It’s just like a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, but without the bacon and lettuce.
The Maine Tomato Sandwich, which will be served only the last few days of April at all 12 Clover Food Lab restaurants in the Boston metro area, is made with mostly Maine ingredients. Chef Chris Anderson starts with pita bread made from milled Maine Grains, then tucks in fried red dulse from Ironbound Island Seaweed in Winter Harbor and tomatoes grown hydroponically at Backyard Farms in Madison. The sandwich’s only non-Maine ingredient is the sriracha mayo.
The red dulse, which, when fried, has a flavor and texture that has been compared to bacon, is harvested by Ironbound Island Seaweed founder Andrea DeFrancesco, who dives for it in the cold waters of the Schoodic Peninsula. Clover also uses Ironbound Island seaweed in its New England Shiitake Chowder.
The Maine Tomato Sandwich will debut April 25 to users of the restaurant’s app, then to the public the following day.
BAKERY AND BAGEL BAR
Alan Fried, chef/owner of the new Ice It! Bakery at 502 Stevens Ave., tells me the Deering neighborhood location is now officially open. He knows how to get mouths watering: In addition to serving his full line of pastries, cupcakes, mini cakes and savory hand pies – all available at his Yarmouth bakery – the Stevens Avenue bakery will have a daily bagel and toast bar, featuring spreads and toppings such as serrano-jack cream cheese, honey-walnut cream cheese, avocado spread, toasted hazelnuts and bacon crumbles. The bakery has a full espresso bar and serves specialty coffee drinks made with Carrabassett Coffee.
TATE WINE TASTING
Ever wonder what kind of wine your 18th-century forebears drank to relax after a busy day of drafting the Constitution and arguing over whether assault weapons would ever be invented? Join Joe Appel, the wine buyer at Rosemont Market and former Press Herald wine columnist, at the Tate House on April 28 to find out. The event begins at 4 p.m.
The Tate House is actually a pre-Revolutionary War home, and its owner, Capt. George Tate, was the senior mast agent for the British Royal Navy, so in reality he had no hand in drafting the Constitution. But he was wealthy, so he probably knew a good wine when he had it. Appel will be sharing what he knows about the wines that the Tate family would have imbibed. Appetizers will be available to cleanse the palate and keep you sober.
Tickets cost $35 and are available through Eventbrite.com or by calling the Tate House at 774-6177.
COMING TO THOMPSON’S POINT
Fried chicken fans went into mourning this week when they heard the news that Big J’s Chicken Shack at Thompson’s Point is closing at the end of the month, and that a burrito/barbecue fusion restaurant, Locally Sauced is scheduled to take its place in May. With this move, Charlie and Aimee Ely, who also own Bradbury Mountain Berry Farm in Pownal, are expanding their food cart into a restaurant.
‘CREATE IT’ CONTEST
Maine Public is holding its second annual “Create It” Maine recipe contest for amateur cooks who have an original, creative dessert recipe to share. The recipe (in 500 words or less) should use as many Maine ingredients as possible. Recipes will be judged on the recipe and preparation, use of Maine-grown ingredients, originality/creativity, and visual appeal.
Recipes and a photo of the final, prepared dish are due by midnight April 6. Multiple submissions are OK. Send your submission to rsvp@mainepublic.org, and good luck! Submissions will be whittled down to five finalists, who will participate in a live dessert-off at Southern Maine Community College on April 28. The winner will receive a $250 gift certificate. For more details, go to mainepublic.org.
TITANIC DINNER
When Arrows in Ogunquit was still open, chef/owners Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier held a popular Titanic dinner every December. Guests came dressed in Edwardian garb and dined on the same dishes the ill-fated passengers supped on the night the ship hit an iceberg and sank into the icy waters of the Atlantic.
Now the Portland Supper Club has picked up the torch by offering a “Last Dinner on the Titanic” on April 14 – the 106th anniversary of the sinking – at Portland’s Cumberland Club, 116 High St.
The first-class passengers’ 10-course meal included oysters, filet mignon, poached salmon, chicken Lyonnais, foie gras, roasted pigeon, lamb with mint sauce and Punch Romaine, a palate-cleansing ice flavored with oranges and drenched in Champagne. The Portland Supper Club’s version will feature six courses. Cocktail hour begins at 6:30, and dinner follows at 7:30. Tickets cost $99, including tax and gratuity, and – as is usual at these dinners – diners are encouraged to dress up in period costumes.
NOW THAT’S A DATE NIGHT
The best dinner you can’t afford to go to: Speaking of the former Arrows chefs (who now focus on their other restaurant, MC Perkins Cove), they’ll be cooking with their former mentor, acclaimed chef Jeremiah Tower, April 7 at the 11th annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine event. Their special dinner costs $750, plus plane fare to California.
HE REALLY USED HIS BRAINS
The best food story of the past week: Maine should be so proud. One of its chefs won the TV show “Chopped,” and triggered gag reflexes everywhere by cooking with pork brains in milk gravy. Christian Hayes of Dandelion Catering in Yarmouth, called the brains “really disgusting,” even though they won him $10,000 that he plans to put toward his own restaurant next year.
Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:
mgoad@pressherald.com
Twitter: MeredithGoad
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