AUBURN — At age 23, with five years of restaurant experience under his belt, Roland Nadeau bought the closed Phil-O-Mar on Washington Street, remodeled, renamed the place, and started serving escargot, beef Wellington and, the dish he’d become known for, prime rib. Forty-seven years of working 14-hour days later, he’s coming out of the kitchen. […]
food
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
Auburn bacon and fondue restaurants spice things up with burlesque and comedy
Bacon and fondue were already a unique combination for two co-owned businesses in the same downtown Auburn building. But when the owners of Lava and House of Bacon added comedy shows, a bloody Mary bar, paint classes, princess parties and burlesque dancing to the two businesses, the duo offered up something unlike anything Maine has […]
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Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Thai to the past: Pepper & Spice brothers open Blue Galangal in Lewiston
LEWISTON — On Blue Galangal’s opening day last month, former Pepper & Spice Thai Cuisine customers lined the restaurant. “I walked in here and then I cried,” said June Bunleng, 48. “Some people hugged me. (One customer) cried, I cried, too, because I’ve been with them for 20 years. When they walk in, all my […]
Posted inBethel, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Colleges team up with Sunday River on new culinary program
AUBURN — Southern Maine Community College and Central Maine Community College are teaming up with Sunday River Resort in Newry on a new culinary apprenticeship program that will provide the resort with skilled workers for its restaurants and food outlets. According to a written statement from SMCC in South Portland, the agreement provides for up […]
Posted inBusiness
Cafe and alehouse planned for former Lamey Wellehan building on Lisbon Street
Downtown Lewiston has got it going on. Last week it was Sonder & Dram. This week, The Curio Art & Alehouse. Sheri Withers Hollenbeck, her husband, Stanley Hollenbeck, and artist Corey DuFour are behind the new venture at 110 Lisbon St., the former Lamey Wellehan building. Withers Hollenbeck said they’ve signed a five-year lease for […]
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
Darren Finnegan, Auburn’s mountainside brewer
Darren Finnegan is a snowboarder, a brewer and a man with a subtle-but-effective pitch. Hear from him about how the new Lost Valley Brewing Co. came to be. Name: Darren Finnegan Age: 47 Lives: Auburn How did you get your brewing start? I started brewing in the early ’90s when I was about 19. My college […]
Posted inMaine
What are the odds of getting a seat at The Lost Kitchen?
If 10,000 phone calls sounds like a lot, try sorting through more than 10,000 note cards. The Lost Kitchen – the secluded, seasonal restaurant in a refurbished old mill in Freedom that was inundated with 10,000 phone calls in 24 hours for reservations last year – is now being swamped with snail-mail requests for one of its […]
Posted inNation / World, Uncategorized
Bake News: Cookie Monster explains the Joy of Cookies to Washington Post
? Like another classic figure in history whose name begins with C: He came, he saw, he conquered. Cookie Monster, at The Washington Post. Then again, there were no signs of resistance. The beloved blue Sesame Street character has a new book, you see, called “The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster’s Guide to Life” (Sesame […]
Posted inBusiness
Restaurant kid menus try to appeal to younger tastes and parental approval
The first thing 9-year-old Peter Ericson did after settling into his chair at Yosaku in Portland was ask about the chopsticks. He’d never used them before, so a lesson in how to hold them followed. Ever had sushi, Peter? “I’ve already tried it, I think,” he replied. His mother laughed. “You have not,” she said. […]
Posted inNation / World
Tim Carman: No, bacon does not make everything better
It’s no secret that Stoney’s super grilled cheese sandwich in Washington is a thing of beauty, starting with its fat slices of rustic white bread, as crackly as an FM station on the western plains of Nebraska. The kitchen knows to lay the cheese on thick, too, so that the neon orange slices of American […]