Soup to Nuts: Maine restaurants serve up spooks du jour

Scott Berry, kitchen manager at the Maine Street Grill, was cooking some pasta. He turned away for a moment, and when he turned back, the spoon he had placed on the edge of the stove was in the middle of the floor.

Hmmm. He hadn’t heard it fall. Figuring he must have knocked it over, he washed the spoon well and placed it farther back on the stove, where there was no way it could be knocked off.

Once more, he turned away for a moment, and when he turned back the spoon was in the middle of the floor again.

Some restaurants feature usual fare with a side of paranormal activity

Some Maine restaurants advertise their hauntings, knowing full well that some folks love a good scare with their meal. Ghosts are good for business. The Jameson Tavern in Freeport has a whole section on its website devoted to its “spooky history,” including the story of a little girl who apparently doesn’t know she’s dead. (www.jamesontavern.com) […]

Lobster competition came downto chef’s confidence

Kelly Patrick Farrin gets a prestigious award, a check for $1,000 and some well-earned name recognition.

It’s harvest time

The morning sun was just winking over Peaks Island on Thursday when chef Michael Ruoss and five culinary arts students got to work making more than 6 gallons of seafood gumbo for the first day of the Harvest on the Harbor Food and Wine Festival.

Waiting for them at sunrise in the kitchen at Southern Maine Community College were big bins filled with chopped green peppers, onions, okra and kielbasa that had been prepped by students on Wednesday. Next to the bins were containers of thyme, bay leaves and cayenne, and bottles of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce.

Cookbook Corner: ‘Forgotten Skills of Cooking’

In my career I have, believe it or not, interviewed at least two people who didn’t know how to turn on their ovens. Small wonder, a generation or two after our grandmothers dressed their own chickens, that people don’t have basic skills in the kitchen anymore. Enter Darina Allen. Allen, known as the Julia Child […]

Soup to Nuts: Sea(food) changetoward sustainability

Imagine picking up a can of fish chowder at your local grocery store and tracing the fish that’s in it back to where it was caught – and not only to where it was caught, but how it was caught.

Now multiply that by a few thousand products, and you have some idea of the monumental task facing George Parmenter, corporate responsibility manager for Hannaford.

SMCC’s tasty gourmet meal deal now offering dinner

SOUTH PORTLAND — For almost 40 years, the culinary arts students at Southern Maine Community College have been offering Portland-area residents a delicious bargain. Three days a week, the students toil in their culinary “laboratories” on campus to create a gourmet lunch, an experience that provides them with the critical skills they’ll need to launch […]

Talented Maine sous chefs front and center

Chris Geer gets a lot of questions about his life as a sous chef at Cinque Terre, an Italian restaurant on Wharf Street in Portland. “People talk to me every day about what my job entails,” Geer said. “It’s hard work. There’s a lot (going on) behind the scenes, not just cooking.” Portlanders can learn […]

Food & Dining Dispatches, Oct. 20, 2010

Maine Restaurant Week running Oct. 24 through 31 If you can’t get enough of Maine restaurants during Harvest on the Harbor, there’s always Maine Restaurant Week to look forward to beginning Sunday. This is the second Restaurant Week of the year, and it will run through Oct. 31. More than 50 restaurants have signed up […]

Soup to Nuts: A rare opportunity for these fruits, veggies

Chris Cavendish clipped a bright, stunning red pepper from a group of about 30 plants he tended this year at Fishbowl Farm. He took a big bite right where he stood, and the Jimmy Nardello sweet Italian frying pepper, named after a 19th-century seed saver, rewarded him with a satisfying crunch and burst of flavor.

“They have a fruitiness and almost a tanginess at the finish of the pepper that other sweet peppers don’t have,” Cavendish said.