You order the shrimp gumbo in one of your favorite restaurants, and when it arrives you spy one lonely, forlorn shrimp floating in the stew. Do you speak up, or swallow your frustration and dig in? The steak you ordered medium-rare arrives, and the meat is so red you joke that you can still hear […]
restaurants
Pepper & Spice Thai Cuisine closed due to health violations
According to a health inspection report, violations at Pepper & Spice Thai Cuisine ranged from cockroaches in store-bought traps to sponges left on counters and general grime on the floor, walls and carpets. LEWISTON — Popular restaurant Pepper & Spice Thai Cuisine was closed on Wednesday due to numerous health violations found at the business. According […]
Maine restaurants share kitchens with bakeries, food trucks and other eateries
Chantel Ruby, a server at Bernie’s Foreside, center, cleans a countertop at the Falmouth diner as Christy Stegner hauls in a box of table decorations for the evening, when the space is transformed into Esidore’s Bistro, where Stegner is front-of-house manager.Jay Harris, chef of Esidore’s Bistro, left, carries prepped food to the line while Sal […]
Democratic lawmakers get heat for backing tipped minimum wage
Kathe Jewett, 68, a waitress at Howard Johnson’s in Bangor since it opened in 1966, speaks to patrons, works in the restaurant shortly before it closed in 2016. AUGUSTA — Eight Democrats in the Legislature are supporting proposals to restore the tipped minimum wage for servers phased out by a 2016 minimum wage referendum, drawing […]
More restaurants try no tipping policies, get mixed results
PORTLAND, Ore. — When the bill comes after a meal, there’s no crunching numbers for the tip — just pay and go. A small but growing number of restaurants are doing away with the tipping model that’s long been the norm in the United States. It’s an effort to even disparate pay among restaurant staff […]
Norway brewery to open in historic trolley depot
NORWAY — The town’s first microbrewery will be in a historic brick rail depot at 237 Main St. Norway Brewing Co.’s owners announced Wednesday they’ve purchased the former Passenger’s Rail restaurant, once the disembarking point for the town’s commuter trolley service. Erika Melhus, who will run the brewery with her husband and brewer, Charles Magne Melhus, […]
Local restaurants keep Valentine’s plans; hope diners do, too
LEWISTON — Despite the impending blizzard, love, dining and “Fifty Shades of Grey”-themed cocktails will go on. Local restaurateurs said Friday that they planned to stay open for Valentine’s Day revelers on Saturday, even in the face of a snow-laden forecast. The ingredients have been prepped, the staff’s been scheduled and the feeling was that […]
Eats: Gardiner’s A1 Diner — staying on track with ethnic offerings and daily specials
One of Gardiner’s most frequented and perhaps oldest restaurant is A1 Diner, located at 3 Bridge St. The diner itself is one of the original lunch car diners constructed in Worcester, Mass., back when diners were just becoming popular. It has six booths and 14 stools at the counter. The structure was transported to its […]
Lewiston’s Grand Trunk restaurant back on track with new name & owner
LEWISTON — Work on a restaurant in the old Grand Trunk depot on the edge of Simard-Payne Memorial Park is back underway with the former owner, Karen Pulkkinen, out and formerly silent partner, Stephen Dick, now in charge. The new restaurant, expected to open sometime this year, will be called “Rails” and will feature farm-to-table […]
Outdoor dining squeezes Portland’s sidewalks
PORTLAND (AP) — A battle is brewing in Portland between restaurants putting tables on the sidewalks to satisfy customer demand for alfresco dining and those who say the sidewalks are being impeded. Sight-impaired pedestrians, wheelchair users, stroller-pushing parents and other walkers have lodged official complaints about restaurants overextending into the sidewalk space in violation of […]