Maiz Colombian Street Food has announced it will close its Brunswick location at the end of August. The restaurant opened in 2022.
“It was a challenging decision,” co-owner Martha Leonard said. “We love being in the Brunswick community. But food businesses are always adjusting and looking to the needs of their customers, and we decided to put our energy into a frozen line we were launching for the past two years.”
Maiz began dabbling in frozen foods during the pandemic and has been selling, so far, empanadas, arepas and pan de bono, Leonard said. New items are in the works. The prepared frozen food line is available at several local farmers markets, as well as at Lois’ Natural Marketplace in Scarborough, Rising Tide Co-op in Damariscotta and Rosemont markets around Greater Portland.
“It’s for people who want something fast and healthy and different and exciting, but they’re not necessarily going out to eat all the time,” Leonard said. “We’ve gotten good reaction, and it’s fun to have people make arepas at home in Maine.”
The original Maiz, at 621 Forest Ave. in Portland, will remain open, and its hours are expected to expand.
YARDIE TING MOVES (JUST A LITTLE)
Jamaican eatery Yardie Ting is closed for two weeks while it moves from the second floor to the first floor of the Public Market in Portland, at 28 Monument Square.
The move, announced on the restaurant’s Instagram account, said that it will reopen in its new spot at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Yardie Ting specializes in dishes such as jerk chicken and pork, curried goat, oxtail mac and cheese, yellow plantains and a variety of patties.
NEW CHEF IN ALNA STORE KITCHEN
Ben Slattery has joined the highly regarded Alna Store as its new chef de cuisine.
Slattery is a familiar name in the Maine food scene. His credits include Chaval and the former Pigeons, both in Portland. He also spent time as a whole animal butcher at L.P. Bisson and Sons in Topsham.
In a statement announcing his new job, Slattery said he is excited about partnering with local farms and bringing house-made sausages and charcuterie to the restaurant.
“The opportunity to work with the team at The Alna Store feels like a good stroke of fate,” he said.
FOOD & WINE’S LOBSTER ROLLS LIST
A story on the website of Food & Wine lists seven “standout” lobster rolls to try in Maine, including a few nontraditional versions.
It’s a list with some standards and a few surprises. Here, in full, are the places it suggests you go to try a roll: Luke’s Lobster Shack, Sur Lie and Twelve in Portland; McLoons Lobster Shack in South Thomaston; Nubb’s Lobster Shack at the Cliff House in Cape Neddick; Latitudes at Nonantum Resort in Kennebunk; and Il Leone on Peaks Island. All right, all right, that last one is a pizza, but who’s counting?
Writer Adam Callaghan, who used to edit Eater Maine, justifies it this way: “Lobster pizza may be the most avant-garde interpretation on this list, but hey, it’s a beautifully charred crust piled with lobster meat and lavished with fat – in this case, Sicilian extra virgin olive oil. If that’s not a super-sized lobster roll, I don’t want to know.”
UNE NUTRITION STUDENT WINS SCHOLARSHIP
Annabelle Gascoyne, who this fall will enter her last year of a four-year nutrition studies program at the University of New England, is one of four national winners of a Scholarship for Impactful Change from Les Dames d’Escoffier International. The scholarship awards $5,000 to be applied toward tuition.
“I’m very passionate about the issue of food insecurity,” Gascoyne said. “I grew up in a rural town in Vermont that definitely struggled with a lot of poverty, but my community had a lot of great resources like community gardens, dinners and great food pantries. I see that as a need for a lot of places, and I would love to be a part of food security efforts and make an impactful change in Maine.”
Gascoyne, 21, interns at the York County Food Council. She is working on a project to collect simple recipes for distribution at food pantries and other food-assistance locations aimed at cooks of limited means.
“They’re simple meals that feel doable, and they’re also meals that include items like canned goods that you’d be getting from a food pantry,” she said. “The recipes are geared toward people with fewer kitchen appliances who can’t go to the grocery store with an unlimited budget.”
After she graduates, Gascoyne hopes to work for a food council or a nonprofit organization that specializes in food security.
An announcement from Les Dames, a philanthropic organization of women in the food industry, noted that Gascoyne “is passionate about supporting low-income communities by providing education, outreach and guidance to people in communities that need the most assistance and have the least resources.”
ASIAN FOOD NIGHT MARKET
The Maine Tasting Center in Wiscasset is holding its first ever Night Market, which will highlight Asian food producers from across the state. The event, on Aug. 31 from 5-9 p.m., will offer Asian food, Maine-made Asian food products and cooking demonstrations.
Admission to The Night Market, to be held at the center at 506 Old Bath Road, is free, and tickets are not required. Find details at mainetastingcenter.com.
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