The Wrap: A gold medal for Lone Pine, Cajun food is coming to North Deering (2023)

Lone Pine Brewing Co., which opened a new location in Old Orchard Beach this spring, won a gold medal at last week's prestigious World Beer Cup.

Lone Pine received top honors in the Specialty Beer category for Imperial Maple Sunday, a full-bodied Imperial coffee beer made with maple syrup from Gorham's Merrifield Farm after a sweet and savory pancake breakfast.

More than 2,300 breweries from 51 countries took part in the annual global competition, often referred to as the "Beer Olympiad". In all, the judges judged more than 10,000 beers, with an average of 99 beers represented in each competition category. The winners were announced on May 10th at the awards ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lone Pine had won a bronze medal for its beer at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival and gold and silver at the same competition in 2020. This year's gold is Lone Pine's first win in international competition.

"We've worked really hard to play well on this stage," said Thomas Madden, head brewer and co-founder of Lone Pine. "It's definitely an honor to have all the hard work recognized in such an exciting way."

The win follows Lone Pine's opening of a brewhouse on East Grand Ave in late April. 32 in Old Orchard Beach -- the third location alongside Portland and Gorham -- in the outdoor area that Definitive Brewing used for a beer garden last season.

The venue has a capacity of around 200 people and is open from 12pm to 9pm. daily. Trevor Gerity, head of hospitality at Lone Pine, has created a menu for the garden that includes crab melts, hot dogs, lobster roll flights, and finally, pizza.

Madden said Lone Pine also plans to open a full indoor bar and tasting room at the venue later this season, seating about 49 people, which will be open throughout the winter.

"The reception has been great so far," Madden said, noting that the clientele was mostly locals and local business owners who were opening the season. "It's kind of an oasis in the middle of the excitement of Old Orchard."

The broken arrow is closed to replace the staff core

The Broken Arrow restaurant and bar in Portland unexpectedly closed last week due to the need to replace three key members of the restaurant team.

The chef, chef and general manager notified promptly on May 9th. Owner Lyle Aker and former CEO Jessie Robb both confirm this, but otherwise share conflicting stories about what happened.

Acker said Monday that the Congress Street restaurant would reopen in a week or two. After the restaurant closed last Wednesday, a sign hung on the door - which has since been removed - explaining that the restaurant was "closed for reasons beyond our control".

Aker said he closed Broken Arrow to have time to hire a new chef and overhaul the menu for spring. A new chef has already been found, he said, but he's not yet ready to name that person.

"They decided not to give their two-week notice period," Acker said of the team, "so we decided to take a week or two off instead of trying to operate at a level that we're not used to." It's not malicious. The chef decided to change something and that's fine. I respect that."

But Robb, who has been with the restaurant for most of its existence - Broken Arrow opened in October 2020, in the midst of the pandemic - said the management team issued their standard notice "but as things developed" they were unable to do so adhere to the usual time frame. He said the rest of the staff, consisting of about 10 bartenders, waiters and chefs, immediately resigned after learning details about the situation from management, which Acker denied.

Neither Aker nor Robb were willing to elaborate on the nature of the argument.

NEW CAJUN DINER AND PUB FOR MEMORIES

The owner of a consignment shop in North Deering has teamed up with Bayou Kitchen to open a restaurant and pub in a space next to his shop this summer.

Samuel Eakin of Cherished Possessions at 64 Auburn St. said his shop has a licensing agreement with Bayou Kitchen, the Cajun-style breakfast and lunch restaurant on Deering Avenue. The deal allows Cherished Possessions to serve Bayou Kitchen food in the 1,800-square-foot space starting at 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch, and the pub serves drinks and food from Eakin's home state of Louisiana from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Eakin expects groundbreaking for the new restaurant and pub to begin in early August.

MAINE FOOD CONVERGENCE HOSTS TALKS

The Maine Food Convergence, an event featuring discussions on how to make the state's food systems more socially equitable and resilient in the face of climate change, will hold an online session Thursday.

Angela Okafor, a Nigerian immigrant and community engagement director for the Standing Committee on the Status of Tribal, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Maine, will be the keynote speaker at the virtual event, which will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The morning session will include discussions on how to improve processing methods for local Maine foods, make dairy farming more equitable for migrant workers, and implement food justice for the incarcerated Maine population.

The afternoon rehearsal session will include a presentation by Hannah Smalls, Executive Director of the Northeast Grainshed Alliance, who will discuss the Windham Nursery business plan, Soulful Soils, which is supported by the Black Farmer Fund.

Maine Food Convergence will also be hosting an in-person event on May 25th at the Maine YMCA Camp in Winthrop. This accompanying event will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features presentations led by Hilary Robbins of the Maine Food Policy and Advocacy Alliance and Ben Martens of the Maine Coastal Fishermen's Association.

Tickets are available for both virtual and in-person sessionsbuy onlineon a sliding scale as needed, ranging from free to $230.

HELMET BAY MARINE FESTIVAL IM JUNI

Brunswick will host the Casco Bay Seafood Festival next month, an ultra-local seafood event benefiting the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association.

The event is scheduled for Sunday, June 4 from 1pm to 4pm. at Lemont Hall at 2 Pleasant St. - features seafood tastings, artwork and presentations by local harvesters, farmers, artists, chefs and thought leaders from the Casco Bay area.

The festival will feature food and produce samples from more than 17 local vendors, including Atlantic Sea Farms seaweed specialties, Fisherman's Net of Brunswick lobster sandwiches,Award-winning top-class monkfish stewfrom the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association and raw Wet Smack oysters on the half-shell from Maine Ocean Farms in South Freeport.

Tickets - $15 in advance, $20 at the box office, an additional $15 for a wine pairing from Brunswick's Vessel & Vine - availableare bought online.

Staff writer Peggy Grodinsky contributed to this column.