station with area for nursing and changing tables.

More information about the free event is available at the festival’s website.

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