The Wrap: “The Lost Kitchen” Streaming Season 2, MOFGA Book Launch

The Rathskeller on Wharf, a new underground tavern located at 51 Wharf St. in Portland, opened last week.

The menu includes burgers and sandwiches, as well as entrees like a smoky New York strip and fish and chips.

The opening hours are from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and from noon to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The Rathskeller is closed on Sunday and Monday.

The owners, siblings Tom and Meg Minervino and their business partner, Michael Barton, are also co-owners of Legends Rest Taproom in Westbrook.

Fresh off the boat

New England Fishmongers, a New Hampshire-based company that sells sustainably caught seafood direct to consumers and restaurants, opened its first brick-and-mortar fish market last week at 57 State Road in Kittery. The market has a small take-out restaurant that sells fish sandwiches, fish tacos, chowders, and smoked salmon.

New England Fishmongers is owned and operated by Tim Rider, captain of the Finlander II fishing vessel, and his business partner, Kayla Cox. Much of the seafood on the market comes directly from the Finlander II. Jackson Casey, former chef at Vino E Vivo in Exeter, New Hampshire, runs the market kitchen.

The opening hours of the market are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The market is closed on Mondays. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Moving

Atsuko Fujimoto has moved its bakery, Norimoto, to its new location at 469 Stevens Ave. at Deering Center. She started offering take out on Saturday.

Fujimoto plans to have a retail window for drop-in orders, but for now you need to pre-order through their website, norimoto-bakery.square.site, and only on Saturdays. Online orders for the Saturday pickup go live at 5 p.m. every Friday.

Yoo-hoo, Yobo is back (for lunch, for now)

Yobo, at 23 Forest Ave. in Portland, began serving take-out lunches from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

Even before the pandemic, in early winter 2020, the cozy Korean restaurant had cut service to three evenings a week as the owners focused on their New Brunswick restaurant, Maine St. Steak & Oyster at 148 Maine St. .

With the exception of the two-day-a-week take-out dinners from January through June, Yobo has been mostly closed during the pandemic. The new take-out lunch menu is a first step towards finding a way to reopen Yobo, according to Kim Lully, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Sunny Chung.

Lully said she wasn’t sure when Yobo might reopen for dinner because she and Chung spend most of their time at Maine St. Steak & Oyster, where staff have been an issue.

Chik-Fil-A will open on Thursday

The new Westbrook Chick fil-A at 94 Rock Row opens Thursday, initially for drive-thru and take-out only. Hours will be 6.30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

The franchise is owned and operated by Brad Terrell, a Georgia native who has worked for Chick fil-A since 2012 in South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, most recently at the Northshore Mall in Peabody.

Instead of its usual grand opening celebration, Chick-fil-A will be gifting 100 “local heroes” to Westbrook for free Chik-fil-A for one year, according to a company press release. The company said it will also donate $ 25,000 to Feeding America, with the funds going to partners in the Greater Portland area.

Launch of the MOFGA book

The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association will launch their new book on the organic farming movement on November 4 at the Portland Museum of Art.

The book, a collection of essays written by leaders of the movement, is titled “The Organic Farming Revolution: Past, Present, Future” and can be purchased in advance for $ 32.95 at the online store. MOFGA line. The essays cover topics ranging from sustainability and food resources to soil conservation and agriculture. A few of the contributors, including food writer and cookbook author Barton Seaver and Daniel Mays, owner of Frith Farm in Scarborough, will be at the museum event for a discussion and question-and-answer period. Other contributors include writer and activist Wendell Berry, apple scholar John Bunker, organic farming expert Eliot Coleman, former Penobscot Nation Chief Barry Dana, and award-winning chef James Beard, Sam Hayward.

The 18 at 7:30 p.m. the event is free, but pre-registration is required. Masks are also mandatory.

Show Matt your woodpile

Matt Bolinder, owner of Speckled Ax, is relaunching a competition he first ran in 2008 – when Speckled Ax was known as Matt’s Coffee.

Bolinder announced the 2nd annual Show Us Your Woodpile (“Not an understatement!” He insists) contest on Instagram last week. Details will soon be posted on social media, with the winner receiving, like last time, “a bunch of coffee.” But this time around, there will also be other prizes, such as mugs, t-shirts, hats and gift cards.

Bolinder wrote that in the 2008 competition, applications poured in from a few dozen states. “Some were exceptionally elaborate and artistic, some were meticulous examples of standard 4ft x 4ft x 8ft cords or Scandinavian beehives or German holzhausen, and others were just fun, with the pile of wood serving as a canvas. background to something else. “

On another note, for the first time, patrons of the Speckled Ax Cafe at 18 Thames St. in Portland will be allowed to sit inside starting November 15; the cafe opened during the pandemic, so so far it was only take-out or outdoor seating.

Find the lost kitchen here

Erin French, chef / owner of The Lost Kitchen in Freedom, is being filmed for a new show about her restaurant. Photo courtesy of Caleb Mason

The second season of “The Lost Kitchen”, the Magnolia Network series that tells the story of Erin French’s life in her restaurant at Freedom, is now airing on Magnolia Network and Discovery +.

This season, the show will cover the reopening of the restaurant’s dining room and the new cabins French had built in the woods so that his patrons can stay overnight after a meal.

More local lettuce in Hannaford

Springworks Farm in Lisbon is now the exclusive supplier to Hannaford supermarkets of certified organic romaine heads, allowing the supermarket chain to replace all the field-grown romaine it was purchasing in California, Arizona and Mexico with local lettuce.

Lettuce that traveled for up to six days and 3,500 kilometers of food in a truck to reach Maine now travels just 54 kilometers from Springworks aquaponics greenhouses in Lisbon to the Hannaford distribution center in south Portland.

“When we order from Springworks, we are eliminating thousands of food miles while contributing to our company’s sustainability goals and supporting a local business,” said Mark Jewell, product category manager for Hannaford, in a statement. Press.

Springworks already supplies Hannaford with all of its organic green leaf lettuce, as well as some baby romaine and Boston Bibb.

Springworks opened its third 40,000 square foot greenhouse just three months ago, allowing the farm to increase production and test new products.

Aquaculture meet, greet and eat

Meet local aquaculture producers at a series of science cafes hosted by Chef Cara Stadler at the Brunswick property which is home to Tao Yuan Restaurant, Zao Ze Cafe & Market, and Canopy Farms, Stadler’s rooftop aquaponics greenhouse. Then take a cooking class the next evening.

Science Cafés, free and open to the public, are held at Zao Ze Cafe & Market, 5 Abbey Road. Snacks made with the farmed seafood featured on that day will be provided and attendees will be able to purchase drinks. In October, the guest speaker was Matt Moretti from Bangs Island Mussels. Emily Selinger of Emily’s Oysters is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. on November 7.

The next evening, Stadler gives a cooking class focusing on the same product. The next class will be on November 8 at 5:30 p.m. and will feature oysters. Classes cost $ 108 per person and require reservations. The price includes ingredients, recipes and dinner. To reserve a place, send an email [email protected]

Take-out turkey

A turkey tom struts for the ladies. Keith Srakocic / Associated press

Restaurants are starting to share their Thanksgiving plans, both in and out. Each week between now and the holidays, I will end this column with a few choices:

Buxton Common, 1420 Long Plains Road, Buxton: The restaurant will be open for Thanksgiving dinner from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with options including turkey, smoked rib eye, baked cod, and Maple roasted acorn squash. Or you can order packaged meals to pick up the day before the holidays. The cost is $ 40 per person. Call (207) 298-9621 to reserve or place an order. The deadline for both is November 20. thebuxtoncommon.com

The Westin Portland Harborview’s Congress Squared Restaurant, 157 High St., features a three-course dinner ($ 85) with a choice of turkey, center-cut ribeye, local halibut, or butternut squash ravioli. Reservations open today on opentable.com. Groups of more than six people should call (207) 517-8839. The restaurant also takes orders for take-out dinners that cost $ 80 and serves two. Orders are open now online and will close on November 19, with a pickup on November 24. Go to congresssquared.com/thanksgiving-take-bake-2021. To book by phone, dial (207) 517-8900.

North 43 Bistro, 1 Spring Point Drive, South Portland, offers Thanksgiving take-out for six for $ 235. Dinner includes a 12-14 pound brined, ready-to-roast turkey, reheat and serve green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and a pie pie. apples. Call (207) 747-4009.

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