Blue Lobster Urban Winery opened last weekend in its new headquarters on Anderson Street, a location that triples the number of customers it can serve.
Blue Lobster’s new 4,200-square-foot production and tasting room, located at 200 Anderson St., offers space for 165 customers, including 59 outdoor seats. The previous tasting room, located at 219 Anderson St., had only 49 seats.
Blue Lobster director of sales Jason Kroot said the company has already begun utilizing the additional space by booking larger groups for special events.
“We’re also excited to be in an area where we have a lot more foot traffic,” Kroot said. “We were starting to paint in April and there were more people looking out the windows in April than (at the previous location) in August, at the height of the season. “We were the last stop in East Bayside, from a food and beverage perspective, but now we are really located downtown.”
In East Bayside, Blue Lobster counts Austin Street Brewery, Belleflower Brewing Company, Lone Pine Brewing Company and Rising Tide Brewing Company among its neighbors. “We’re like the only winery in a sea of breweries there,” Kroot said, adding that Blue Lobster’s leadership team hopes the distinction will help them attract customers.
Blue Lobster also obtained a Class A lounge license, allowing it to serve beer, cocktails and mocktails in addition to wine. Kroot said he hopes that by July 4, the tasting room will also begin selling a customizable charcuterie and local cheese board to go.
Blue Lobster Urban Winery is open seven days a day, from noon to 8 p.m., although Kroot said the space could open later in the day, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE Maine CHEESE GUILD
The Maine Cheese Guild has hired a new executive director who aims to raise the profile of Maine cheese and cheesemakers.
Maine native Irene Burgess began work this month as the guild’s second executive director. The group’s first CEO, Ron Dyer, was hired in 2022 and is now “pursuing other opportunities,” according to the union.
As a teenager, Burgess worked on his brother’s dairy farm in Newport, the former Burgess Farm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University and has spent his career primarily in higher education and nonprofit organizations in the Midwest and South.
Burgess said he sees his role in the part-time position as “promoting the interests of cheese makers and cheese lovers in Maine,” and said he hopes to bring more attention to the guild’s 80 licensed cheesemakers and their products.
“They do a really good job, but if you’re on your own and you have 80 goats to care for, it’s hard to spend time doing the promotion you need in today’s social media atmosphere,” Burgess said.
Burgess also plans to build the guild’s professional network, help prepare for its annual Maine Cheese Festival (this year on September 8 in Pittsfield), distribute grant funds for the professional development of its members and seek opportunities to secure new funding from subsidies.
“My first year on the job will be about meeting people, visiting them at their production sites and farms, and finding out where good partnerships can be developed to promote what we need and what Maine people should get in terms of the Cheese Guild. Maine,” Burgess said.
Burgess called Maine’s cheese scene “very robust and vigorous” compared to other states in the country, although it is not always recognized as such.
“I don’t think Maine has the natural association with cheese that, say, Vermont or Wisconsin do,” Burgess said. “There are all these producers making high-quality goat cheeses, water buffalo cheese and cow’s milk cheese, and that should be recognized. We should be a place that people come to for the best cheese they can find.”
GEORGE + LEON LOSES FOOD AFTER STORM DAMAGE
George + Leon’s, the Westbrook restaurant that specializes in North Shore-style roast beef sandwiches, lost thousands of dollars in food inventory last week after a lightning strike in the building caused the refrigerator to malfunction.
Owner Logan Abbey said that during a storm last Thursday night, lightning apparently struck the building that houses his restaurant, at 9 Cumberland St. The intense impact caused George + Leon’s refrigerator to go into defrosting mode.
“When we came in on Friday morning, we had to throw out pretty much everything in the locker room,” Abbey said. “We’re talking thousands of dollars worth of products.”
Abbey rushed to replenish his food inventory and filed an insurance claim, although he said he wasn’t sure his insurers would cover much of the loss. He said his restaurant experienced a malfunction last November and also lost all the food inside, although the insurance company only paid out a few hundred dollars. “And it was like pulling teeth to get money from them,” he added.
Abbey wrote a social media post about the incident last Saturday morning. “And on Saturday we were packed,” she said. “We had a very good night. It was really nice that the city wanted to come and help us. “Westbrook has been a great community for us.”
LOCAL 188 TURNED 25
West End Latin-inspired restaurant Local 188 is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month by offering food and drinks from its original 1999 menu and donating 25% of June profits to charity.
Local 188 opened in 1999 at 188 State St., before moving to 685 Congress St. in 2007. Originally, the location was a hybrid restaurant and art gallery. “The name ‘Local 188’ and the brand’s imagery (created by local artist and muralist Pat Corrigan) not only reference the restaurant and gallery’s original direction and our community focus, but were also intended to evoke unions and their tradition of celebrating dignity, hard work and camaraderie among its members, characteristics shared by the local artist community, then and now,” said chef and co-owner Jay Villani.
Villani noted that the restaurant’s name has led to some funny misunderstandings over the years, including a pipe fitter who showed up looking for plumbing work (mistaking the business for Local Union 716) and an exotic dancer who applied for a job after mishearing a reference. to the tapas bar as a “topless” bar.
Portland’s food scene has changed significantly in the years since Local 188 launched. “We opened with a lot of effort and very limited funds,” Villani said. “It was pretty easy to get cheap space and the neighborhood really welcomed us with open arms. Nowadays it is more difficult to establish yourself. “We are grateful to our customers, friends and neighbors and consider ourselves very lucky.”
Local 188 will donate a quarter of its profits this month to support Wayside Food Programs in their efforts to eliminate food insecurity.
NATIONAL LOVE FOR PORTLAND
As peak tourist season approaches, Portland’s dining scene has been praised in recent travel articles in The New York Times and KeynoteUSA.
Last Thursday the Times highlighted Portland in its 36 hour series, offering suggestions for visitors who have only a day and a half to spend in the city. Food and drink-related recommendations included Anoche, Bar Futo, Bite into Maine, Cong Tu Bot, Hot Suppa, Il Leone, Izakaya Minato, Luke’s Lobster, Oxbow Blending & Bottling, Onggi, Rabelais, Strata, The Shop by Island Creek Oysters , Terlingua and the ugly duckling.
“Maine’s largest city has long been known nationally as a top dining destination, and this year two Portland bakers won James Beard Awards,” the Times article says, referring to Norimoto’s Atsuko Fujimoto Bakery and Barak Olins of Zu Bakery. “To welcome travelers, culinary or otherwise, five boutique hotels have opened since 2020. Hotel construction, the development of new high-end condominiums and rising coastal real estate prices have exacerbated the housing crisis here. But the elements that make this New England city such an attractive place to visit – a vibrant creative economy, the juxtaposition of old and new, and the distinctive character of a working waterfront – endure.”
KeynoteUSA published a Portland skyline because it ranks fourth on their list of the 10 U.S. communities to visit this year. Providence, Rhode Island, is the only other New England location on KeynoteUSA’s list.
The KeynoteUSA story mentions Allagash Brewing Company, Bar Futo, Belleflower Brewing Company, Eventide, Fore Street, Il Leone, Mr. Tuna and Shipyard Brewing Company.
WAVY DAYS BEER FEST RETURNS FOR THE THIRD YEAR
Mast Landing Brewing Company’s third annual Wavy Days Beer Festival is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, July 29, in Thompson’s Point.
Attendees at the event will be able to taste beer from more than 55 breweries from all over the country. More than nine vendors will supply food for the festival, which will also feature live music.
Wavy Days runs from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets cost between $12 and $75, Available online on Eventbrite.
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