Barber Brothers Meat & Provisions recently held a soft opening for its Knightville store, formerly the long-time home of Smaha’s Legion Square Market.

Co-owner Max Barber said local interest in the new market had been strong in the months leading up to the soft opening, demonstrated by the crowd that arrived when Barber Brothers opened its doors at noon on Sept. 27.

“We had a line out the door of about 25 people,” Barber said. “It’s been a ton of work to get here, but we couldn’t be more excited to open. We just feel so happy and honored to be part of the community.”

Located at 101 Ocean St., Barber Brothers features a butcher counter with a range of locally sourced meats, including beef, pork, chicken and lamb. The market also offers a selection of cheeses, bread and pantry items, as well as fresh produce from local farms.

Barber said he and his brother – who also own Mainely Burgers, a fleet of five seasonal food trucks and a Boston restaurant – will put their culinary expertise to use by introducing a selection of prepared foods, sandwiches and house marinades to the market over the coming weeks.

“We really want to be not only your neighborhood market and butcher, but also a place to go if you want a quick sandwich,” Barber said.

Barber said market staff has been soliciting feedback from customers about what inventory they should carry, and working out kinks in the operation. The Barbers intentionally left the store’s layout mostly unchanged so the flow of the market would feel familiar to longtime patrons –  Smaha’s opened in 1939.

The Barbers expect to hold a full grand opening for the store sometime in October, at which point the store will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Until then, hours will be determined weekly. This week, Barber Brothers is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday.

GALA FUNDRAISER FOR MAINE FOODSCAPES

Maine Foodscapes is hosting its second annual Garden-to-Table fundraising gala on Thursday at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport.

Set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the farm’s Mallet Barn, the event begins with a cocktail hour featuring live bluegrass music. The family-style dinner will be prepared by Maine-based chefs using local ingredients, and a silent auction follows the meal.

The event also includes presentations from Foodscapes representatives, highlighting the group’s community impact and future goals. All funds raised will support the group’s efforts in 2024.

Maine Foodscapes is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve community food security and well-being in Southern Maine by providing low-income Mainers with the resources and knowledge they need to start growing their own food.

Tickets for the gala are $100-$175 per person, available online.

MAINE OPEN CREAMERY DAY

The Maine Cheese Guild is holding the 15th annual Open Creamery Day on Sunday, Oct. 8.

Creameries around the state will open their doors and barns for the event, inviting the public to tour the creameries, learn about the tradition of Maine cheese making and meet the animals that make the milk.

“This is your opportunity to meet and talk with the cheese makers, and visiting these local farms makes a great family activity for all ages. You may even see a goat or two or cows on your visit,” Maine Cheese Guild Executive Director Ron Dyer said in a news release.

Eleven creameries have signed on for the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Abraham’s Creamery in Newport, Arkeo Farm in Sidney, Dreamin’ Fahm Dairy and Creamery in Wilton, Honey Wilde Farm in Unity, Lakin’s Gorges Cheese at East Forty Farm in Waldoboro, Lucky Paws Farm in Harrison, ME Water Buffalo Co. in Appleton, Pumpkin Vine Family Farm in Somerville, Three Charm Farm in Alfred, Yellow Birch Farm in Deer Isle, and York Hill Farm in Washington.

For more information on Open Creamery Day, visit the Maine Cheese Guild website.

BAR FUTO HOSTS ROUNDTABLE DINNER

Seven Maine and New England chefs are teaming up for a Roundtable dinner series event at Bar Futo in late October.

The roundtable series, started by Chef Tracy Chang of Pagu in Cambridge, focuses on hot-button hospitality industry issues like social justice. The Bar Futo event, set for Thursday, Oct. 26, aims to debunk myths around sustainability and product sourcing.

The chefs assembled for the six-course dinner – preceded by six passed appetizers and discussions with local educators, fishmongers and artists about sustainable practices – include Chang; Ian Driscoll of Bar Futo in Portland; Jason Eckerson and Kate Hamm of Fish & Whistle in Biddeford; Ilma Lopez of Chaval and Ugly Duckling in Portland; Nikhil Naiker of Nimki in Providence, Rhode Island; and Jordan Rubin of Mr. Tuna and Bar Futo in Portland.

Rubin points to Atlantic bluefin tuna as an example of a sustainability myth the dinner plans to debunk, while offering a bluefin course to underscore their point. “The Atlantic bluefin tuna is a highly regulated fishery,” Rubin said. “A lot of people have this misconception that bluefin tuna is not sustainable, but it actually is if it’s regulated properly.”

Though the dinner isn’t exclusively seafood, Rubin said, the event will also spotlight some sustainable and underused seafood products, including eel from American Unagi, oysters from Blackstone Point Oysters in Damariscotta, and kelp products from Atlantic Sea Farms.

“We’re really just trying to bring people together over food, build community and raise awareness,” Rubin said. “We like bringing in guest chefs (to Bar Futo), but this event has a real purpose behind it, so we’re excited.”

Chang has held five Roundtable dinners at Pagu previously. This is the first series event to be held outside of Cambridge.

Tickets are $125 each, excluding beverages, taxes and fees, and are available online.

FERMENTATION FAIR RETURNS

The fourth annual Fermentation Fair is slated for later this month at Dandelion Spring Farm in Bowdoinham.

Set for Oct. 21-22, the fair’s Saturday events include experienced home fermenters offering demos on their techniques for making sauerkraut, kombucha, sourdough bread, yogurt, kimchi, cider and more. A half dozen workshops led by professional Maine fermenters offered at tiered pricing ($10/$30/$50) are scheduled for Sunday.

The fair will also feature products and representatives from 11 vendors including Go-en Fermented Foods, Oxbow Brewing and Tootie’s Tempeh; a culture swap table with individual culture portions for attendees to take home; and a ferment contest, one of the event’s most popular draws in past years.

For more fair information or to register for the workshops, visit the Fermentation Fair’s webpage.

PRAISE FOR BLUE HILL PENINSULA FOOD

Travel + Leisure magazine recently ran a guide to dining around Blue Hill Peninsula, declaring the area “one of the best places to eat in the U.S. right now.”

Prompted by writer Hannah Selinger’s family trip to the peninsula over Labor Day weekend, the late-September story opens with a glowing review of their dinner at Aragosta at Goose Cove, where “we were treated to the culinary exception that is Aragosta: a multi-course meal at a destination restaurant in the middle of what feels like nowhere. But Aragosta is, in fact, somewhere, and the sense of place – ocean, bramble, rock – comes through in every tumbling course.”

The piece also name-checks Tinder Hearth, the Brooksville bakery and pizzeria touted last month by The New York Times on its third annual Restaurant List. Some of the other venues mentioned in the guide include Blue Hill Wine Shop; Fin & Fern in Stonington; Milkweed & Monarch Baking Company on Deer Isle; Stonington Ice Cream Company, where Selinger found “superlative” lobster rolls; and the food truck from Wild Blueberry Hill Farm & Catering.

SUR LIE CHEF TAKES OVER AT GATHER 

Sur Lie, in Portland, announced last week on social media that its chef will also serve as the executive chef of its sister operation, Gather in Yarmouth.

Krista Cole, who owns both Sur Lie and Gather, said Tuesday that Chef Mimi Weissenborn has been at the helm of both kitchens since the beginning of September.

“It’s been something we’ve been wanting to do since acquiring Gather,” Cole said, noting that she bought the restaurant in January 2022. Weissenborn replaces Chef Michelle Morrison, whom Cole hired as an interim chef until Weissenborn was ready to take over.

“Mimi and I both had the same vision of where we wanted Gather to go,” Cole said. “To keep that neighborhood vibe and create good, authentic comfort food. Stuff you’re not going to replicate at home: scratch baking and fresh local food. We’ve launched the new fall menu, and we’ve gotten a lot of awesome feedback from people who are really stoked by the new dishes.”

Cole pointed in particular to a short rib dish with charred escarole, miso glaze and crispy garlic, as well as a vegan roasted rutabaga dish featuring coconut curry, turnip, radish and kimchi.

“We always had in the back of our minds the goal of transitioning Mimi so she could be successful being the chef of both restaurants,” Cole said. “We’ve finally gotten to the point where we’ve got an amazing core team at both restaurants, and Mimi can really just be creative for each of them. It’s exciting to take the next step in making this vision for Gather come to fruition.”

Copy the Story Link